Email

Print

Tonight, the family of 24 year-old Corwin Mendoza continues to make preparations for his burial after 2 days of searching for his body. All through that time, the Mendoza Family has been dreading the worst possible outcome, that Corwin had died, and they were simply looking for closure by finding his body

Today, those fears were confirmed when the family's search team found his body floating in the water behind the Guanacaste Park, just outside of Belmopan City.

As we've told you, police believe that he was a victim of a stabbing, and a beating on Sunday night, after which, the assailants disposed of his body by dumping it in the creek which runs through Roaring Creek Village.

His family's grief is unimaginable, but now, they know for certain that he was killed. Today, our colleague at Plus TV spoke with his uncle who spotted the body first at around 10 a.m. this morning. Here's what he said:

Eduardo Baptist, Uncle of deceased

"We did a river search from the Hammock bridge. We only travelled half a mile when the searched became and we came across the body. After we inspected it, it was Corwin. The position he was in, we didn't see much of him all we saw was the back portion in the shoulder area. He was face down and that was much as we saw. He looked like he had some bruises but we didn't get a close look, we just saw him in the water."

Supt Howell Gillett - OC, Belmopan Police

"We gathered all the evidence there and we had intention to charge without finding a body. But sometime after 10 today we got a call from somebody who was searching in that area and they said they spotted something resembling a body. We immediately went in the area and we realise it was his body. Two persons has just been charged and those persons are Collin Richards and Michael Broaster, both of Roaring Creek village in the Cayo district. They have been charged with 1 count each of murder but we could expect other charges will preferred at a later date."

The onsite autopsy has been concluded and the medical examiner determined that Corwin Mendoza died as consequence of drowning due to head trauma and multiple stab wounds.

To reiterate, Roaring Creek Residents Collin Richards and Michael Broaster have both been charged with murder, and they will be arraigned at the earliest convenience.

Mendoza, who is originally from Roaring Creek, had recently moved away, and was back in the village for the past 3 weeks to deal with his immigration documents in Belmopan. He leaves behind a 3 year-old daughter.