But, while those 3 murders have made local headlines, the killing which continues to make international headlines is that of 39 year-old American Tourist Anne Swaney.
This news producer from ABC 7 in Chicago was vacationing in Belize, at the Nabitunich Resort just outside of Benque Viejo Town. She went missing last week Thursday morning and the next day, police found her body floating in the Mopan River.
She was last seen doing yoga on the riverside, and she was supposed to go horse-back riding with her fellow guests, but she never made it. Police found her body some 20+ hours later, and they were convinced that she had been killed.
Well, a post-mortem examination has confirmed that she was strangled to death, and had sustained blunt force trauma to the head and neck. Here's what the Commissioner of Police had to say about the case today:
Allen Whylie, Commissioner of Police
"The investigation is ongoing. Indeed we have a team of investigators working on that case. Indeed the post mortem was conducted by the doctor and his results was that manual strangulation she dies from and also she had some blunt trauma to the face. We have officers combing the area as we speak continuing and we are following up on all leads. I do know that we had one individual detained for general questioning - a Guatemalan national. That person has been charged for illegal entry at this point in time. I cannot say that he is suspect, but the process of investigation - he was found in the general area and so he has been detained and has been question."
Daniel Ortiz
"Sir, I know that the investigators initially suspected that the victim was sexually assaulted. Has the post mortem revealed any information to confirm that?"
Allen Whylie, Commissioner of Police
"My recollection from the doctor is that he did not see any signs of that occurring. But nonetheless I know that swabs have been taken for further analysis."
We've since learned that police have gone back to the wooden deck you saw in our story, which is where they believed that she was attacked while she was exercising. They've returned looking for additional evidence, and we understand that other elements of law enforcement have been searching the river and surrounding areas for belongings which may have been lost when she was thrown into the river.
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