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Courtney Weatherburne reporting
This Belmopan resident is lucky to be alive. He was dragged out of his friend's vehicle, badly beaten and thrown here near the Roaring Creek Cemetery. When his attackers drove off, he got up and dragged himself to a nearby mechanic who called the police. But this brutal beat down didn't start here at the cemetery, neither did it end there.

That survivor - who wished to conceal his identity - was at La Cabana with his friend Luis Ortiz. They were drinking and hanging out from late Saturday night into Sunday. But around 3 yesterday morning, Ortiz told him to that he was ready to leave the club. And that is when another one of their friends along with 3 other men hopped into Ortiz's car. Trusting those 3 was his biggest mistake.

Voice of Survivor
"We knew the guy, he had asked us for a ride, so we gave him a ride to the Y and from there 3 guys went in the vehicle."

Courtney Weatherburne
"They didn't even ask, they just jumped in the vehicle?"

Voice of Survivor
"They just jumped in the vehicle, and from there we went to Roaring Creek area where it was dark in front of the cemetery. They started to beat me first, then they took me out of the vehicle and started to kick me. From there I played like I was dead."

That is how he was able to escape and ask for help. But while he survived, the attackers drove off with Ortiz and brought him here by the riverside beneath the Agripino Cawich Bridge. It is believed that the men bashed the back of Ortiz's head in with the lid of the trunk, and dumped his body and the blood stained car in the river.

Later on yesterday morning, Ortiz's family got the news and went to search for his body in the river.

Edel Diaz, Nephew
"We were searching a next guy from the river, because they called me and told me 'your uncle is missing'. My friend and I found him in a hole on the side like a mile and a half from his car. He was floating and his face was still bleeding on his face. When they put him in the car he was still bleeding all here."

Courtney Weatherburne
"And you said there was a gash in his head?"

Edel Diaz, Nephew
"Yes right back here, with a rock or bat but I know for a fact that it was more than one person."

The family says those persons had to have known Ortiz. As the surviving friend who was thrown in the cemetery said they knew one of the men who got into the car at Cabana.

Edel Diaz, Nephew
"Actually, not anyone could have gone inside his car. You had to be a close friend to enter that car, so it had to be someone who knew him very well."

And Ortiz's murder still comes as a shock for the family because they say although he drank a lot, he didn't make any enemies, only friends.

Edel Diaz, Nephew
"He was someone who had no enemies, I can say that for a fact. Usually people say this and that, but he was someone who had to work for his money. He use to like drink, I won't lie but it couldn't be someone he didn't know, it had to be someone he knew."

Courtney Weatherburne
"They use to call him "Chapin" right?"

Edel Diaz, Nephew
"Chapin use to be his name. Back here in San Martin, everyone knew him as Chapin."

But he was more than just "Chapin" to Diaz, he was his only cherished uncle.

Edel Diaz, Nephew
"He's the only uncle I had. I don't know what to say, I'm just painful."

Ortiz was found with a large gash to the back of his head and a wound to his left eye. He was single and had lived in Maya Mopan for many years.