7 News Belize

Dismembered Body Parts Found In Sack Near Iguana Creek
posted (March 21, 2017)
Exactly one week after finding out that their beloved daughter and sisters were brutally murdered, the family of 18 year old Kerona Ara is back in the news, but this time the tragedy did not happen to them.

At about 1 this afternoon, a couple of Ara's brothers and their friends were hunting iguanas near the Iguana Creek Bridge. They came across a 'crocus' bag in the water that they wanted to use to hold an iguana that they had captured, but as they got closer they realized the bag was already holding the remains of a human body; the hands and feet to be exact. The boys then ran home to tell their mother, Sherlene Mai, about what they found, and the family quickly called the police. The boys were too shaken up to talk to us, but Mai recounted what they told her, and told us what she saw when she went down the river to see for herself...

Shirlene Mai, Mother of Eyewitness
"Well I recently got home from Belmopan and then I was about to take off my clothes when my son came running into the house and I was like "not a next bad news" and he was like shaken up and he said "mom, mom" and I ask what it is and he said that they found a body at the river. No I started to question him "do you see head, foot, it is a female, a male or what." He said "no mom, I just see the hand and the foot and then I called Mr. Gillett in charge of Belmopan police and then he says he will have the guys out here, but he says he think this is San Ignacio area. So I say okay let me call my boss. So I call Mr. Rosado and he said that he is not at work right now because he is on holiday, but he will call Mr. Andrew Ramirez who is the OC overall. The police were very prompt, because by the time I stepped out to walk going towards the river to see what it was, I see the police already reach before me. I said "wow." It was kind of difficult to reach where the body was, but then I stand on this side of the river and they stood on the other side and they were retrieving it from the river and thing like that."

"I ask if the body has head and they told me no. I ask if it has a body and they say no, it's just hand and foot. I said like after I went through that ordeal with my daughter and thing, maybe there is another family same thing - lose their loved one and they want to know what happened. So it's like I want to try and assist to have them find who did it and try bring closure to that next grieving family too."

Alex Courtenay, 7News
"To your knowledge ma'am there is nobody in the area who is missing or who it could possibly be?"

Shirlene Mai, Mother of Eyewitness
"Well I start asked around and nobody says anyone is missing for them. So I feel a little safe that no one from here is missing. So it's kind of shocking to hear that kind of discovery here in this village, because I have never heard this kind of thing happening here."

There was no head or torso anywhere near the vicinity, which will make identifying the body difficult for authorities. From what the family told us, the boys believe it is a female. Police have not given any specifics.

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