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Late this evening in San Pedro, they were arraigned on a very minor charge for possession of Valium without a prescription. Daniel Ortiz has been on the island all day and he has this report:..

Daniel Ortiz reporting
Americans Anke and David Doehm were finally taken before the San Pedro Magistrate about 2 and a half hours ago. The couple is being criminally investigated for the death of their daughter, Faye Lin Cannon, but their arraignment this evening had nothing to do with their child's untimely demise.

Police had charged them this weekend with a minor offense of drug possession. That was a tactic deployed so that the police would have lawful authority to detain them longer, while they are being investigated for a charge relating to the child's death.

Supt. Henry Jemmoth - OC, Coastal Executive Unit
"Both family members have been charged for possession of a controlled drug which is valium, that was at the house at the time of the police search. With that we have put the file together and we will send to the DPP, so she has all the pertinent evidence to try and say if we will lay charges. So she will be the person to assist us with that."

Reporter
"So that particular controlled drug, you need to have a prescription for it right?"

Supt. Henry Jemmoth - OC, Coastal Executive Unit
"Yes. Everything is done meticulously very slowly to get all the evidence we need."

Reporter
"Is this like a sort of holding pattern so that police have lawful grounds to keep them while you investigate them for Faye Lin's death?"

Supt. Henry Jemmoth
"Yes."

Reporter
"Is it that after the arraignment when they would be expected to get bail, the police intends to hold them right after that? Or..."

Supt. Henry Jemmoth
"We intend to object to bail on certain grounds that we have placed to the prosecutor."

And while police used that to buy more time, residents of San Pedro are calling for a successful prosecution in the death of Faye Lin.

They were back at it this on Saturday with a demonstration. This time they made sure to get a lawful permit from police to protest, so that they could vent their frustration at the death of an innocent child.

But, for all their cries for justice, police have been carefully combing through the lives of this family, trying to dot all I's and cross all T's. San Pedro Mayor Daniel Guerrero was very circumspect today, calling for the residents to help the police by providing proof, instead of condemning the parents without provable grounds.

Daniel Guerrero - Mayor, San Pedro Town
"Well its definitely a very sad incident and it's an isolated incident also and yes the entire town got shocked. Everybody kind of hurt - it touches your heart and I am of the opinion that as the population grows we will be seeing things like this. It's not something we would want to see, but people need to be real. The bigger the population, the more incidents and things will be occurring and if we would have none, this wouldn't have happened. This little girl I knew her very well. I knew the whole family and these people do rent with my sister. But that's about it. We don't know them that much. Because I don't like to interfere in anybody business or people's lives, but really and truly they had a really successful business, but the people are saying different out there. I don't know if all these saying out there if they can come forward and provide evidence and that's the problem, because the officer in charge is asking the general public to come forward and bring evidence to have better investigation results. But I am not sure if they are going forward with that evidence at the police station."

"I never saw anything - I'll be straightforward. I hear what people say, but I never saw anything myself. It could be that the people saw something. Again, like I say they need to come with evidence. I am not trying to protect them, but I'm just saying that if people can say certain things on the social media or the media itself then need to prove that, they need to come with solid sound evidence. Because if they don't have it, it doesn't takes us anywhere."

The San Pedro Commanding Officer was able to briefly answer a few of our pointed questions.

Supt. Henry Jemmoth
"I won't go into details about the evidence gathering, but I could tell you that we had additional personnel on the ground over the weekend assisting us in all angles of recording statements, getting all the evidence that we need to submit to the DPP and if necessary, if she wants more or other stuff that we need to submit to her, then we will do that."

Reporter
"Is there any proof to reports that the FBI is assisting in this case?"

Supt. Henry Jemmoth
"Well yes. It is a US national, so they are assisting to a certain extent, but I must tell you that the Belize Police Department takes the lead on any cases that happens within Belize."

Reporter
"Are you able to say prior to her death that residents complained about Faye Lin's physical abuse to this station?"

Supt. Henry Jemmoth
"We have no such report on record. We have one report that was made to the Human Development [Department] and our officer at the time in 2014 accompany the human development officer to check on that situation. A medical report has to be ordered and as soon as that is compiled as well and that is completed that will be submitted. Also the children will be interviewed by a specialist to see if they can get any evidence out of them."

"Also because of the nature of what had happened, we are trying not to exhaust the kids, because remember they are young and we don't want to exhaust them with this investigation and they will lock up and we will not get any evidence from them. So we have to be very careful how we do it."

Reporter
"Is this being treated as a murder investigation?"

Supt. Henry Jemmoth
"It is still being treated as a murder investigation."

Reporter
"Sir are you able to say whether any of the investigating officers have observed any physical injuries on the other children?"

Supt. Henry Jemmoth
"Physical injuries, I could say no. They haven't seen any physical injuries on the other children."

Reporter
"In terms of closing the case, it appears that's going to take a while, but do you expect to bring charges to, maybe preliminary and then add to the case after?"

Supt. Henry Jemmoth
"If the DPP gives us the guidance and the instructions then we follow that. But I will tell you that the case is an ongoing case and an ongoing matter."

It's ongoing, but the police now have a 48-hour deadline because their attempt to buy more time didn't exactly work out according to plan.

So, to the arraignment itself, the Americans were arraigned this evening before Magistrate Villanueva. They were read a single charge of possession of a controlled drug. Police found a few grams of valium in their house, and David Doehm did not have a recent prescription for this drug which is otherwise illegal.

He pleaded guilty to the charge explaining that he got the prescription from his doctor back in 2014 and 2015, and when he went to refill that prescription drug, they didn't give him an updated document. He says that he trusted his medical provider, and he didn't know that he was committing an offense.

He was fined $185 dollars, and he and his wife were released. But, police detained them immediately after they were released, and so the 48 hours of detention restarts, while police try to find enough evidence to bring a charge against them for the death of their daughter.

Outrage on the island against the couple and the Department of Human services remains high, and townspeople protested again on Saturday - this time with the proper permit. This video from the San Pedro Sun shows a good turnout on Saturday demanding justice for Faye, and condemning the lack of decisive action by social service workers and police.

Today the Department of Human Services issued a rare statement, defending its actions - or perceived inaction - in this case. It says, quote, "Departmental records show that in 2014, there was a report of improper supervision and inadequate parenting whereby the Cannon children were being exposed to the elements. A joint investigation was conducted along with the Police Department, where the parents, children and school officials were interviewed. The allegation was substantiated, however, there were no disclosures or indicators of any other forms of physical or sexual abuse at that time. As such, the Department created a plan with the parents for the proper supervision of the children. The plan was monitored for adherence and the case was later closed when it was deemed that the parents had been compliant. Since then, the Department's records show no other reports being made of neglect or abuse of these children." End quote.

The statement adds that Faye's three surviving sisters have been taken into protective care. The department is also conducting a child abuse investigation and, quote, "has referred the children for therapeutic counselling to assist them through this traumatic experience."

In 2016, the Ministry received and investigated 1,485 reports of child abuse and neglect - and urges anyone in the public who sees something to call 0-800-PROTECT, the nearest police station, or Crime Stoppers International at 0-800-922-TIPS.