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Was Jealousy The Motive For Murder In Placencia?
posted (April 15, 2024)
This past weekend was particularly bloody with two murders and two fatal traffic accidents - all in the south. We start with a killing in one of the places you'd least expect it - Placencia. 32-year-old Roy Lee Burgess was found dead inside a vehicle at mile 1.5 on the Placencia Road. He and the woman he was with were both shot, but she survived and was rushed to the hospital for treatment.

But why were they targeted? Well, Burgess' family is suspicious of the woman he'd previously been involved with. But police say they're looking for a man - the one who actually pulled the trigger.

Courtney Menzies went south today to find out more. Here's that story.

The normally peaceful Placencia Road turned deadly in the early hours of Sunday morning when shots rang out. Officers would later find the body of 32-year-old Roy Lee Burgess in a vehicle along with a woman suffering from a gunshot injury to the face.

ACP Hilberto Romero, OCED
"He was having an affair with the female he was with."

Tonight, his family is blaming his ex-girlfriend for the murder. According to his father, Burgess told him last week that he ended their relationship. A few days later, he told him that his life was being threatened.

Samuel Burgess, Father of Deceased
"He started to tell me what was happening and he left the woman, the white lady he lived with and he rented a room and he and his son stayed that side. And then I told him that's the best way because then staying together, fuss and quarrel, then problems start, something happens that shouldn't and then he said yes he already did that."

"I have a place back here that I bought for some of my kids and then he walked in and told me he was back there, he just came back, this was like two days after, like Wednesday, he said he's cleaning up because he will soon start building there. I told him that's good. Then he told me that the woman is calling him and threatening him and he doesn't like it. I told him, well just ignore her and keep away, didn't know it would boil down to this."

And the ex-girlfriend was no stranger to this family - in fact she went with them to celebrate Burgess' birthday on an island. So he found it strange when she showed up at the house and the morgue asking about the young woman who was in the vehicle with his son.

Samuel Burgess, Father of Deceased
"When we got up to Dangriga, the lady with a vehicle full of young men came here, stopped out there. Instead of them asking about my son, they asked for the little girl who was in the car who got shot also but she didn't die. So they must have gotten that message and they want to know where she is."

"When we already saw the body and came back out, one of the police came to me and said, sir, this young lady out there kept asking about the little girl, the young girl that got shot, where she is? I don't think that's right, something is up with that, the police is mentioning to me. I told him I think the same way, I heard it and I heard more coming to ask."

And today the police said this murder stemmed from a domestic dispute, and was likely an act of jealousy.

ACP Hilberto Romero, OCED
"They were in the area at the time. The vehicles was parked at the spot when this male person just came and fired the shots towards them."

"We have established it is from a domestic dispute. That is what led to this murder."

And while they continue to investigate, a 13-year-old boy will now have to grow up without his father.

Samuel Burgess, Father of Deceased
"That's tough, I was telling him that he could come live here but my next son in Mango Creek, he going to the high school in Mango Creek so my son lives in Mango Creek so it's going to be easier for him."

"But it's tough because I grew up without a father and that's tough, my father died when I was 6 years old."

The police are currently seeking one male suspect.

Police have a known male suspect whom they are seeking.

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