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Went Missing On His Birthday, Found Dead Two Days Later
posted (May 13, 2025)
24-year-old Moises Garbutt vanished two days ago-on his birthday. His family launched a desperate search, hoping for the best. But this afternoon, those hopes were shattered when his body was found around 1 p.m.

Garbutt wasn't known to cause trouble, making his murder all the more shocking. But his family believes they know who did it-and why. Courtney Menzies went west and has the story.

Moises Garbutt turned 24 on Sunday, May 11th. However, that was also the last time he was seen alive. Garbutt's family had reported him missing after he was a no-show to his birthday plans.

Leah James, Sister of Deceased
"It was his birthday, he already had plans in place. One of his cousins who was his best friend, they did not find him at home so they alerted us the family to figure out when he was last scene because it's not like him to not show up for his birthday after he made planned something, that's when we first noticed he was missing."

The family immediately started searching for him, and this afternoon, his body was found on George Price Boulevard in Belmopan.

Leah James, Sister of Deceased
"What we did was a search party, we formed several search parties. We started searching in the west and then we started searching in the east, just trying to figure out where to even go. While searching the area where he was found, we started to notice the birds and that's what mainly led us to the site to venture into the bushes and continue the search."

Rachel Guzman, Aunt of Deceased
"At first we were not getting much help but today they really stepped up and they really came through for us, the CIB really came through for us today and they were with us every step of the way. They were doing their investigations, doing their questioning, getting everything that we had because we started our own investigation but they really stepped up and they really helped us out today. When we found the body, that's what we wanted, we wanted closure. We were hoping to find him alive and safe because we were getting a lot of other text messages, calls as usual, where he was and stuff but I think it was all to distract us from where we really found his body."

But who would have wanted Garbutt dead? His family described him as humble and peaceful - but they also explained that he had been threatened.

Rachel Guzman, Aunt of Deceased
"He is someone that is very calm, he is humble, so it wasn't really something that he would say to us because any kind of threats, anyone here in the village is family so any threats it's not really taken serious."

Leah James, Sister of Deceased
"We didn't take it seriously."

Rachel Guzman, Aunt of Deceased
"To be honest we were hearing certain stuff, him and another individual from our family were being threatened but we're all family so we did not take it serious and we did not think that something like this would occur. He's a very humble young man, he doesn't have any enemies, he's not the type of person to go and make enemies or half malice or grievance with any person. He's a little bit soft spoken, he's family oriented and he's very humble, he's a humble young man. Always smiling, always happy."

Courtney Menzies:
"So are you thinking that one of those same people who were making the threats might have done this?"

Rachel Guzman, Aunt of Deceased
"We strongly believe that yes it's related to the threats that were made to him."

And as they wait and hope for justice, their grief is palpable.

Rachel Guzman, Aunt of Deceased
"It's very hard. His dad is not here, he's our only nephew from my brother. His mom is devastated, his aunts, everyone, it's very hard because I mean, you know when something is going to happen to someone and you expect it, but with him, he's a very humble guys, this is the last thing we expected to happen to him, for him to go this type of way, he's not the type of person to have any problems or anything with anyone."

Garbutt had two biological kids and two stepchildren, all under the age of 8.

According to police reports, no visible injuries were observed, however, that may be due to the advanced state of decomposition. The family now awaits a postmortem to ascertain the cause of death. And while they are sure its their loved one, we note that the police say "due to the advanced state of decomposition, police were unable to properly identify the body. A DNA test will be conducted to ascertain the identity of the individual."

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