The abdomen had been sliced open from top to bottom

At press time tonight, police still have no leads or suspects in the gruesome murder of David Copius, 37, of a Jane Usher Boulevard address, whose body was retrieved at about 2:30 yesterday afternoon from a lake in the sewerage reserve, known as the Dykes, which is owned by Belize Water and Services Ltd. (BWSL) and located in the Fabers Road Extension area.

Copius was found by workers of the BWSL, who were conducting routine checks in the area. They saw the corpse floating in the water and called police.

The corpse was recovered from the lake and taken to an area near the water, and an onsite autopsy was carried out by Dr. Mario Estradabran, police coroner.

Those at the scene were shocked to discover that the killers had sliced open the victim’s abdomen, from top to bottom. The body was badly decomposed and the coroner believes that the body had been in the water for over two days.

At the conclusion of the exam, Dr. Estradabran certified that Copius had been viciously murdered and that his death was caused by exsanguinations due to multiple stab wounds to the body from a sharp instrument.

According to the results of the post-mortem, Copius had been stabbed in the chest and sustained a large cut that stretched the length of his abdomen, to the navel.

Superintendent Alford Grinage, Commander of Precinct 2 police, said that due to the state of decomposition, the corpse would have to be buried rather quickly.

At the time the corpse was found, it was unidentified, and police could only say that the unidentified man had “D-Dog” tattooed on his right upper arm with blue ink.

Inspector Calbert Flowers, Deputy Commander of the Precinct 2 police, said that the body was taken to the Eternal Gardens Cemetery at Mile 13 on the George Price Highway last night and buried, but family members later came and identified him as David Copius, after observing pictures taken by police. They were able to identify his clothing, a beaded chain around his neck, and his watch.

Copius, according to the family, was last seen on Monday morning when he left their house on Jane Usher Boulevard.

Seven years ago today, Copius’ elder sister, Tanishia Sutherland, was stabbed 17 times by her boyfriend, who was convicted of murder. The family says that because of this, Copius’ death is especially traumatic for them.