BELMOPAN, Cayo District, Mon. Dec. 18, 2017– Police say they have a person of interest in their investigation into the death of Oswald “Elvis ” Lopez, 69, who was killed over the weekend. He was stabbed 19 times in the face and across the body. According to police reports, just before 3 o’clock on Sunday afternoon, cops visited an area opposite the Hector Silva Airstrip.
There, officers saw a gold taxi with its engine still running, and beside it they saw a motionless Lopez, apparently dead with many stab wounds to his upper body. It is believed that he was lured to his death by a murderer posing as a fare.
In an interview with the media today, Luke Ramos, the son-in-law of the deceased, revealed that the last time he saw Lopez was about midday, when he stopped by for lunch. Lopez had indicated that he was heading home to get some rest because business had been slow. The two joked and parted ways.
“It was about, a little after 3 in the afternoon, that I got a call from my son that he heard rumors that my father-in-law got stabbed,” Ramos said.
He added, “He asked me to check it out, so I dropped what I was doing and I went to the police station, and there the officer told me they were still on the scene.”
According to Ramos, he quickly grew worried.
“I became worried immediately when he said they were still on the scene because, I said if he got stabbed he should be at the hospital, so, when he say ‘on the scene’ we became concerned immediately,” he said.
Ramos then made his way to the crime scene. He explained, “Upon driving towards the Belmopan Baptist High School, almost at the entrance of the school, we saw the police vehicle and the activities going on.”
When our newspaper spoke with Yolanda Ramos, a daughter of the deceased, she was of the view that her father’s death was a contract killing. That is because his wallet and possessions had been left intact at the crime scene. However, Yolanda explained that she does not know why anyone would want him dead because he was not a troublesome person.
According to his daughter he was a very flirtatious and jovial man. Up to the time of his death he had 26 children, 107 grandchildren and 17 great grandchildren. Oswald Lopez was commonly referred to as Elvis Presley because as a career soul singer he often imitated the late musician Elvis Presley.
Lopez, a brother of the late, great Belizean music genius, Andy Palacio, had served as a cabbie for more than 4 decades.