A 28-year-old mother, Julia Moran, of the Black Neighborhood of Caye Caulker, was viciously killed and mutilated in her home, and her husband, Sergio Moran, has since absconded, taking their 9-year-old son with him.

The incident occurred at about 2:30 a.m. on Wednesday, June 12.

Moran lived upstairs of a house that was one of four houses in the yard of a “Ms. Paula,” her landlady. Her neighbours told police that they heard “noise and ruction” at about 12:30 Wednesday morning when Moran’s husband, who is a chef at Roses Restaurant, came home.

According to Moran’s neighbours, they heard her husband knock on the door, but there was no answer, and the door was not opened. The husband, they said, then kicked open the door and went in, and an altercation with his wife began.

The neighbours said that after about 45 minutes, they heard him threaten his wife with violence, and they heard her say, “Don’t do it Sergio,” and then there was silence.

Two neighbours told Amandala that they became concerned that she had not opened the house the following morning and come out to talk to them as she usually did.

About 11:00 a.m. when she still did not emerge from the house, they called police. When police came, they forcefully entered the house and saw her mutilated body on a bed. Police reports indicate that when the officers entered the home, they found her lifeless body covered with sheets and blankets. She had been stabbed, slashed, chopped and maimed.

Her husband and child were nowhere to be found, said police. No sign of forced entry was observed in the home, they said; the only door to the house was locked and had to be broken open. The officers say that they recovered a machete and a knife from the scene, believed to be the weapons used in Julia’s murder.

Neighbours had told them that at about 3:00 a.m., Julia’s husband, Sergio Moran, along with their child, were seen leaving the area.

After processing the scene, the police took the body to the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital Morgue, where a post-mortem will be carried out to certify the cause of death.

An all-points bulletin has been issued for the detention of Sergio Moran, and his return to Caye Caulker. Police said that he is crucial in their investigation into Julia Moran’s death.

Witnesses told Amandala that about 3:00 a.m. they saw Moran and his son going towards the water taxi station. One of them asked him for a cigarette, and they say that he was trembling and nervous when he had passed over the cigarettes, but they were not aware that he was escaping the island after the brutal death of his wife.

We were told that there are boats that leave Caye Caulker as early as 4 in the morning.

Police said that Moran is a Guatemalan, and believe that he is making his way back to his country, taking his son with him.

Julia’s sister, Anna Bol, told Amandala that she was in Colombia, Punta Gorda, when she got the news that her sister had been killed. She lives in Caye Caulker, and went home immediately, but the body had already been taken to the morgue.

The keys for the house were then handed over to Anna, who entered the house. A man who went into the house with her, who had gone there with police to bring down the body, showed her where police had found three of Julia’s severed fingers.

According to Anna, it was a habit of her brother-in-law’s to quarrel and abuse her sister when he drinks. And on many occasions, she said, she would tell him that if he hits her sister, she would deal with him. She and her sister were very close, and grew up together, she said.

Julia’s landlady, Paula, said that she has known the girls since they were children, and watched them grow up. She allowed Julia to build a house on her land. Anna and Julia had first rented a house, but Anna eventually convinced Paula to allow Julia to build her house in the yard. Paula told Amandala that Julia had told her that if she died, everything she owned would go to her sister, and that her sister would raise her son.

Many believe that jealousy was the cause of the altercation that led to the murder. A policeman said that he saw Julia sitting alone on the beach by the Police Station at about 11:30 Tuesday night, and she was talking on her phone. He approached and asked her if all was well, and she replied that she was okay.

Shortly after, she left the area and went home. People in the community have surmised that this may have led her husband to believe that she was with someone, but she was in fact alone sitting on the beach.

Police said that this was not the first time that she has been hurt by her husband. In 2007, he beheaded her dog and chopped up the animal, and chopped her on the hand. However, she had not brought charges against him, fearing for her life.

Her family said that the relationship was very abusive, and she had endured it for years. Those who knew her said that she loved music and loved to have a good time. She was hard-working and independent.

Police are seeking the public’s assistance to apprehend Sergio Moran. Anyone who sees him, or has information that can lead to his apprehension, is urged to contact the nearest police station, or 0800 – 922 – TIPS.