An American man from the state of Baltimore, Maryland, in the United States, was found in an advanced state of decomposition in his apartment on Bradley Crescent in the Belama area of the city. The man was known as Jim, and he was a writer.
Jim was found by the female caretaker of the apartments at about 10:00 this morning, Thursday. Jim was taken out of the house by police at about 4:00 this afternoon, put into the pan of a mobile unit and taken to an area on the Boom-Hattieville Road, where a post-mortem was to be carried out by Doctor Mario Estradabran, police coroner, to certify the cause of his death.
Jim, we were told, will be buried at the scene of the autopsy as soon as it is concluded. Police said that there were no signs of violence on the body, and believe that he died of natural causes.
Information to Amandala is that Jim had not been seen for about three weeks. The caretaker went to the house this morning to see what had happened, and that was when she found his decaying body in his bed.
Jim’s neighbors, also Americans, Taylor Dailey and Marissa Elliot, in an interview with the media at the scene, said that Jim was a writer from Baltimore. He would stay in his room to do his work, and was hardly seen. He would take his work, when completed, back to Baltimore, where it was published, and after it was sold, Jim then returned to his home to write again.
They said that they had not seen Jim for about three weeks, but thought nothing of it. About two weeks ago, they had begun to smell an odor like that of rotting fish, but they had not recognized it to be the rotting flesh of a human.
They began to wonder who would have rotting fish or dirty laundry water in the area that was so disturbing, but yesterday, the odor became so intense that they realized that the source of the stench was more than rotting fish.
Still, they were shocked when they learned that it was Jim who had been found rotting in his house. The neighbors said that he was not overweight; and had actually seemed strong and healthy when they last saw him. They surmised that whatever killed him was hidden, because he had not seemed troubled or ill.
The caretaker also told Amandala that she knows very little about Jim, because he stayed locked away in his apartment.
Police said that they are trying to contact Jim’s associates and loved ones in Baltimore through the US Embassy in Belmopan, to give them the bad news.
Jim will be buried in the Boom-Hattieville road area later today by policemen of Precinct 4, who also carried out the task of taking the decomposing body out of the house and transporting him to the Boom- Hattieville area for the post-mortem.