For the last nine months, the grieving family of 2011 KTV champion, Daniel Aguirre, 37, who was believed to have been brutally murdered on September 7 of last year, has been eagerly awaiting the results of DNA tests which are supposed to determine whether the charred remains of a body that was found in Teakettle a few days after his apparent murder is indeed that of Aguirre.
The results, however, are still pending.
Aguirre was the sole breadwinner for his family, and after his suspected death, the bank had initially threatened his wife, Milagro Garcia, with foreclosure because she was unable to pay a $460 monthly payment towards the mortgage on their home for some time, but after she made a case to the bank, they relented and asked her to take in a letter from the Police Department indicating why they (police) could not provide the death certificate to verify his death, so that the funds could be made available from Aguirre’s insurance company for her to pay the loan.
Earlier this week, we asked the Director of the National Forensic Science Service, David Henderson, Sr., for an update on the pending DNA results, but the response was negative and seemingly nonchalant.
He said, “[The results] have not returned as yet, but we are expecting it very shortly. We should get the results, but it is a bit difficult, because whatever samples that have been collected, need to be sent out of the country to be analyzed; however, we are working on enhancing our department, so we will reach that level soon.”
While he alluded that the results should be in the country sometime soon, Henderson did not specify a timeframe for the arrival of the DNA results.
Back in March of this year, Milagro Garcia sought the assistance of the media after making a plea to authorities to step in so that she could sort out the family’s housing mortgage with the bank, because the insurance company that would have paid off the $30,000 outstanding balance on the mortgage requires a death certificate to release the funds.
She said, “The insurance company is requesting the death certificate, and when I went to see the police, they said that they cannot give it out without the DNA results. What I need is for them to help me and do something because it is already 6 months since he died. The bank wants the death certificate, and the money is his, but I need it because that is the only thing he left for my children.”
At that time, Garcia had been regularly checking at the Belmopan Police Station, and said that she had even sought the intervention of Minister of National Security, John Saldivar, because of her fear of being destitute.
“If I lose the house, I will stay out on the street and I have two young girls who are going to school and I don’t have a job. I asked him [Saldivar] to do something, because he is in charge of all of that, and I need his help”, a distressed Garcia stated.
DNA results from Belize are often sent to Jamaica, and normally return in six months; however, no reason has been given for the delay.
Aguirre went missing early last September, and days later, police found the remnants of his car – purportedly containing his remains – thoroughly burned on Pook’s Hill Road near Teakettle.
Shortly after, Noel Alexander Torres, 29, a resident of Belize City, was arrested and charged in connection with Aguirre’s stolen 9mm firearm, which had been found in a house where he (Torres) was staying in Teakettle.
Although the post-mortem results which were done on Aguirre’s body were inconclusive, Torres was later arraigned for Aguirre’s murder in the Belmopan Magistrate’s Court based on a caution statement he reportedly made to police in which he allegedly confessed to the murder, calling Aguirre’s name and explaining how he used the murder weapon, a knife, to kill him.
While he awaits trial for murder, Torres is currently serving five years for keeping an unlicensed firearm, keeping unlicensed ammunition, and handling stolen goods.