by Charles Gladden

BELIZE CITY, Mon. Mar. 31, 2025

A 16-year-old student of Edward P. Yorke High School in Belize City drowned in the river at Gracie Rock Village on Saturday, March 29, shortly after getting baptized in the same body of water.

After the baptism ceremony, Cayden Stewart and several other attendees of the baptism ceremony had gone swimming in the water. After being in the water for a short time, Stewart was seen sinking under the surface of the water, and he did not resurface. His lifeless body was found later on the riverbank with no visible injuries.

“The area was deep, and he was not found until persons began to search,” said ACP Hilberto Romero, Regional Commander of the Belize Police Department’s Eastern Division.

Stewart’s body was transported to the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital morgue for a post-mortem examination.

He was a fourth form student at Edward P. Yorke and set to graduate in June.