Photo: Akeem Augustine
by Charles Gladden
BELIZE CITY, Mon. Jan. 30, 2023
Late Friday evening, January 27, police personnel discovered the body of a man in an advanced state of decomposition in the Jane Usher area of Belize City.
The discovery came in the wake of other human remains that were found behind the Port of Belize on Monday, January 23, at around 2:00 p.m.
Reports on Friday indicated that around 5:00 p.m., a body was found in the Jane Usher area, and when police arrived at the scene at the end of Mud Street, in Jane Usher Boulevard, they saw the body of an unidentified male person approximately 100 feet away from the land in a couple of mangroves in a swampy area with 4 to 5 feet of water.
The body, which was found dismembered with its head and limbs missing, was salvaged from the mangroves and transported to the National Forensic Science Service morgue, where a post-mortem examination will be conducted to try and establish the identity of the deceased person, via DNA examination.
In the past few weeks, some men have been reported missing, with their family members searching intensely. In a recent interview with the Commissioner of Police, Chester Williams, he confirmed from one of the relatives of 29-year-old Christopher Sosa of Prince Street, who had been reported missing since January 5, that he was not in the U.S. as previously suggested, and that they now believe that he was abducted by colleagues and killed.
And in another development, today the family of 27-year-old Akeem Augustine of Flamboyant Street, who has been missing since Christmas Day, have seen their worst fears come true. In a News Five interview today, family members say they are now positive that it was Akeem’s body that was found on Friday in the mangrove swamp in the Jane Usher area, because the tattoo of his name on the body is clearly visible, and they also said that they believe the police had failed them in the search to locate Akeem from the time he went missing. Augustine’s family say that they believe Akeem was only recently killed, otherwise his body would have been much more decomposed. They believe that Akeem had been held hostage and tortured because he knew something.
Meanwhile, no leads have been given on the location of 23-year-old American national Kyle Latchman of Dean Street who has been missing since December 26.