The 12-year-old girl was last seen two weeks ago getting into a car driven by a tour guide from nearby Cotton Tree village. On Tuesday night around 8:45, Belmopan police were called to an area between Miles 42 and 43 on the Western Highway where they discovered the half-nude, decomposing body of Saida Noemi Godoy Veliz, 12. The rotting body was 125 yards into a feeder road. Saida was clad only in her underwear and a black vest.
A post-mortem conducted on-site on Wednesday afternoon failed to determine the exact cause of death “due to the advanced state of decomposition.” Indeed, according to Belmopan police, police pathologist Dr. Mario Estradabran was unable to say what type of injuries Saida sustained or whether she was sexually assaulted, because of the terrible condition of the body. All he was able to confirm was the approximate time of death – within 24 hours of her abduction.
Saida had been sent out on an errand to find an electrician in the village to fix the fluorescent light bulb on the porch of her home, a mile from the junction of the Frank’s Eddy cutoff with the Western Highway, just past the Mile 37 marker. She never returned.
Today, her grandmother, Antonia Garrido, 66, told us through a translator that on the day Saida went missing, there was to have been a sort of church rite for her ailing mother, said to have a mental problem. When some time passed and Saida had not returned, her mother, who lives in Belize City with Saida’s aunt, Sylvia Reyes, went out to look for her. When she failed to find her, Antonia herself went out.
She did not find her granddaughter, but according to some of Saida’s friends she spoke to while looking for her, she had been seen getting into a vehicle belonging to tour guide and Special Constable, Luis Guerra of Cotton Tree. That same night, police were alerted and Guerra was detained and questioned, but released.
Antonia Garrido says she kept after police to continue their investigation, particularly questioning Guerra and a 14-year-old minor who was a friend of Saida’s and her closest confidant. According to Garrido, Saida and this minor hung out together and frequently exchanged text messages via cellular phone. Saida’s family believed, naturally, that police were dragging their feet and ignoring Antonia when she went to plea her case at police headquarters in Belmopan as recently as Tuesday morning, hours before Saida’s body was found.
In response to that charge, Superintendent of Police and Officer in Charge of Belmopan, Aaron Guzman, told Amandala tonight that police have done their best to investigate the case, and that while Guerra remains a suspect, hard evidence is needed to nail him – which they continue to try to get.
It is not known why anyone would harm Saida. The Standard Four student, who attended Franks’ Eddy Government School prior to her death, was known as a warm, friendly child – to the point of being described as “flirty” with male students in her class. She was an average student, but had many friends and an active social life despite being only 12 years old.
According to her teacher, who asked that we not use her name in this story, when Saida’s death was announced at school this morning, her classmates reportedly cried and begged to be taken to see the site of her burial. They went this afternoon to lay flowers and remember their classmate. Saida was buried on the site of her death, as is customary for decomposed bodies.
Attention now turns to who could have committed this terrible crime. Belmopan CIB investigator Sergeant Solomon Westby told Amandala that Guerra remains a “person of interest” in the case, but there are no other suspects in custody at this time. Sgt. Westby and his colleagues combed the village today in search of potential witnesses who could offer valuable information on suspects.
Saida is survived by her parents (her father lives in Guatemala); her grandmother; her three sisters, who live in Belize City with her mother and aunt, other relatives and friends.
Saida’s family has made startling allegations in other sections of the media against the suspect, claiming that he had been involved in at least one other instance with a female minor from Frank’s Eddy. According to Saida’s aunt, Sandra Reyes, the suspect allegedly paid the father not to pursue the case. When Amandala contacted her tonight regarding these allegations, she was circumspect, telling us through her translator that we would be better off talking to the girl’s family in Frank’s Eddy.
For at least one policeman, Deputy O.C. of Belmopan, Inspector David Chi, the incident has brought back haunting, unpleasant memories of that terrible time between October 1998 and February 2000, when the bodies of five female minors aged 9 to 14 were discovered. This month marks 10 years since the discovery of Jackie Fern Malic’s body on the Western Highway, and February marks 9 years since the body of the last victim, Noemi Hernandez, was discovered.
Insp. Chi felt it worth reminding his television audience on Wednesday night to be just a little more careful with our children – our future.