High school principal and two friends executed in house on GP Highway
MILE 10½, GEORGE PRICE HIGHWAY, Belize District, Wed. June 5, 2019– Yesterday, when Alarice Andrewin, 44, principal of Excelsior High School, did not show up at school, police were asked to go to check and see that all was okay with her at her home at Mile 10½ on the George Price Highway.
The reason her colleagues were especially concerned was that they had not been able to make contact with her, and her home had been burglarized just about a month ago.
When police arrived at Andrewin’s house at about 3:30 yesterday afternoon, they found that the front doors, one of wood and one made of iron bars, were open, and when they entered the house, they noticed that the house had been ransacked.
When they went to Andrewin’s bedroom, they found a horrendous scene—three persons with their hands tied behind their backs, dead from gunshot wounds in their heads.
Police identified the murdered persons as Alarice Andrewin and two Guatemalan nationals, Vidal Antonio Yuman Cacho, 39, and Maria Delfina Juarez Lucas, 19. The bodies of Andrewin and Cacho were found on the bed in the room, and Lucas’ body was on the floor.
Andrewin died from a gunshot in the right side of her head, while Cacho and Lucas were shot in the back of their heads.
Police say they don’t know whether anything was stolen from the house, but Andrewin’s SUV, a Nissan Rogue, was missing from the front yard, and they believe it had been stolen.
Belize City Councilor, Javier Castellanos, who is the chairman of Excelsior High School’s board of management, told us that he went to see the principal at about 9:30 yesterday morning, but she wasn’t in her office.
Castellanos said he called her office at about 10:00 yesterday morning and was told that she had not come to school.
He called again at about 1:30 p.m., but she was still absent. Castellanos said he then called her phone and when he got no response, he began to get concerned, and so he called Hattieville police and asked them to go to her house to check on her.
Castellanos said that the principal was not the kind of person who would absent herself from school without informing him or the secretary. He said that Andrewin lived alone, but since her house was broken into on May 9, she would invite one of her friends to go home with her as a sort of protection.
Police had arrested seven men for burglarizing Andrewin’s house, one of whom is out on bail.
Castellanos said that he had known Andrewin for about six months, since he began working as the chairman of the school’s management. He said he found her to be energetic and outstanding, that she went beyond her duty to improve the school.
Marshall Nunez, a longtime member of the Excelsior board of management, said that Andrewin would never be forgotten. Nunez said that Andrewin, a veteran teacher, loved teaching and that she had taught at other learning institutions, including Anglican Cathedral College and St. Catherine Academy, before joining the staff of Excelsior High School.
He said she was highly respected, dynamic, and that she ascended to the administration level at Excelsior quickly. Nunez said she was hard-working and always had the best intentions for the school.
Today, during a press brief held at the Raccoon Street Police Station, Commissioner of Police Chester Williams said that this heinous crime will be treated with a very high level of response. Williams said that a task force comprised of investigators of the police’s gang units, Special Branch, Crimes Investigation, Operations and the Financial Intelligence Unit has been formed to solve the triple murders.
Compol Williams said that the lead investigator of the team will be ASP Alejandro Cowo; the case manager will be Supt. Hilberto Romero, and he, Williams, will be the overseer. Compol Williams said that all will be done to solve the case and restore public confidence. He advised that while the investigation is being carried out some details will be withheld from the public so as not to jeopardize the case.
Supt. Hilberto Romero told the press that multiple persons were involved in the crime, but he doesn’t know whether it was coordinated. Romero said police are asking anyone who has information that can help them to crack this case to contact the police at the nearest police station, or call 0800-822- TIPS.
Police said that Andrewin had not reported that she was being threatened, and the motive for the triple murder is not known at this time. Police are leaving no stones unturned and they are presently looking into two cases in connection with which Andrewin was to provide testimony, to see if there might be any connection to her murder.
One case, of course, was for the burglary of her house, in which police caught the culprits red-handed, and the other case was mentioned by Javier Castellanos, who said that Andrewin was set to give evidence in front of the Teachers Commission in reference to an alleged misuse of school funds, which was not reported to police because it was to be settled internally by the Teachers Commission.
Andrewin was a stalwart of the BNTU (Belize National Teachers Union), and the union responded to her murder with a press release calling for those in authority to bring down the crime rate, to do their jobs because members of the community are tired of burying their loved ones.
Compol Williams countered that the BNTU shouldn’t be telling police to do their jobs, because police work hard, sometimes 56 hours per week, with no extra pay. He said they cannot be at people’s homes to watch them.