Photo: Miguel Encalada

by Roy Davis (freelance reporter) and Charleston Gladden

BELIZE CITY, Mon. Apr. 24, 2023

Miguel Encalada, 39, a barber of Scissors Tail Street, Ladyville, was charged with two counts of murder when he appeared today before Senior Magistrate, Baja Shoman. He was remanded into custody at Belize Central Prison until June 30,2023.

Police are still investigating the circumstances surrounding an incident in the wee hours of Thursday morning last week, April 20, which claimed the lives of Encalada’s common-law wife of three years, Desiree Gonzalez, 50, and his brother, George Rochester, 25. Police detained Encalada after they went to his house and found him with the bodies of Gonzalez and Rochester inside. They were shot and it is believed that it was as a result of a love triangle.

Initial reports suggested that when Encalada arrived at his home on Scissors Tail Street in Ladyville around noon, he allegedly caught Gonzalez and Rochester together and reportedly killed them. However, Gonzalez’s sister, Cindy Rowland soon took to social media and gave her own account of what she believed took place, claiming that her sister was never involved in any romantic relationship with Rochester, and that Gonzalez and Encalada were inseparable.

Rowland expressed her belief that the gruesome act was carried out before dawn, and that Encalada went to retrieve Rochester from his home and then killed him outside the residence. He then killed Gonzalez, placing them together to create an impression that the two had been intimate.

Police have subsequently reported that when they arrived at the scene they found a calm Encalada sitting in the home on a chair consuming a beer, and while police were surveying the area he got up and met them at the entrance and directed them to a licensed firearm on the chair, which led to his detention.

The Commissioner of Police, Chester Williams, told local reporters at a press briefing on Friday that Rowland’s theory is inconsistent with what they observed at the scene. According to Williams, they may have been killed around 2:00 or 3:00 a.m., as rigor mortis had set in.

ComPol Williams further noted that they are relying on information that was provided by the brothers of the accused, which was consistent with what authorities found on the scene.

Police are trying to get a search warrant from the court to access the phone records of Rochester and Gonzalez to determine whether any previous conversations may have occurred that would provide a clearer picture of what took place.

Today, results of a postmortem examination conducted on the bodies of both deceased reportedly revealed that Gonzalez died due to acute Facio-corticospinal Cord traumatic injuries due to a Single penetrating gunshot wound to the body, while Rochester’s cause of death was a result of Acute Cranioencephalic traumatic injuries due to multiple gunshot wounds to the body.

According to reports, Encalada and Gonzalez had been living together for about 3 years and they owned two businesses, a restaurant and a barber shop.

Gonzalez is the mother of 6 children, while Rochester is the father of one.