Photo: Imari Galvez, deceased
Popular football star, Woodrow West, and another male person have been detained for questioning in relation to the death of Imarie Galvez, 19, of Belmopan.
by Charles Gladden
BELMOPAN. Wed. May 17, 2023
On Monday, May 15, family members of Imarie Galvez, 19, of Belmopan, reported her missing, and on Tuesday, May 16, their fears became the worst agony when her decomposing nude body, with injuries to her breast and leg and an apparent single gunshot wound to the head, was discovered at 6:17 p.m. in an uninhabited area on the outskirts of Mile 40 off the Hummingbird Highway.
Galvez’s mother, Joanna Caceres explained to local reporters the sequence of events that occurred before her daughter mysteriously disappeared and was found dead.
She said that on that May 13, Saturday night, after 10:00 o’clock, she and her husband, Stanley Galvez, returned home after going out to purchase something to eat. Her husband purchased food for Imarie as well, which she ate and then went to her room. Caceres said she noted that her daughter had a depressed expression on her face.
“Before she went to her room, I saw sadness on her face like she wanted to say something [or] she was crying, but I honestly, I didn’t ask her anything,” Caceres said. Caceres said that her daughter was in her room until after 12:30 a.m. (Sunday morning) when she and her husband went to bed.
Caceres told reporters she believes it had to be a close acquaintance of Imarie’s who came for her. She said that Imarie would normally notify her of her whereabouts and who she was with, but didn’t this time. She also said that Imarie would take her phone charger if she knew that she wouldn’t be returning home immediately, but her phone charger and wallet were left at home.
“Everything was in her room. She went [in] the same little dress that she was wearing the last time I saw her, so I know it’s someone close to her, [that] is the person who did this to my daughter,” Caceres said.
Reports are that earlier that Saturday night, Imari had gone out with her boyfriend, popular football star, Woodrow West, who came to see her in a taxi. Imari had returned home walking; she said that West was intoxicated, so she had refused to go out with him.
When reporters questioned Caceres whether she thought West had returned for Imarie and taken her out again, she said that she didn’t think that he would do such a thing. “Nope, I don’t think so. My heart [doesn’t] give me that. My heart [doesn’t] tell me that. Nope,” she said.
Search parties consisting of family members and friends were coordinated in several locations outside of Belmopan and the neighboring communities when Imarie didn’t return. On the day of her body’s discovery, Imarie’s uncle, Said Enriquez, told reporters that a “busito” driver had tipped him off about going to the Hummingbird Highway to a n area where dead bodies had been dumped before. As recent as November last year the body of a woman was found at the spot. During the search, Enriquez and a friend followed a trail into some bushes, and it was on their way back that they discovered Imarie’s lifeless body.
“Something told me that this is the road. We parked and started to look around, you know you’re looking but at the same time, you want to find nothing … we continued walking up a hill about a quarter mile, [and] the smell hit us. I told my guy ‘I smell something.’ We went into the bush and they had a few hunting trails, and we started following it … we’re sweeping the whole area and when we were coming back, he told me, ‘Something is there.’ Like, right away, we know how she looks, we know her body, so only if you want to lie to yourself and say it’s not her, but deep down, it’s her,” Enriquez said.
While the family is relieved that they discovered the body of their loved one, they are expressing dissatisfaction towards the police department.
“Immediately when we found the body, my sister called the police and the response that this lady gave her was really … like [she had] no sympathy, no nothing. She just replied to her, ‘what are we doing there’, she said, ‘I’m going to deal with this’ … Those things hurt my sister,” said Dinora Caceres, aunt of Imarie Galvez.
Later that day, following the discovery of Imarie Galvez’s body, authorities were on the search for West but were unable to locate him. That was until he was seen during a football match between Verdes FC and Progresso FC at the People’s Stadium in Orange Walk Town.
Lorin Frazer, Manager for Verdes FC, told Amandala that the actions done by officers were not proper protocol and procedure.
“The match commissioner is the person who would be in charge of any football game and is in charge of any persons entering the field during the football match. However, last night, I cannot vouch that official permission was requested from the match commissioner by the law enforcement officers last night ,[and] upon their arrival they seem to just take to the field,” he said.
Frazer told Amandala that West had voluntarily handed himself in to police in Belmopan on Monday, the same day that Imarie was reported missing, but was not detained; however, police have yet to confirm whether this happened.
As of the publishing of this Amandala issue, West was reportedly still detained for questioning. Another individual, Kareem “Pumpkin” James of Belmopan, who is a brother of now-deceased gang figure, Winston “Tanga” James, is also reportedly detained.
Stanley Galvez, the father of Imarie, expressed to reporters that he joined in the investigation with authorities by surveying footage from security cameras from different establishments. He believes that one of the two detainees orchestrated his daughter’s demise along with someone else or possibly a group of persons.
“According to my investigations, I have a finger pointed at someone, but I can’t reveal anything because the police have to confirm. I feel a sense of ease that something is happening. I believe it is more than a two-person job. I believe that probably somebody picked her up, and transferred her to another vehicle. That is how it looked to me. I could be wrong, but that’s what I’m gathering,” Mr. Galvez said.
Reports are that West and Imarie were in a relationship over a year ago. It is said that Imarie was physically abused multiple times by West, especially when he was intoxicated. The abuse came to light when someone captured the pair in an argument and he reportedly threatened to harm her.
Police have not yet released an official report of the crime committed, nor have they issued an autopsy report of the cause of death. Imari Galvez would have been 20 years old on June 1.