Belizean and Guatemalan authorities are investigating the murder of a Belizean accused of two murders, Efrain “Payin” Santiago, 25, whose body was discovered lying face down in an area southwest of Arenal Village in the Cayo District, about twelve feet from the Belize-Guatemala border.
Police found Santiago on Friday, January 28, 2011, at 8:40 p.m. He had been shot twice in the neck. He was dressed in a pair of black short pants and a pair of black rubber boots.
Santiago, of Chile Street, Belmopan, was a fugitive who was arraigned on January 27, 2010, but who escaped from Belize police on June 24, 2010, while being escorted to San Ignacio Town to attend court. He managed to remove his handcuffs and jumped out of the police vehicle as it slowed down at a speed bump in Unitedville, and had been at large ever since.
Santiago was a suspect for the particularly savage murder of a young woman, Vilma Copo, in 2007. Copo had been stabbed 29 times and her throat had been slit.
Amandala spoke to Santiago’s sister, who told us that they don’t really know much about what happened to him. She said that her family hasn’t seen him for almost four years, and that he had been living in San Pedro.
She said that when he was suspected of murdering Vilma Copo, 23, he had gone back to Belmopan and stayed there for a month. He then went on the run, and they later heard that he was suspected of another murder, that of a Guatemalan laborer, Felix Enrique Martinez, 34, on December 8, 2008.
Martinez’s body was found about a quarter mile south of Benque Viejo. He had been shot in the face, and police say that Santiago was the last person to have seen him. Santiago went into hiding in 2008 and was later captured on January 22, 2010, in the San Martin area of Belmopan.
Santiago, they believe, then fled to Melchor.
She said that her mother went to Benque Viejo to identify the body, and confirmed to police that it was indeed her son, Santiago. According to Santiago’s sister, the police have not shared with them much of the details surrounding the body’s discovery, except for telling them that he was shot twice. She said that his body will be moved to the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital, where the post-mortem will be conducted at 2 p.m. tomorrow, Tuesday.