ORANGE WALK TOWN, Fri. Oct. 18, 2019– Ramon Flota, 29, a laborer of San Lazaro, Orange Walk District, who was wanted for the heinous murder of fellow villager and farmer Hazid Samir Diaz, 32, was remanded until December 17 for murder when he was arraigned on the capital offense today before Senior Magistrate Patty Arana, of the Orange Walk Magistrate’s Court.

Flota was accused of drinking with Diaz in the village, chopping and stabbing him to death, and then burying him in a shallow grave just on the outskirts of the village.

Diaz was found dead in the village at about 11:00 Sunday morning, October 13, by his mother and sisters, and a search party. The family told the media that Diaz left home to socialize in the village and did not come home at 10:00 Saturday night, as he usually did, and when he failed to come home all night, they became worried and knew something was wrong, and went to police and reported him missing.

She alerted the newly formed neighborhood watch group in the village and they formed a search party and began to look for him. Villagers said that Diaz was seen drinking with a man, known to them, in the village on Saturday evening.

While looking for Diaz, they saw a pool of blood by the road side near a cane field, and they followed the trail of blood, which led them to a wheelbarrow, a shovel, and a bloody shirt. The party then searched the area and found a disturbed area which resembled a grave, and they dug the area and found Diaz’s body lying face-down with chop wounds in his head and back, and stab wounds in his chest and his ear.

Police said that Flota had absconded to neighboring Mexico, but there was collaboration between Belize police and Mexico police, and Mexican authorities arrested Flota in Chetumal on Tuesday, on an arrest warrant from Belize.

Flota was taken to the border and handed over to Belize police, and he was brought to Orange Walk, where he was charged.

The motive for the brutal murder of Diaz is not yet known.