by Charles Gladden

ORANGE WALK, Mon. Aug. 8, 2022 When the body of an Orange Walk man—47-year-old Israel Chable—was found on the side of the road in San Jose Village in the early hours of Saturday morning, August 6, it was intially presumed that he had been the victim of a hit-and-run incident. But details that have been emerging since the discovery of the body seem to be

pointing to another cause of death.
To begin with, the injuries seen on the body, according to the Commanding Officer of the Crimes Investigation Branch (CIB), Alfonso Aban, were not the kind of injuries typically sustained by the victim of a road traffic accident. Chable, in fact, according to what his grieving sister, Urbelina Escaragga, told reporters, appeared to have been bludgeoned to death. Escaragga even made reference

to rumors circulating in the village that there was a misunderstanding over money that might have led to the murder.

Escarraga related to local reporters in Spanish the rumors she had heard in the village—rumors that Chable was killed over money that was owed to him by a friend.

“There are many rumors about what happened to him. He works in Ladyville and often comes home late, but that day he came home early, at around 6 o’clock. Supposedly, some of the workers had received letters that they have been dismissed, but he was not dismissed. He says that one of his friends was laid off, but the guy owed him money, so he went to San Jose to collect [it] from his friend… When we saw him, he was sitting right leaning against his bicycle, and his slippers were in front of him. We’ve been hearing a lot of rumors that his friend never paid him, and maybe they did something [to him] while he was coming home.

We were told that he was also at a bar, and they followed him home and hurt him. We think that it is an injustice, because the autopsy revealed that he had an injury to his mouth and head that looks like a machete wound, and there is no way that someone can die from falling off a bicycle. We just want answers, and we want someone to pay for what has happened,” she said (in Spanish).

Chable, after being found on the road, had been taken to the Northern Regional Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival by medical officials.

While police are currently uncertain about the cause of Chable’s death, they have confirmed that a man who was found on Saturday night, August 6, on the street in Corozal was the victim of a hit-and-run accident, but they do not yet know that person’s identity. At about 10:00 that night, they saw the unidentified man suffering from various injuries to his body in the middle of the street in downtown Corozal near St. Francis Xavier Credit Union.

According to police reports, the man had been walking on 5th Avenue in Corozal Towm in a north to south direction, and when he reached an intersection at 2nd Street, a black car hit him from behind and left the scene.

The unidentified man was taken to the Corozal Community Hospital, where he received treatment but reportedly passed away.

Police are investigating.