BELMOPAN, Mon. Aug. 31, 2015–The Hyde family of Belmopan and Camalote has been plagued by excruciating violence over the last few months, a violence that has taken the lives of many family members both at home and in the United States, and last Friday night, deadly violence visited the family once more, as another of its members was gunned down, along with his girlfriend.
On Friday night, August 28, around 9:30 p.m. Russell Hyde, Sr., 45; his girlfriend Marcy Marie Humes, 27, and a man who has not yet been identified, were returning to Hyde’s home, located at Society Hall, Camalote, Cayo District, when they were pounced upon by three armed men, who opened fire, shooting Hyde and Humes multiple times.
The unidentified man escaped unhurt and alerted police and family members to what had happened.
So far, police have made no arrest in connection with the Camalote double murder. And the three other murders involving members of the Hyde family have also gone unsolved.
Police reported that Humes was found with multiple gunshot wounds in the chest and leg area, and she was rushed to the Western Regional Hospital, where she succumbed to her injuries at 10:23 p.m.
Police said that after finding Humes, they searched the area and approximately 100 yards away from where Humes was found, they found Russell Winston Hyde, Sr., also with multiple gunshot wounds. He had been shot twice in the lower back, once in the right side of the jaw, once in the right side of the neck and once in the left clavicle. Hyde was already dead when police found him.
The police report went on to say that Hyde and his two companions “saw flashlights approaching and shortly after saw about three armed men running up the hill towards them. As the men got nearer they began firing at them, and the bullets caught both Hyde and Humes…”
On Saturday night, Alvin Hyde, Sr., 80, the father of Russell Hyde, and his wife were visited by the pastor from the Church of God in Christ from the Evangelical Temple in Roaring Creek, where the Hydes attend church. The mood in the house was somber, as Pastor Alvan Gentle and his wife visited the bereaved Hyde family.
Alvin Hyde said he had no idea why they killed his son. Asked if he thinks that the killing was related to the killing in Florida, USA, where his daughter, granddaughter and her boyfriend were savagely slaughtered in their own home by a visiting relative, Hyde replied, “I don’t think so.”
Hyde explained that after Russell had visited them Friday night, he told them that he was going home.
“When they reached by the house, the boy [the unidentified man] tell mi son fu mek ih run, because three person inna black clothes di come with guns. The boy run, but my son, he never run and them shoot am. Then the girl whey mi deh long with am, she start to scream and dem shoot the two a dem,” related the elderly Hyde.
Hyde said that the man who escaped the shooting did not speak to him personally, but he heard that was what he said had happened.
Russell Hyde had visited his mother and father at their Stann Creek Street home in Belmopan on Friday night.
“Ih come that same night and ih talk to we and then ih sey ih gwine home,” the older Hyde recalled.
He did not know that would be the last visit he would get from his son.
In Roaring Creek, in an area known as “Another World,” a woman wept for her daughter.
“I don’t know why they kill mi baby,” said Marcia Neal, 63, as she fought back the tears, trying to remain composed. “I have three girls, she da mi baby,” Neal repeated as if she wanted to reassure herself.
Neal explained that since her brother, John Smith, was gunned down about four months ago, just a few feet from his home, Marcy left home and she had not really seen her to speak to her.
“But every day she would cook and send me a plate of food,” Neal said, adding, “I nuh si mi daughter fu bout one month.”
“What hurt me is that I have hardly seen my daughter since she left home after my brother died,” Neal said, her voice choking with emotion.
Neal described how she was at home Friday night watching The Golden Girls on television when a neighbor from across the street shouted, “Marcia, Paulett, unno go da hospital, Marcie got shot.”
“We got so loss [confused], but we managed to reach the hospital,” Neal said.
“When we reach, my neighbor’s husband was already there. The nurse said to me to come in, and then she told me to be strong, because she is already dead,” Neal recalled.
Neal explained that it was only two days before her daughter died that she learned that she was in a relationship with Hyde.
“I couldn’t tell you how long they had each other. I don’t know anything about their relationship,” Neal said.
Asked what kind of person Marcy was, Neal replied, “I wouldn’t want to say. It’s a long story and if I talk about it, ih wan mek a cry.”
“Marcy was a very popular hair braider; she was well-known, even in Mexico, where she did hair,” Neal said. “But she nice, she da mi wan nice, nice person. I don’t know whey really trigger her off, mek she had to gone down da rough, rough road,” she said.
“I only hope we get justice,” the grieving mother declared. “If dem mi wan kill Mr. Hyde, why dem have to kill my baby?” she lamented.
In May, Steve Hyde, 51, a cousin of Russell Hyde, was found in a shallow grave in the back of Russell Hyde’s yard. He had been butchered.
Twenty-four hours later, the headless body of Edilberto Madrid, 28, was found floating in the Roaring Creek River. Madrid was an employee of Russell Hyde.
About eleven days before Madrid was murdered, Rosalie Galvez, 44, the common-law wife of Russell Hyde, was shot in the head as she rode in the vehicle with her kids and Hyde, who was the driver.
Earlier this month, three Belizeans were killed in Lehigh Acres, Central Florida: the 37-year-old sister of Russell Hyde, Dorla Pitts; and her pregnant 17-year-old daughter, Starlett Pitts, who was around six months pregnant, and her boyfriend Michael Kelly, were stabbed to death.
Dorla Pitts’ nephew, Brian Hyde, is now facing three counts of second degree murder and one count of causing death to an unborn child by harming the mother.