Suspect charged

POMONA VALLEY, Stann Creek District, Thurs. Nov. 29, 2018– At about 10:30 Tuesday morning, November 27, the body of 68-year-old Martha Gonzalez, a mother of seven from San Felipe, Orange Walk District, who sold tamales, cheese and other items for a living, was recovered from a latrine pit in Pomona Village, Stann Creek District. Gonzalez had been reported missing by her family since Friday, November 23, after she left home to sell food she had made, but never returned.

The body of Gonzalez was taken to an area on the Burrell Boom-Hattieville Road, in the Belize District, where an onsite postmortem exam was carried out yesterday by Dr. Mario Estradabran and his team. At the conclusion of the procedures, the doctor certified that Gonzales’s death was caused by stab wounds to her chest. Police believe that after Gonzalez was killed her body was wrapped in a tarp and thrown into the pit.

Last night, police announced that Christopher Anthony Bradley, 21, an unemployed man of Hope Creek Village, Stann Creek District, has been arrested and charged for the murder of Martha Gonzalez. It is believed that Bradley owed Gonzalez for some items he had purchased from her and when she went to collect the money from him, he attacked and killed her.

Bradley is detained, pending arraignment for the capital offense tomorrow, Friday, November 30, at the Dangriga Magistrate’s Court.