CAHAL PECH, San Ignaco, Cayo District, Mon. Oct. 8, 2018-  Bobby Garcia, 19, a laborer of San Ignacio, was found dead at about 8:00 Sunday morning, with his throat slashed and with multiple stab wounds in his abdomen, in a room of a temple in Plaza E at the Cahal Pech archaeological site in San Ignacio.

Garcia’s body was found by two tourists who were visiting the Maya site and who had entered the temple room in Plaza E where the body was lying. Police were called to the scene, and they found the body with the aforementioned wounds in the throat and in the abdomen. There were also cuts on Garcia’s arm. His body had been stabbed all over. An “X” had been carved on his face and abdomen.

This afternoon during the weekly Monday police press briefing held at the Raccoon Street Police Station, ACP Joseph Myvett said that Bobby Garcia’s father was called to the scene after he went to police and told them that his son had not returned home the previous night. He was taken to where the body was found, and he identified the body as that of his son.

Myvett said Garcia left his home (his address was not given) about 9:00 Saturday morning along with two friends. He returned home at about 5:30 p.m. that Saturday evening, and at about 8:00 p.m. he left home again, along with the two men, and told his mother that he was going to the Cahal Pech Park and would return shortly.

He failed to return home that night.

At about 8:30 Sunday morning, police were told that a body had been discovered in the temple. When they went to the scene they saw Garcia dead. It is not known if he had been robbed.

Myvett said that Garcia was killed in the temple probably because of what he saw in the area. Garcia and the two men were seen in the temple on Saturday, but there were no security guards that Saturday night at the site, so it was unclear at what time he arrived at the ruins, and with whom he came.

Myvett said that they are looking for the two men who were with him, who they believe could help with the murder investigation.

Myvett said that he did not believe that the murder was an act of gang violence, since Garcia was not affiliated with gangs.

Bobby  Garcia’s Facebook page indicates that last year he was 18 years old, and that he lived with his mother and father, and his brother and sister. He had big dreams of succeeding in life, and had no time for friends or anyone who wanted to prevent him from moving forward, he said on his Facebook page

He said that he was between being an adult and a child, and wanted to keep a balance.

Police said that Garcia was not attending school.

Up to press time tonight, there have not been any further leads into his murder.

Cahal Pech means “place of ticks” in modern-day Maya, and refers to the surrounding area, which was once used as pasture land. This was the royal acropolis palace of an elite Mayan ruling family who lived there during the Classic period. The area was settled around 1000 BC and abandoned by 800 AD.

 The Maya archaeological site now known as Cahal Pech consists of seven plazas and over 30 structures, including temples, residential buildings, ball courts, an altar, and a sweat-house, all situated on just two acres. A royal burial chamber was found in one of the structures. Inside the tomb a ruler had been laid to rest with the accouterments necessary for the afterlife. Included in the find were shell and bone ornaments, pottery vessels, obsidian blades, and jade objects, the most impressive being a jade and shell mosaic mask.

One of the temples in the small complex is very popular with visitors, because it commands a good view of the surrounding Belize River Valley and San Ignacio Town.