Marcelina Makin, a restaurant waitress, was found motionless on top of a tomb in the Independence Cemetery

by Charles Gladden

INDEPENDENCE, Stann Creek District, Mon. Sept. 12, 2022

Police have identified the body of a woman who was found earlier this morning, motionless, on top of a tomb in a cemetery in Independence village, Stann Creek District. According to police, the deceased woman is Marcelina Makin, a restaurant waitress.

According to initial police reports, on Monday, at around 6:29 a.m., Independence police went to the cemetery in the village, where they discovered Makin motionless in a face-down position on top of a white tiled tomb with visible cut injuries to the back of her head and face. Her body, according to the officers, was in an early state of decomposition.

Makin was last seen on Friday, September 9, at her workplace in the village and wasn’t seen again until this morning, when the officers found her.

At Monday’s weekly police press briefing, in response to questions about the Police Department’s strategy for preventing brutal deaths, such as that of Makin, from taking place, the Commissioner of Police, Chester Williams, noted that for the month of August, there only were 3 reported murders throughout the country. While pointing to that recent reduction in murders, however, he admitted that non-preventable murders are still an issue for the department.

“The type of murders we would accustom to seeing [is] no more, at least for now, and these that I refer to as ‘silly murders’ are what is bothering us at this time. We have, for example, the murder in Bella Vista in the South where the young man was walking the lady home and her ex came and inflicted chops wounds [on] him, leading to his death. And again this morning, another body was found in the Independence Cemetery of a female. There appeared to be cut wounds to the neck and throat, but these are the type of murders that the policing effort will not be able to prevent,” he said.

Police are investigating.