Belize City records 1st murder of 2025, bunglow caretaker found dead with gunshot wounds

Belize: A 59-year-old caretaker from Belize City was found murdered with gunshot wounds on Saturday afternoon, marking the first homicide of 2025. The police confirmed that the dead body was found on Turneffe Island at around 1:30 pm.  

Reportedly, officials stated that they were informed about the discovery of a body on an island, after which the Belize Coast Guard rushed to the location. 

Police official stated that the victim was identified as Godfrey Windfield Hyde who worked as a “caretaker of a bungalow”. He was found lying face down on the veranda with two gunshot wounds to the body.  

The incident was reported by a fisherman who visited Hyde to deliver some packages on Saturday morning.  

Hyde’s body was then transported to the nearest Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital (KHMH), before being moved to the National Forensic Science Service for a postmortem examination as part of the ongoing investigation into this incident.  

As part of the preliminary investigations, one bullet shell has been retrieved from the place of crime. Notably the motive of the murder remains unknown, and the investigations are ongoing.   

With this incident, the locals are also expressing their concerns through social media and are urging the officials to take stricter actions in order to curb the crime situation.  

“Time for Belize to enforce a mandatory digital imprint on all Belizeans in order to easily track down perpetuators using finds for our forensics analysis unit. Time to use science and technology to fight crime,” wrote a user named Marvin Mora while another user said, “That is so sad what is wrong with these people who think they have the right to kill some one lord speak to these people heart.” 

Notably, in 2024, the country witnessed a three percent increase in homicide rate with a total of 90 incidents reported while 87 were recorded in 2023. It is reported that there was an 11 percent increase in domestic violence reports in the third quarter of 2024 as compared to the same period in 2023.