And while Orange Walk district is reeling from those murders - residents of the quiet village of Lord's Bank outside Ladyville were stunned yesterday to hear news of a body dumped on the side of the road.
What made it worse was that it was a teenager - who had been murdered and thrown in the bushes right across from his family home.
7news was on the scene where 17 year old Rene Alfaro was left in a most unusual state by his killers…..
Jules Vasquez, Reporting
This is 17 year old Rene Alfaro with his niece a month ago - and this is how he was found on Sunday morning in the bushes across from his home - with a sack over his upper body and around his feet - he had been shot once to the fatally.
At the scene on Sunday morning his father Jose Alfaro hung his head over his bicycle handle and heaved a sigh of anguish as he could not understand why anyone would do this to his son - who lived right behind where he stood:
Jules Vasquez
"So what happen sir?"
Jose Alfaro, Father
"I don't know, I see the man come in last night. He didn't go inside the house; he went on the top of the house."
So he was last seen atop this building and his father says he did not come back into the family home. They only found out where he was when they got the news on Sunday morning:
Jose Alfaro, Father
"Just now I got the message that somebody is dead in Lord's Bank. I dint know it was my son."
His father suspects the three young men he was with across the street atop this building:
Jose Alfaro, Father
"People say that they saw the 3 of them on top of the house, I don't know."
Today his father told he believes the killing may have something to do with the voluntary work his son was doing at the Ladyville police station:
Jules Vasquez
"Why would anyone want to kill your son?"
Jose Alfaro, Father
"My son work at the police station. The police had chance some boys."
And they believe he may have been victimized for that.
And while police have not been able to question any of those men he was with atop the building - the hollowed out area just across from the family home is a constant reminder to this grieving, pained family:
Teresita Alfaro, Sister
"He is a little boy. We would expect that from someone else but not from my little brother. I want to know why they did that to my little brother, what he had for that person for what they did to him. I kill him like a dog, they throw him right in front of the house, and they put him in a bag and then throw his body in front of the house. Why would they do something like that, why? I want to know what that person kill my little brother? Why did you do that, he has a family, he has sister and nephew. He has everything, why did you do that. You will not like for someone to take your life, you will not like it."
But there's no turning away from what's staring them in the face every day - right across the street.
Police have no one detained. He was described by his family as a special constable but police would not confirm that. We do know that he worked - unofficially at the police station. His murder becomes the 97th recorded nationwide for 2010 - a significant if lamentable benchmark because it matches last year's murder total as at the end of December. That is illustrated in this graph created by KREMANDALA's Adele Ramos. 2010, then, is on pace to be the most murderous in Belize's history - likely to eclipse the 103 recorded in 2008.
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