We report on violence nightly - so that's nothing new - but when those killings cross the unspoken social boundaries - that's when all of us really pay attention….like when businessman Jason Coombs was executed, or when attorney Rodwell Williams was targeted for execution. And now, there is another and it is one of the most extreme, invasive and disturbing acts of violence in recent recall. Well-known attorney Richard Stuart and his wife Maria were viciously stabbed to death inside their home after midnight on Saturday. The killing sent of shockwaves; they lived in a quiet residential neighborhood, a well-secured home, and Stuart was a well known, well-liked professional, an ardent UDP and former chairman of the Belize Advisory Council.
Tonight police have a major break in the case and we'll tell you about that shortly.
But first to Sunday morning, just after midnight when death stalked the Stuart's in their own home….Monica Bodden has the story:….
Monica Bodden Reporting
The body of 43 year old Attorney Richard Stuart and his wife Maria Stuart - were carried outside their West Landivar Home on stretchers -and taken away by police officers- around 2 o'clock on Sunday morning.
Two hours earlier they had entered the same door - returning from a function - where one or more persons was waylaying them inside….
They were stabbed to death - and were found lying face up in a pool of blood. The home was not burglarized.
It happened on the second floor of their 3 story mansion on Graduate Crescent.
Their four children aged 4 months to 8 years old along with the housekeeper -were also inside the house at the time. They were on the third floor.
In an interview today - the housekeeper asked to remain anonymous -fearing for her own life. She walked us through - as she described -one of the most horrific nights of her life.
Housekeeper
"Earlier before I leave Mrs. Stuart came in the room and she talk to me about going and she gave a bunch a keys, She told me that the keys that she gave me was for incase of any emergency we can exit the house. She shows me 2 keys, one was for the downstairs office door to take us out of the house and she gave me a phone because the phone in the house does not have good signal. She tells the kids that she was going."
According to the housekeeper - after the couple left - she and the 4 children got something to eat from the kitchen and then proceeded to the third floor - where they all went to sleep in one room.
Housekeeper
"I got the door shut and door safety on because I know that it was only us in the house. I went to sleep and in between that I heard the phone ringing and when I heard that, I heard Mrs. Maria said that they are ready to leave for home. I had told her that I was going to call my son and have him take a taxi to pick me up and she told me ok then, when Mr. Stuart come he will pay the taxi."
This was a little after 11 o'clock that night - about twenty minutes after the call from Mrs. Stuart - that the couple arrived home.
Housekeeper
"I heard the door and between that I heard as the door open and I hear Mrs. Maria the first person I heard scream out. when I heard Mrs. Maria scream out I jump out off the bed, between that I heard Mr. Stuart scream out and they start to bawl, the first person that scream out was Mrs. Maria, I herad them bawling, I figure that something is happening."
The housekeeper along with the Stuart's eldest son who is eight years old -both heard the entire commotion the second floor. The other 3 children were asleep. Fearing for their lives - the two locked up inside a built in closet and dialed 911…
Housekeeper
"We dial 911. I told them that something is happening in this house because my boss is downstairs and they are bawling out, I told them that something is happening and I was trying to control the little boy at the same time from trying to open the door. I told him to keep quiet and keep away from the door. They have these walk in closet and we went in the closet and at the same time I was praying that the baby would wake up or the other ones because if the baby wakes he would bawl. Mean while I was calling 911 and I was telling them to please come because something is happening in this house because my boss is bawling downstairs and the kids and I are upstairs in the room on the 3rd floor."
She said after a while - everything went silent - she was still on the phone with 911.
Housekeeper
"After they stop bawling I heard silence, while I was on the phone with 911and telling them to please make the police come because something happen in this house. The person on the phone ask me signal them, I said how; they said to switch the light switch off and on they ask me which part of the building I was and I told them the left part of the building the room is. I start to switch the light and I went back to the window and I look and see police truck turn back in front of the yard."
When the police arrived at the house - Mr. and Mrs Stuart were already dead. They had both been stabbed to death.
Housekeeper
"I ask the police where was Mr. and Mrs. Stuart? One of the police makes a sign to me like this that they were gone. i knew more or less what he mean. A police officer came up to me and told me that they were dead. I start to think about the bawling that I heard and then the kids that we were in the same house. That is the most terrible experience of my life."
So far police are investigating and the home was still considered a crime scene up to late this morning. There are a number of theories going around - since the couple's maintenance worker was accused last month of stealing one of their vehicles. He was fired from the couple's home. From what we understand a set of keys for their house went missing along with the vehicle keys. The couple bought new locks for their home but didn't get a chance to change them.
Well, that last piece of information has proven to be pivotal. Police followed up on that same termination and car theft, and believe this evening that they cracked the case.
This afternoon, police intercepted a man in a Toyota Scion at El Pedrigal bar in St. Matthews village at mile 40 on the western Highway. He was in a Toyota Scion which belongs to Richard Stuart. Now our information says that this is the same area where Richard Stuart himself found his stolen Blue Toyota Highlander one month ago - at the time the suspect was a former employee who he had fired.
That person - a man of Guatemalan descent - was driving today and is detained by Belmopan police tonight while the car is being processed. Reports say a knife was found under the car seat.
So, if this lead is definitive all appearances are that they were killed by a disgruntled former employee who had already stolen one vehicle from the family.
A security tape from one of the neighbors show two people leaving the house shortly after the stabbing. The security camera in a vehicle which appears to be that same Toyota Scion. There was only one sign of forced entry - a torn screen on window.
A post mortem concluded this evening today showed that both Richard and Maria Stuart had each been stabbed 25 times. It is a developing story and we'll have more tomorrow…
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