Last night we told you about Janessa Jones, the 12 year old Ladyville resident who had gone missing - and today the family's worst fears were confirmed when she was found dead - the young student had been cruelly murdered.

The killing of this girl has devastated her family and left the community in a deep, deep shock.

Monica Bodden has been following developments.

Monica Bodden Reporting
12 year old Janessa Jones was found around 11:30 this morning floating at the mouth of the Haulover Creek. Her little body was caught up in some mangroves and first spotted by a boat owner who was in the area.

Fitzroy Yearwood, Police Press Officer
"A boat owner who was coming to this marina probably to leave his boat, I am not certain but he is saying that he saw what appeared to be a body somewhere near the edge of the mangroves in the river and upon going over there he realizes that it was a female child and he called the police. Immediately Ladyville Police responded and members of Belize City crimes investigation branch have just retrievedthe body from the river and it is confirmed that it is the body of the 12 year old child."

The body was found fully clothed according to the police press officer. It was retrieved by police and transported to the KHMH.

Fitzroy Yearwood, Police Press Officer
"I have just stated it's her body. As to any other details we will await results of the post mortem, I will not speculate."

Reporter
"Any signs of.......?"

Fitzroy Yearwood, Police Press Officer
"At the end of the post mortem I will be able to come clear on that."

Reporter
"Is the body clothed?"

Fitzroy Yearwood, Police Press Officer
"Yeah she was clothed."

According to our sources the 12 year old girl had large cut wounds to her wrist, abrasions under her chin both legs and thigh area.

Fitzroy Yearwood, Police Press Officer
"Like I said the child was reported missing, we sent out a release, sent out flyers, we were looking for this 12 year old child Ms Jones. We fund her body and I will leave it as that. As to whether or not we suspect anything, we will do that after we have the results of the post mortem examination."

Because the body was in an advanced state of decomposition it was transported to an area on Boom/Hattieville road, where a post mortem was conducted by Doctor Hugh Sanchez. The examination reveals that 12 year old Janessa Jones received a hit to the head and as a result she drowned. Janessa who was a student of Our Lady of the Way RC School in Ladyville was reported missing by her mother Arlene Bainton on Monday. So far Bainton has given two different accounts on the date her daughter was missing. She stated that she had sent out 12 year old Janessa to run some errands in Belize City and then later said Janessa was sent to a sleep over at her friend's house.

Fitzroy Yearwood, Police Press Officer
"We have heard both versions that you have heard and we have followed both angles. We went as far as to try and question even classmates and our investigation will continue this way. We will examine both angles because at the end of the day nobody is wrong. We have to find out what happened, a life has been lost and we will examine all angles to bring closure to the family."

Minister of State Michael Hutchinson was a part of last night's search for little 12 year old Janessa.

Hon. Michael Hutchinson
"I learned about this yesterday morning and I thought you know that Janessa is a hyper active child busy body/tom boyish and that you wouldn't though this would have become of her. I thought by morning after the search last night, Jenessa would come home; we never expected any of this. Last night the mother and I and the stepfather and other friend of the family went out around Belize City in some of the areas that they know the child knows - people, relatives and friends and we did search and we were putting up flyers last night, we searched until almost midnight because then we came back to Ladyville and we went about behind Vista del Mar and we just did a little quick search because we never in the widest imagination think that something like this would have become of the child. It's regrettable, Jenessa is my neighbor, she is the child that would jump behind my truck and hollered minister give me a ride or something like that so it really hurts and I just don't know who could do such a heinous thing."

Janessa was laid to rest late this evening at the Lord's Bank cemetery where her classmates, teachers, family and friends all gathered to pay their last respect.

We note that the circumstances of her discovery are eerily reminiscent of one of the Jack/girl murders which occurred between 1999 and 2000. The body of 14 year old Noemi Hernandez was found on the Western side of the Haulover bridge. She had been stabbed multiple times and her body was missing the head and an arm.

And while Janessa Jones's body was found in the same general area, she was found at the far eastern edge of the river mouth - and she is not believed to have been killed there. Investigators believe that most likely she was killed somewhere north nearer the Vista Del Mar area, floated down the coast, and finally lodged at the edge of the river mouth…

Evidence collected so far also suggests that the M-O was different from the Jack killings.

Killa Gentle Killed On His Block On Kraal Road

Sometime around 4:55 today, Raymond "Killa" Gentle was working on this house on the corner of Baracat Street and Kraal Road when a lone gunman fired shots that killed him.

When we arrived, the police were on the scene and had already blocked off the area preventing our cameras from going any closer to the scene of the shooting.

But, an eye witness to the crime, fearing for his life didn't want to appear on camera told us what he witnessed:

He said he was sitting outside his yard along with a family member shortly before five when he saw a man pass on bike with a young girl and shortly after another one passed walking- both men not very familiar faces. The witness said had no idea something was going to happen and that the streets were empty but shortly after he saw the very same man who passed on the bike-dressed in a brown shirt and cap on returning on Rivero Street into Kraal Road. He said he saw the man park his bike on the corner and walked up to the yard where "Killa" was working. The man, according to the witness, had a shiny gun looking like a 9mm in the waist of his pants and he pulled it out and fired about 5-6 shots.

Shortly after he said he saw one of the men working on the house running after the gunman, at which time the gunman opened fire but missed him. The witness, gripped with fear, said he pulled his family members in the house and stayed quiet. When he went outside they gathered that "Killa" was the only one who got shot shortly after which the police arrived.

The police said that Gentle was found suffering from an injury to the chest and later transported to the KHMH where he succumbed to his injury. Police are investigating.