Tonight, Belize City is still reeling from the news of yesterday's triple murder at mile 10 on the Western Highway: three people not known to have any criminal involvement tied up in a room, and shot to the head.  

The victims: Alarice Andrewin - the well known acting principal of Excelsior High, her friend, naturalized Belizean Vidal Antonio Yuman, and his friend from Guatemala, Maria Delfina Juarez.  What was their connection?  And why were they killed? 

Well, we do know more tonight than we did last night - and Jules Vasquez has all the new information along with what police found at the scene yesterday.  Here's his story:

It's inside this three bedroom bungalow that the three persons were killed. When police got there - the front wooden door and the burglar barred door were both opened.

The house had been ransacked, and inside one of the rooms police found 44 year old Alarice Andrewin, 39 year old Vidal Antonio Yuman Cacho, and 19 year old Guatemalan Maria Delfina Jaurez Lucas - all dead, and all of them tied up: their hands bound with pieces of cloth and a pair of socks in one case, or in another case, bound with duct tape.  Interestingly all three of their feet were tied with a single hundred foot extension chord.  All three had been shot to the head - and police found four expended shells.  Andrewin and Cacho were found face up on the bed, while Maria Delfina Jaurez Lucas was found on the floor, on a makeshift bed. 

Alarice's dad, Phillip Andrewin had to identify his daughter; Commissioner Chester Williams has taken a personal interest in the case

Chester Williams - Commissioner of Police
"I can tell you it really hit me as well. Ms. Andrewin is a young person, productive person in society. I met her father yesterday and I spent the entire night up trying to figure this one out and while I may have some thoughts in my head as to what may have occurred and who those responsible. It is indeed mind boggling and we're not going to give up, we're not going to feel defeated because like you rightly said, there is nothing that we could have done to prevent this occurring."

But what they are doing now is giving it the highest priority - unveiled at a press conference today:

Chester Williams
"I am sure you would agree with me that yesterday's discovery deserves a strong response from the police and we're here to assure the public that level of response from the police is there. Due to the nature of the investigation, we believe that it requires a senior level investigation and so, Mr. Alejandro Cowo who you know is the officer commanding CIB in Belize City has been assigned as the lead investigator in that matter and the newly appointed deputy head national crimes investigation branch, Mr. Romero and a matter of fact he is the acting NHCIB at this time because Mr. Myvette is on sick leave, has been appointed as the case manager and myself as the commissioner will be overseeing the investigation as well. The investigation team comprises of elements from the special branch, the anti-gang task force and personnel from Mr. Vidal's office as well as from the FIU. So basically I put together a task force and the task force will be tasked specifically to pursue this investigation, they'll be given no other tasks at this time until further notice. We are determined to get to the bottom of this latest triple homicide. It is something that really and truly cause the society to be uneasy and so, we want to assure the public that as a police department, we are doing what we need to do to restore that level of safety that they so rightly deserve."

And while many agencies are involved, the investigation begins at the scene - where the killers showed a high level of sophistication.  It was a cleanly carried out execution:

Jules Vasquez
"Is there a sophisticated level of criminal involvement which would have pulled off such a ruthless execution of 3 persons? "

Supt. Hilberto Romero - Deputy NCIB
"Again the investigation is ongoing, we do not have every detail as to how it was executed."

Jules Vasquez
"Was there coordination you all believe at this point between more than one person? Do you believe it was persons who executed this triple murder?"

Supt. Hilberto Romero
"We believe it was person."

The scenes of crime team found some finger prints at the scene. Andrewin's vehicle, a 2015 Nissan Rogue had been stolen from the driveway. 

This is the vehicle - and it has a pink and black exterior:

Reporter
"Since the vehicle is a 2015 vehicle, those models usually comes with GPS. Is anything being done by the police to sort of check to track that vehicle along that line?"

Supt. Hilberto Romero
"We are following up on that as we speak."

Chester Williams
"Just appreciate the fact that there are several things we are doing but will not reveal to the public because it may alert those person who are involved."

There are possible motives out there.  The Chairman of the Excelsior School Board, Javier Castellanos called the police when she did not show up for work because the home had been burglarized weeks before:

Javier Castellanos  - Chairman Excelsior
"I decided to take a step since she would have informed me or inform the school of her absence. There was a robbery before, a burglary about a month ago and that was my concern."

But did the motive lie in two ongoing investigations one criminal, one administrative?

Jules Vasquez
"Two significant events are one, that home was recently burglarized on May 9th, your guys caught the crime in progress and arrested 7 persons and second, she, we were told by the chairman of the school, she was supposed to give evidence in a case relating to misappropriation of funds by previous administrators at Excelsior. Are any of these two things factoring into your investigation?"

Supt. Hilberto Romero
"We are following up on that information that you just mentioned and certainly we would our investigators follow on those two incidents. Again we're on determining a motive but at this time, we have not established a motive."

But they do know Andrewin and Yuman Cacho were long-time friends - and he often visited her, and as for the 19 year old?

Jules Vasquez
"Are you able to say when the 19 year old arrived in the country and what was her relation if any with Mr. Yuman?"

Supt. Hilberto Romero
"We have information, she arrived in Belize on Sunday. The information we had, she had a prior relationship with the deceased Vidal Yuman that is the information we have."

Police have not established when they were killed but Andrewin was seen leaving school at 4:00 on Monday - before she was found dead less than 24 hours later:

Chester Williams
"We, we have to send a message that we are not going to be complacent in dealing with matters of this nature. The team that we have selected to deal with this investigation are the best of the best and so I have every confidence that they are going to do their utmost best to ensure that we get to the bottom of this and we find those who are responsible and bring them to justice."