7 News Belize

9 Year Old Girl Was Strangled To Death
posted (August 19, 2019)
A 9 year old girl was strangled to death in Unitedville. Those post-mortem results were released about 30 minutes ago in this bizarre and deeply disturbing case. At first, it was being treated as a sudden death case and there were already too many unanswered questions but now it’s shock and terror times 100 because the little girl was actually killed.

Courtney Weatherburne went looking for answers out west and here is her story before the post-mortem results were known.

Courtney Weatherburne reporting
The inexplicable happened inside this Unitedville home on Friday morning:

9 year old Danielle Hall died under mysterious circumstances.

Efraine Lemus, Resident
"I saw some people were watching down the street that is where she live and we were wondering what happen there and then I took a walk there and I just heard the girl died right. That is the only thing I heard in that moment."

According to our information, little Danielle was at home with her mom, Emily Ico no Friday. Her father, Daniel Hall was at work. Hall’s father then called him to hurry home because something was going on in his house. When Hall got there, his daughter was dead and his common law wife was hysterical and appeared to have thrashed the place.

Eduardo Ico, Grandfather
"When I got there, I talk to the father, he let me into the house and he explain to me that the door was locked and they had to forcibly enter the house and he notice the child was laying on the bed which is my granddaughter and my daughter is on the floor fighting and grumbling and so on and everybody figure, no one know what happen, I figure that maybe by seeing my granddaughter unresponsive and she get in that stage."

The police came shortly after Hall arrived and rushed Danielle to the hospital but it was too late. Her mother, Emily, was also taken to the hospital and is under police guard. It is a baffling case with a swirl of unanswered questions. According to Ico, he tried to get answers from his daughter, Emily, but she was in shock after her daughter’s sudden death.

Eduardo Ico, Grandfather
"After that, my daughter is not the same person anymore I even talk to she at the hospital and the way she answered me she is not the Emily I had."

"On Saturday I went to the Cayo hospital and she is under police guard and under medication also they let me in and when I got in there she recognize me and she say you know I love you dad, don’t believe the lies, you know I believe in God dad, that is all the words she told me and they took me out."

The family says they believe it was a sudden death but Danielle wasn’t known to be a sickly child. In fact, she was very active and healthy.

Eduardo Ico, Grandfather
"My granddaughter is very happy and at this time she was attending karate school and chess classes in Belmopan and on the 7th of this month because we buried my mother which is her great grandmother and we were together and we were laughing, everything was so smooth so it just that I could not expect something like this to happen."

According to Ico and neighbors, It is also unthinkable to suggest that Danielle’s mother had anything to do with her death.

Eduardo Ico, Grandfather
"She take out her daughter tea and she even teach her how to eat even though she was big already and she help her and so on, nothing like she would raise her voice at her child. Like I said it is surprising how things turned out. I just hope for the best, I can’t believe what happen sometimes I wish it is just a dream and when I wake up, I can’t believe it."

Courtney Weatherburne:
"You know the family very well, they used to live here beside you."

Efraine Lemus, Resident
"They used to live in front of us, they used to be our neighbor and ,my little girl who is 9 years used to be at school together and we know that Emily and the father I think he is Daniel, they used to take care of the girl very well and they used to treat her good because I think that is the only girl they have because I don’t think she can’t have anymore kids. We know they are a good family, they are good persons, I don’t know what happened, we are still in shock and we don’t know what happen in that moment."

According to Ico, Emily does not suffer from any mental illness and has never had an episode such as this. In today's press briefing, the police did not comment on this case and said they will wait until the post mortem results are released. This results now point to deliberate act of what looks to be murder. We will keep following this shocking story.

Home | Archives | Downloads/Podcasts | Advertise | Contact Us

7 News Belize