Last night, we told you about the missing persons case of Jaswant Brooks. He's the 18-year-old from the Lake I area of Belize City who mysteriously went missing on Monday. His family instinctively knew that something was wrong because, according to them, he has never failed to come home like that before.
Their worst fears were confirmed this afternoon, shortly after 2:00, when someone called the police saying they spotted a body in the mangrove swamp, off the George Price Highway, near mile 6. The cops and his family showed up, and his father positively identified the body as his son's. It appeared that his body was already in a state of decomposition.
We'll tell you about that discovery, but first, we pick up the story this morning, when the cops came upon intelligence that his body had been dumped in that same area close to the Burdon Canal Bridge. Daniel Ortiz reports:
This morning, police officers were congregated near the Burdon Creek Bridge, at mile 6 on the George Price Highway.
They had received information that 18-year-old Jaswant Brooks, who went missing on Monday, was killed and that his body was dumped in this wetland area at the Belize City boundary.
Kent Brooks Sr. - Jaswant's Father
"I received a call this morning about 9 or 9:30 saying that they found my son's body at the bridge here. So, I came out to see, and to identify if it is him. We already got a report saying that it's by the bridge here they dumped the body, so. As I get the information, I just came out to check and see."
For an extended period of time, a team of Coast Guard officers patrolled this creek slowly, searching the mangroves for signs of a body.
They didn't find any, and so the cops eventually left the area, knowing that the search for Jaswant must continue. His dad walked us through their last interactions before he left and didn't come back home.
Kent Brooks Sr
"Monday morning, my son and I were fixing a washer, and at about 10:30, or minutes to 11, he left saying that he was going to buy on police street, marijuana. And from that time, he hasn't shown up again. He is not that type of person."
So, the fact that it is unusual that Jaswant hasn't returned gives his father and his other loved-ones a very real cause for concern about his disappearance. That worry is only compounded by - still unconfirmed - word on the street that he was murdered.
Kent Brooks Sr
"You hear all kinds of things from the streets. I just have hope that maybe I could him living."
I heard that they beat him up, dumped him at the river, but if that's so, I just want to find his body.
Reporter
"Is it believed that the disappearance of Mr. Brooks is, in any way, related to any recent murders that we have currently in the Belize District?"
Supt. Alejandro Cowo - OC, CIB
"That is what we are hearing from different sources, but however, we are following other leads, as we have, likewise."
So, Kent Brooks Senior is keeping a positive outlook on his son's disappearance, but he has also reflected soberly on the possibility that he will confirm his worst fears.
Kent Brooks Sr
"It hurts, but I just want, as I said, to find my son, get closure, and I will feel good. I'll leave everything in God's hands."
"You could send him to go and buy, he is going and will come back. Any little work he has around to do, he'll go and do it. He is not a bad person. They just chanced my little boy out of his life."
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