And while the official murder count is at 134, there are still three fishermen missing at sea since November, and a few others still on the missing persons list.
So, how do police account for all those missing Belizeans?
Well, the ComPol says that those cases remain open and that his officers are always prepared to pursue any new leads:
Chester Williams - Commissioner of Police
"Those persons who remain missing, we continue to maintain an open mind as to their whereabouts, or whatever state they may be in. If it is that we get any leads from the family members or anybody per se, then we'll act on those leads. But, you'll know that we cannot continue indefinitely pursuing missing persons because it takes a lot of our resources that could be used to ongoing crime situation."
Reporter
"According to our law, are these persons considered missing for their entire lifetimes if they never show up? Or is there a point that we declare them dead?"
Chester Williams
"Under the law, once you have been missing for 7 or more years, then your family members can apply to the court for what is called a presumption of death. Then, if the court is satisfied based on the evidence you produced, that this person may be dead, the court will then issue what is called a presumption of death order. Based on that, if the person had any estate or whatever, you can go ahead and administer the person's estate based on that."
Williams says that there are cases in the past where persons of Central American origin, who been reported missing in Belize, have returned to their home countries.
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