The only time you hear about Monkey River Village in the news is when the erosion of their coastline is being discussed. The once proud town is now a sleepy seaside village, but it woke on Saturday - as if from a nightmare.
Tonight, the entire community is in mourning after an unfathomable triple murder.
It's a tragedy difficult to come to terms with for two reasons. One, all the villagers know each other, so they've never had to worry about one person killing another. In fact, there isn't even a police or substation there, and the only way into the village is to paddle or motor across the river.
And two, the victims are a father, his wife, their 3 year old son and their family dog. But while they passed away, an 11 year old girl is recovering from gunshot wounds, and both she and her 8 year old brother must live with the trauma of watching their family's execution.
But what prompted a man to shoot his cousin and two children? Courtney Menzies went to the Monkey River today to learn more. Here's her story.
This caution tape on the Monkey River Road marks the spot where the lives of an 11 year old girl and her 8 year old brother were changed forever. On Saturday night around 7:00, the children were with their parents and their toddler sibling in a vehicle heading back home.
But this tree was blocking the road, so their father, 39 year old Elvis Garbutt Sr exited the vehicle to move it. That's when his cousin, Curtis Garbutt, came out of the bushes and shot him several times to the chest and neck.
The gunman then did the unthinkable: he opened the passenger side doors and shot 30 year old Emerita Garbutt, and her 3 year old son, Elvis Garbutt Jr, before throwing the toddler on the ground and stamping him. He then turned the gun on the little girl, who was sitting in the backseat, cradling the family's chihuahua.
By this time, the elder son had already ran out of the vehicle towards the highway. He kept going for three miles before he was found by police. His sister survived the shots to her hand and face and ran the other direction, towards the village, continuing for two miles on the darkened road before she finally arrived at her aunt's house.
Voice of: Joy Pitts, Sister of Deceased
"About ten minutes after 8 I heard my dogs barking and when I looked outside, my niece was by the gate with her finger shot off. I said, what happened? She said, Curtis shot my dad, my brother. And she showed me the finger that was shot off, she ran. I opened the gate and took over to the village and everybody start to bawl."
"We tried to rush the little girl to the hospital but everybody was just bawling because we figured that my brother died."
"I never went down. We just took the little girl across the river back to Independence."
Courtney Menzies:
"So it's the police, after they found the little boy then they came in?"
Voice of: Joy Pitts, Sister of Deceased
"Then the police came in."
Courtney Menzies:
"So they found the bodies?"
Voice of: Joy Pitts, Sister of Deceased
"They found the bodies, but they didn't find my brother at the time. My brother was hauled, and it was about 11:00 when they found the body, covered up with a cohune leaf."
The killer was allegedly after the $6,000 that Garbutt kept hidden under his carseat. He planned to use that money to buy a boat from Honduras and had already deposited half towards it. He was supposed to go with his brother today to pick up the boat and pay the balance.
Since the gunman was always around in the village, he knew his cousin had the money and hours before the murder, he put his plan into motion.
Voice of: Joy Pitts, Sister of Deceased
"About 5:00 everybody was alarmed, everybody in the village knew he broke into somebody's house and stole the gun."
"They found him the next morning in a canoe paddling over the river."
Courtney Menzies:
"And he denied doing anything?"
Voice of: Joy Pitts, Sister of Deceased
"Yeah he denied doing it, he said he shot a gibnut instead. He denied doing it."
Garbutt's brother led the police to him and they quickly apprehended him.
But though they caught the killer, the village - which is populated by mainly family members - is forever changed. Another relative explained that while they knew Curtis Garbutt as a thief, they were shocked that he'd kill the man he grew up with, and the children who loved him.
Ebenezer Logan, Cousin of Deceased
"We're all traumatized because we knew something serious would happen because that guy is nothing good. He's a serious guy, he should have been in jail from before now. Because he is lucky to have escaped some of those things that he had done."
"Like me, I'm still in a state of shock but I think I can stand the shock."
Courtney Menzies:
"How is his mom doing?"
Ebenezer Logan, Cousin of Deceased
"She's trying to hold up. She's a strong mother. God blessed her to be strong. That's why she doesn't want to talk much because the more she talks then the more the feeling comes out."
Voice of: Joy Pitts, Sister of Deceased
"He's just somebody nice to all the kids, so it's just surprising that he would do something like that. Nice to everybody, the kids love him."
Courtney Menzies:
"And he was close to the family?"
Voice of: Joy Pitts, Sister of Deceased
"He was close. He's always at my shop sitting at my window, always around buying. He was a nice person so I don't know why he would do that."
Now this small, tight community is grappling what may be their first gruesome death, and the loss of an entire family.
Ebenezer Logan, Cousin of Deceased
"He's a really cool guy. Nobody cannot complain about him in any mischief or anything. He's an honest guy. And he's a good mechanic so we lost a good mechanic."
"Those guys are the best, one of the best in Belize, mechanics. Because he work with his brother and honestly they are good guys."
"His wife, I don't know her, like her lifestyle, but she came here and she didn't give any trouble. No one really can complain about her because she's from another village."
Courtney Menzies:
"And when you see the kids running around, what were they like?"
Ebenezer Logan, Cousin of Deceased
"Yeah they're always happy because we have a lot of children, they're always together. So the kids, we miss them a lot."
"We expected something to happen but not in this village. Because this is the first, honestly, as far as I know, first murder that ever happened in our area like that. First murder that ever happened so he made history for us, the bad side of history."
Voice of: Joy Pitts, Sister of Deceased
"Everybody was saying this morning and we aren't sleeping right now, a lot of people are still worried. Some of the kids are still frightened. So we don't know, it's going to be a different village after this."
And now the Garbutt's half painted house - which they had hoped to finish before Christmas - stands empty, with the children's bikes, rubber boots, and their beloved chihuahua's harness as evidence of a once happy family.
| 