Reward Offered for Missing Children

A reward in the amount of BZ$12,750.00 (Twelve thousand, Seven Hundred Fifty Belize dollars) is being offered by an anonymous group of donors for the safe return of both Benjamin Rash and Onelia Rash, aged eleven (11) and nine (9), who were last seen on August 30, 2010 near Cattle Landing, in the Toledo District of Belize. Such reward will be paid to the person or persons responsible for the safe return of these children. This reward will only be paid if the following conditions are met:

1. Both children must be alive and in the custody of either the Belize Police Department or the children’s family.

2. The reward will not be paid unless both children are recovered alive. There will be no partial reward for the return of just one child.

3. The reward will not be paid before the children are in the custody of the Belize Police Department or the children’s family. There will be no advance payment of any kind, including (but not limited) to “out-of-pocket expenses,” “facilitation fees,” “locator’s fees,” etc.

4. The reward will be paid to anyone who is aware of the location of the children if he or she provides this information to the Police, and the information leads to the safe recovery of both children. In order to collect the reward, the person providing this information must be able to confirm that they were the ones who provided the information.

5. If more than one person is responsible for the safe recovery of both children, the reward will be split between those persons. In no case will the total reward paid exceed BZ$12,750.00 (Twelve thousand, Seven Hundred, Fifty Belize dollars).

6. If the children are safely returned, and there is a dispute between persons attempting to claim the reward, the Belize Police Department will decide who the reward shall be paid to. The decision of the Belize Police Department will be final.

For further information, or to report the whereabouts of these children, please contact
MIGUEL A. SEGURA, ASST. COMISSIONER,
HEAD NATIONAL CRIMES INVESTIGATION BRANCH,
Crime Stoppers Hot line – 0-800–922-TIPS
e-mail: masegura666@gmail.com

Benjamin, 11, and Onelia Rash, 9, still missing after 4+ months

It has been 4 months and several days since Onelia Rash, 9, and Benjamin Rash, 11, both of the San Marcos Village in the Toledo District, have gone missing, and at press time tonight, they have not been found.

Not only have they not been found, but police have no idea where they may be, or who their abductor(s) are.

The children went missing on August 31, 2010 and an extensive search was conducted all around the country and particularly in the southern and western areas of Belize. The police even went as far as to seek help from international police to help with their search.

The last time that the children were seen, they had been selling fruits for their family. They were last spotted in the Cattle Landing Village on the same day that they went missing. Reportedly, they were attempting to catch a ride home.

The circumstances surrounding the missing Rash children have been strange. Villagers of the San Marcos Village, Toledo, burned down the American Crocodile Education Sanctuary (ACES), which was owned and managed by Vince and Cherie Chenot-Rose, an American couple living in Toledo for several years, because they were told by a “witchdoctor” that the couple had something to do with the children’s disappearance.

The couple was outraged that the villagers would suspect them of kidnapping, and would go so far as to destroy their home and business. They have stated categorically to the media that they had nothing to do with the children’s disappearance, and that their sympathies lie with the family, hoping that the children are returned safely.

The villagers allegedly burned the property due to a combination of frustration with the lack of progress of the police search and the information received from the PG “witchdoctor.”

The police told Amandala a couple months back that they would keep the case open until the children have been found.

Amandala

Memorial service for missing Rash Siblings

Two children of school age disappeared mysteriously a year ago in the south when they left the safety of their homes to sell fruit to raise money for school supplies. The pain over the missing siblings, Benjamin and Onelia Rash, is still fresh in the minds of their family and community in San Marcos, Toledo. News Five’s Isani Cayetano covered their story last year and was back in the area on Tuesday when a service was held on the anniversary of their disappearance.

Isani Cayetano, Reporting

The mysterious disappearance of a brother and sister duo on the outskirts of Punta Gorda Town a year ago remains unexplained amidst the many theories that have been formulated in the wake of their departure. What was, for eleven year old Benjamin and his sister Onelia, to have been a routine trip selling craboos and lime instead turned out to be a massive manhunt, complete with a lynch mob torching a million dollar investment. The burning down of the American Crocodile Education Sanctuary, belonging to Vincent and Cherie Rose, was the result of a militia acting on the advice of a fortune teller who predicted that the children had been abducted and used as feed for the crocs.

On the morning of August thirtieth the pair caught a bus here at the junction of the Southern Highway near the entrance to San Marcos Village. The last person to see them was their uncle Domingo Rash.

Domingo Rash, Uncle of Missing Children [File: September 7^th, 2010]

“When I reach the junction of San Marcos Village we all boarded the Coc’s bus from San Antonio together. We went ahead, we’re on our way, while reaching Cattle Landing the two children onboard the bus [near] the area where the mechanic man has piled the vehicles there. They had onboard the bus just about five meters from that area. I had get off of the bus also. I see when those pickney, those two children went and they made their way to sell what they have to sell.”

The exact location where they were last seen together in this satellite community a few minutes outside of town is being enshrined in their honor. A year has passed, no stones have been unturned, yet they remain at large.

Pedro Rash, Father of Missing Children

“I don’t know what exactly happened, you know, but to my idea, to my knowledge maybe someone told them [that they would] give them a ride or to go for a couple days or hours along somewhere, you know. But, at the end of the day, maybe it was a wrong idea, you know.”

Whatever the proposition was, whether or not they were forcibly taken, was indeed a bad one. It’s a tough loss for the family, especially their mother Louisa who is still visibly distraught from the incident. On her face lies the bare emotion as she stares pensively towards the unknown. Coming to terms with what has happened proves equally difficult for both parents.

Pedro Rash

“I know it’s the devil’s work. We can’t help that. That is what the bible tells us. It’s the last days, you know, critical time’s you know. It’s the last days because there‘s too much evil, you know, bad mind. We have to expect this, according to the bible, that’s what the bible says, you know, we have to expect this. But I think I am in a test because I mostly concentrate on the bible, that maybe Satan is around, you know, to try to discourage me.”

The challenge they currently face has only strengthened their resolve. The family has since been reduced to six members but it remains deeply rooted in spirituality.

Isani Cayetano

“A small gathering, representing the wider Mayan community, has congregated at the site where siblings Benjamin and Onelia Rash were last seen a year ago to date. The pair had set out to Cattle Landing and Hopeville to sell local produce. Despite all subsequent efforts to locate them they have not been seen or heard from since.”

It’s a somber memorial, a collection of friends, family and well-wishers assembled to celebrate the lives of the missing children who ventured twelve miles outside of San Marcos in an attempt to earn a few dollars in preparation for the 2010 school year. Today their uniforms are propped before a monument being unveiled in their honor. The shrine mirrors a permanent tabernacle within their thatch abode back in the village.

Pedro Rash

“The older one he knows exactly what happened because I have one of my sons who is seventeen years [old] but the [other] three, well they don’t know much, especially the young one that is two years [old]. He doesn’t know where they are. All that he can say is that they are on the table, you know. I have pictures [of them on the table] that’s the only thing he knows where they are but he doesn’t know exactly where they are ‘til maybe later on when they get bigger I will tell them, you know.”

A year ago Louisa made an impassioned plea for the safe return of her children. It still resonates loudly among members of the community who remain optimistic that Ben and Onelia are still alive.

Louisa Rash, Mother of Missing Children [File: September 7^th, 2010]

“I want them to come back home because I’m not feeling good without them. If anybody saw them or where they are they could please call the police and send them back home.”

Following the events that occurred in the aftermath of the children’s disappearance ACES has since been abandoned. Its owners, the Roses, have transferred their crocodile rescue operations to San Pedro and a reward of over twelve thousand dollars has been posted for information on Ben and Onelia‘s whereabouts. Reporting for News Five, I am Isani Cayetano.