Young Honduran mother of three violently murdered on Ambergris Caye
Police on Ambergris Caye are asking for the public's assistance to help solve the murder of 22-year-old Silvia Carmen Benitez. The Honduran national, who was reported missing on Thursday January 15th, was an exotic dancer at an establishment in the San Pedrito Area of San Pedro Town. Almost 48 hours later, her partially nude body was discovered in an uninhabited area about 3 � miles north of San Pedro Town.
Benitez was reported missing by one of her friends, 36-year-old Danilo Alvarenga of Belmopan City. Alvarenga told The San Pedro Sun that he became concerned after he learned from other friends that they had not seen or heard of Benitez since Tuesday January 13th. According to the owner of the establishment where Benites worked, the young lady was seen by one of his workmen on a golf cart with a male person sometime around 4:30AM on Tuesday January 13th. A police report indicated that Benitez, well known as "Mauw" was seen around 4AM that same day, on a bench with an alcoholic beverage and in the company of four men.
It is uncertain what happen thereafter, but according to Officer in Charge of the Police Coastal Executive Unit Superintendent of Police Luis Castellanos, following the missing report, police began searching for the missing female. Flyers were placed in various areas, but sometime around 11:30AM on Saturday January 17th, police responded to a report of a body found in the Mata Grande Area of the island. "We visited the location and found the decomposed body of a female. The body was retrieved and we were able to identify the body because it had some tattoos and based on that we confirmed, it was the same young lady that was reported missing." The female was found by two men who were in the area who detected a high stench and decided to investigate. The two men stumbled across the dead female about 15 feet away off the dirt road behind some bushes. "She was found in a shallow mud pond that had some water. She was found face down, in an advanced state of decomposition."
Click here to read the rest of the article and see more photos in the San Pedro Sun