In Belize, between the end of the 1990s and the year 2000, a series of brutal murders occurred that shook the Caribbean nation and remain unsolved today. At the center of this story is a suspected unidentified serial killer, nicknamed Jack the Butcher – or even it “Belize Strangler” – believed to be responsible for the disappearance, rape and murder of at least five teenage girls in the Belize City district.
Jack the Butcher’s victims
The first victim is Sherilee Nicholasa thirteen-year-old who disappeared on September 8, 1998 while returning home from school. His body was found on October 9 along the George Price Highway, in a pool of water. She had been stabbed more than 40 times in the head and chest, one of her arms was almost severed, she had deep stab wounds and signs of sexual violence. The circumstances are controversial: she was, in fact, wearing the clothes of another girl who had disappeared a few days earlier. That little girl is Jay Blades9 years old, whose remains were recovered six months later, along with Sherilee’s backpack.
It follows the death on March 23, 1999 of Jackie Fern Malica twelve-year-old who was found two days later in a puddle along a dirt road on the edge of the area where Sherilee’s body was found. She was also stabbed several times and had her left arm severed. On June 26, 1999, he disappeared Erica Wills8 years old. Just under a month later, on July 18, his remains were located behind a quarry at Gracie Rock, about 25 kilometers from Belize.
Finally, the latest victim attributed to the alleged killer is Naomi Hernandez14, disappeared on February 15, 2000 while running an errand on Mosul Street. His mutilated body was found nine days later on a sandy mound along the Belize River: many parts missing, several stab wounds to the face and neck. Her father identifies her by the blue jeans she is wearing.
All the cases present a modus operandi apparently coherent: young girls, perhaps facilitated means of access, mutilations and use of sharp instruments with such precision as to suggest that the author or authors have surgical knowledge or have access to professional instruments. Before the murder, the consumption of alcohol and drugs, as well as sexual violence.
The investigations
The investigations they are complex from the start. Belize authorities receive international assistance, including from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Scotland Yard. Profilers are also recruited. Despite this, to date no convictions have been issued for these murders, and the case is considered one of Belize’s most disturbing cold cases.
Among the suspects, one of the main names is that of Michael Williamsa mechanic from Belize City who lived near Jackie Malic’s family. He is arrested for Jackie’s murder, but while he is in custody the girl Erica Wills disappears: this, together with an alibi and the lack of concrete evidence, leads to his acquittal.
Another more remote lead leads back to the American serial killer Lonnie David Franklin Jr. (known as “The Grim Sleeper”). Some circumstances — including his marriage to a Belizean woman and the discovery of one of his vans in the country — raise suspicions about a possible involvement also in the cases of the Central American country, but no concrete link is ever formalized.
Belize in panic
Killings provoke panic and tension in the nation. We are talking about a country of 400 thousand souls, with a non-trivial crime rate but not such as to fear the existence of a serial murder. The authorities impose a curfew for minors and place guards in front of schools in an attempt to reassure the population. The fact that the victims are all young and that the methods are brutal amplifies the fear and sense of insecurity.
In the months following the latest murder, reports emerged of a man driving a red car with a sock over his face, who had attempted to kidnap young girls: however this figure was never identified or formally linked to the investigations. From an investigative point of view, the alleged use of the same instrument in all cases and the precision of the cuts on the bodies lead experts to believe that the perpetrator may have had medical training or access to surgical instruments. This also leads to the hypothesis of the existence of more than one individual involved or an accomplice.
An endless mystery
To date the case remains open and unsolved.
Despite advances in forensics – including the opening of a cold case lab in Belize that includes the ability to analyze residual DNA – no breakthrough has been announced regarding the murders attributed to Jack the Butcher. The families of the victims continue to seek justice and the case remains emblematic of the fragility of investigative systems in contexts where operational and forensic resources are limited.