In Belize City, a grieving family remains trapped in a nightmare of uncertainty, as 17-year-old Alwin Marin Junior has now been missing for four days following a violent incident that claimed the life of his fishing companion.
Marin was last spotted last Thursday, when he left his family home to head out on a routine fishing trip with 18-year-old Jaheil Westby. But what began as an ordinary outing quickly turned to tragedy: by the pre-dawn hours of Friday, searchers found Westby’s body in a thick, bushy plot of land behind the Port of Belize Limited facility in the Port Loyola neighborhood. Preliminary examinations confirmed the young man died from apparent gunshot wounds, leaving investigators with more questions than answers. Marin has not been heard from or seen by family or authorities since the day the pair left for their trip.
Now, Marin’s mother, Patricia Cardinez, is speaking out to share her theory about what triggered the violence that has upended her family’s life. In an exclusive interview with local outlet News Five, Cardinez insisted her son had no history of conflict with others, but suggested that people close to the teen may hold grudges against him. “My son has no problem with nobody. But people have problems with my son. And I believe somebody who is in this has to be somebody close to my son, whom my son trusts,” she said.
Cardinez also pointed to a specific, recent disagreement that she believes may be linked to the incident: an argument over ownership of a horse that unfolded shortly before Marin and Westby left for their fishing trip. “Whosoever he had a talking about this horse, that is the person they have to search for,” she urged investigators.
As the search stretches into its fourth day, a desperate Cardinez says her family has exhausted all local efforts to locate her son, and is now pleading for higher-level authorities to step in to aid the search. “As a mother right now, we done search to find him… I need somebody more stronger who could come in and find him, so we could put him down and make him rest. Because if he don’t rest, I won’t rest neither,” she said, her voice heavy with grief and worry.
The family’s plea for help has expanded to social media, where a relative shared a public post asking the broader Belizean community for any information that could lead to Marin’s recovery. The post describes Marin as a kind, hardworking young man, and asks residents to keep an eye out for the 17-year-old brown-skinned teen. “We beg you all… he’s 17 brown skin you all plz help us,” the post reads.
As of Monday, official police investigations into Westby’s death and Marin’s disappearance remain ongoing. While one family has already begun mourning the loss of Westby, Marin’s loved ones continue to cling to the fragile hope that their son will be found, even as uncertainty grows with each passing day.