In a tragic development out of Belize’s Stann Creek District, a 24-year-old delivery worker from Dangriga who was reported missing earlier this week has been discovered dead in the rural community of Silk Grass Village. The victim has been identified as Steve Lewis, who vanished on Tuesday morning shortly after leaving his residence to complete what was expected to be an ordinary series of delivery stops. He never made it back to his family after that departure.
In an interview with local outlet News Five, Lewis’s mother, Suceli Lewis, shared new details about the circumstances leading up to her son’s disappearance. She confirmed that on the day he went missing, Steve received an unexpected phone call from an unidentified man based in Dangriga. The caller allegedly requested that Lewis drive him to a remote farm located within Silk Grass Village, a trip that would take the delivery man far outside his usual route. That request, and the departure that followed, marked the final time any member of Lewis’s family saw him alive.
Once it became clear that Lewis would not return home as scheduled, local community members and family contacts mobilized to launch a large-scale search of the Silk Grass Village area. What searchers ultimately found was a devastating discovery that has left the small community reeling.
Describing the moment her son was found, Suceli Lewis explained that search teams were spread across the rural terrain when a friend of the family made the grim find. “One of my friends came through the back [area], and he said he smelt a scent, and he said he saw vultures. So he stopped. When he stopped the cycle, then he went direct to the ditch… like a lagoon-like drain,” she recalled.
In the wake of the discovery, the Lewis family says they have strong reason to believe Steve was deliberately lured to the location and killed. “Foul play. Based on footage, that’s why I tell you that’s foul play,” Suceli Lewis stated, though she did not share further details about the footage referenced. Additional information about the ongoing investigation into Lewis’s death is expected to be released during the News @ Noon broadcast on GBM, and local authorities have not yet released an official statement on the case as of Friday.