Three years after a high-profile domestic homicide shook the small island community of Caye Caulker, Belize, Juan Carlos Novelo has been cleared of all murder charges and released from custody in a bombshell court verdict delivered July 21, 2026.
Presiding High Court Justice Candace Nanton announced the not-guilty finding at 2:39 p.m. local time, after directing Novelo to stand for the verdict. The judge declined to lay out detailed legal reasoning for the ruling in open court, confirming that a full written judgment explaining the acquittal will be published at a later date. Novelo had remained in custody since his initial arraignment on the single murder charge in November 2023, just weeks after Leslie Margarita Verde’s death.
Verde, a 40-year-old mother of two young daughters, was discovered unresponsive behind the front door of the home she shared with Novelo in Caye Caulker’s Bahia neighborhood in the early hours of November 4, 2023. First responders rushed her to the local Caye Caulker Health Clinic, but she was pronounced dead dead dead within minutes of arrival.
Early investigations revealed key irregularities that led law enforcement to suspect foul play. The crime scene had reportedly been altered to stage Verde’s death as a suicide by hanging from an interior room beam. But lead investigating officer Sergeant Manuel Mai testified that the purported hanging site showed no signs of disturbance, remaining undisturbed and covered in a layer of undisturbed dust that ruled out any recent interaction. This observation quickly led investigators to reclassify the death as a homicide.
A subsequent post-mortem examination confirmed that Verde died from asphyxia caused by neck compression. The autopsy report documented extensive injuries to the front and sides of her neck, including severe soft tissue bruising and internal bleeding. Forensic examiners concluded the injuries were consistent with force applied by another person, ruling out both self-infliction and accidental causes, officially classifying the death as a homicide.
During the weeks-long trial, prosecutors for the Crown presented circumstantial evidence linking Novelo to the crime. That included surveillance footage showing Novelo arriving at the shared home after Verde returned via bicycle on the night before her body was found, with multiple entries and exits from the property in the hours before her death was reported. Verde’s then 13-year-old daughter also testified that she woke in a groggy, half-asleep state to see Novelo shaking her mother’s unresponsive body, though she noted the body was later found in a different location than where she had observed it that night.
Crucially, no witness testified to directly seeing Novelo inflict the fatal injuries, a gap the defense argued was insurmountable for the prosecution’s case. Defense attorney Leeroy Banner told the court his client maintained his full innocence from the start, noting that Verde was still alive when Novelo left the family home on the morning after her return. Banner argued that Verde’s family had unfairly presumed Novelo’s guilt solely based on his romantic relationship with the victim, and that the prosecution’s evidence failed to meet the legal standard of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
Speaking to reporters outside the Belize City courthouse immediately after the verdict was read, Novelo expressed relief and repeated his claims of innocence. “It feels good, because I never killed my common-law wife,” he told assembled media, adding that he hoped Verde’s family would one day accept that he was not responsible for her death.