A small, tight-knit community in Las Lomas is grappling with shock and grief after the body of a well-loved local resident was recovered by law enforcement on Wednesday morning, one and a half days after he placed an emergency call reporting he had been attacked in a remote cocoa field.
Adrian Peter Duff, 35-year-old unmarried man with no children who lived with epilepsy, told responding dispatchers he had sustained severe life-threatening injuries that left him trapped in the field, unable to move to safety. He provided directions to a wooded zone off Esperanza Trace and shared the contact number of a close friend before the call cut off abruptly.
Shortly after receiving the emergency call, local police launched a large-scale search operation joined by dozens of Duff’s friends and family members, who combed the dense, remote terrain for any sign of the missing man. On Tuesday, search teams made the first grim discoveries: Duff’s bicycle, burned beyond recognition, hidden not far from a trail of blood leading along a local riverbank. It was not until Wednesday, however, that searchers located Duff’s remains deep in the forested off Esperanza Trace.
As of Wednesday, investigators have not identified a clear motive for the killing, leaving both law enforcement and the community grasping for answers. Family members say they are reeling from the brutal discovery, and are pushing for a full, transparent investigation into the attack.
A relative of Duff, speaking on condition of privacy, shared that the 35-year-old had no known enemies and was widely adored across the local area. “He is a cool person, a lovable person. Nobody would have had reason to attack him or anything. He never spoke about anything threatening him or anything like that,” she said. She added that Duff worked as a day laborer, frequently taking on odd jobs for community members, and that he found genuine joy in helping others. “It is confusing that somebody did this,” she said.
Before he placed the 999 emergency call, Duff had sent a call-me request to one of his relatives. By the time the relative attempted to return the contact, Duff’s phone had already been powered off, the relative confirmed. She described the emotional rollercoaster of the 36-hour search: after finding the burned bicycle and blood trail on Tuesday, she said, she lost all hope that Duff would be found alive. “When we saw blood and everything yesterday (Tuesday), I lost hope. But then this morning I told myself that won’t be him, and I had hope again. But when I saw his body today (Wednesday), I broke down,” she said.
The relative also spoke to the broader crisis of violent crime plaguing the country, saying the attack had brought that crisis home for her family. “It is terrible. It’s out of hand. Now that it has hit home, it is a form of trauma for us, too,” she added.
Duff, who often wandered the area’s forested zones to collect wild nuts and fruits, had no dependents, the family confirmed. As of this week, the national murder toll stands at 139, a slight drop from the 150 recorded during the same period last year, though the killing has underscored that violent crime remains an urgent, pervasive issue across the country.
