Police have formally arrested and charged 30-year-old Vildo Westby for the murder of San Pedrano Felix Ayuso. Westby, who fled to Mexico after Ayuso’s lifeless body was discovered on February 4, 2017, had been initially detained by Mexican authorities since December 2017. Westby was reportedly deported to Belize over the weekend, and has since been remanded to the Belize Central Prison.
According to the investigation following the discovery of Ayuso’s body, he had been stabbed multiple times to the upper body and investigators believed that he had been dead for quite some time. Ayuso was last seen alive on February 1, 2017, and after he missed an appointment the following day, a relative went to his house and made the gruesome discovery.
Police also informed at the time of the investigation that there were no signs of forced entry at his place, and no weapons were retrieved. However, police suspected that either a knife or screwdriver could have been used to inflict the fatal wounds.
Ayuso was an active member in San Pedro Town. He headed the island’s AIDS Commission and was deeply involved with the island community wherever possible.
The news of Westby’s remand in Belize comes as a relief to the Ayuso family on the island. It was a long process, beginning from when they offered a large substantial amount of money as a reward for information that would lead to Westby’s detention. The effort and sacrifice paid off and within months of posting the reward notice, a resident in Las Choapas Veracruz, Mexico reported seeing Westby, and he was detained by the police on December 7, 2017.
He remained imprisoned in Mexico until this past weekend when he was released and handed over to Belizean authorities.
