Costa Rican National Found Dead in Belize Central Prison; Investigation Underway

An inmate at the Belize Central Prison was found dead in his cell early this morning. Around 3:30, police were informed that 40-year-old Christopher D’Angelo Marchena was found motionless in a cell he shared with four other prisoners. In March, the Costa Rican national was remanded for charges of obtaining property and services by deception after leaving thousands of unpaid bills at high-end resorts. This week, he was taken to San Pedro for court and returned to the prison, where he died.  The circumstances surrounding his death are under investigation.  Chief Executive Officer of the Kolbe Foundation Virgilio Murillo spoke to our newsroom about the situation and explained more.

Virgilio Murillo, CEO, Kolbe Foundation: “Yes at about 3:14 this morning I received a call that the prisoner was found unresponsive in his bed. So we immediately called the Hattieville Police to come and investigate. Hattieville Police came along with Scenes of Crime and they did their procedures of taking photos and interviewing a few of the personnel as well as other inmates that were in the cell along with that inmate and got bits and pieces of information with respect to the last time they may have seen him alive and how he was behaving and that kind of thing. As far as I’m aware he left for court in San Pedro where his trial was being dealt with on the 17th which would have been Monday and he remained out there throughout the days and returned yesterday evening at around six o’clock thereabout I imagine because the weekend was on us they don’t normally keep prisoners in the police lockup, they try to bring them back to the prison since the weekend is on us.”

Murillo added that Marchena’s body had no obvious signs of violence, nor did he have any medical condition or ailment.

Virgilio Murillo, CEO, Kolbe Foundation: “Absolutely not and I even checked with my medic center and wanted to find out if he had any medical condition that I may have missed or was not privy too and according to my medic center he never had any medical issue so I think this one is straight out of left field.”

Reporter: And he didn’t have bruises or anything on his body from what you understand ? 

Virgilio Murillo, CEO, Kolbe Foundation: “Absolutely not. He was found like I said he was found unresponsive. All what I heard from the occupants in the cell and the personnel who responded was that he was foaming from his mouth, that is all we can say. So we now need to wait for the autopsy to reveal what was the cause of his death.”

The alleged con man was accused of using screenshots to scam resorts in Placencia and San Pedro out of accommodations and food