Family of Leonard Balthazar Questions Police Investigation into His Death

The family of 22-year-old Leonard Balthazar, who died in an alleged burglary incident, is demanding answers from the Belize Police Department. Balthazar’s mother, Ampara Sanchez, says she is frustrated over the lack of updates from authorities since her son’s death on December 10, 2024. According to police, Balthazar had allegedly broken into a cabin on Tobacco Caye around 2:30 that morning, where two tourists were staying. The couple, asleep at the time, were awakened to find Balthazar going through their belongings. One of the tourists, Scott Taylor, then confronted him, and a struggle ensued, during which Balthazar was thrown over the cabin’s balcony. Police say he fell to the ground, sustaining fatal injuries. However, while authorities have labeled the incident as a case of self-defense, Balthazar’s family is questioning the investigation. Sanchez says the family has conducted their own investigation and believes the police failed her. 

Ampara Sanchez, Mother of Deceased: “It’s very frustrating to see that I’m not getting any kind of justice out of our Belize system. Knowing that the person its a tourist and they just let him go jut like in less than 24 hours. And I think I deserve justice because as I said we sought our own investigation and based on some investigation the I did the man didn’t just only chokehold my son, the man supposedly broke my son’s back too and drowned my son. And the post mortem only shows that he drowned my son and when I tried to assess the body they didn’t want to, they didn’t want me to inspect his body the way I was supposed to. Even up to the morgue all they told me, they never really explained anything else, handed me the paper and told me okay my son died from a chokehold. I think they’re lying about something.”

Balthazar’s stepfather Vincent Higinio claims that the department initially provided the family with conflicting reports of what transpired. He says the family is now calling on the police to give a clearer explanation of the circumstances surrounding his stepson’s death. 

Vincent Higinio, Stepfather of Balthazar: “At first within 24 hours she spoke with the investigating officer, he told her the case was closed based on consistent testimony of Scott Taylor and his wife. However our investigation showed that the testimony of Scott Taylor and his wife is inconsistent because they said day one it was a confrontation inside the room, day two it wasn’t a confrontation and this testimony can only come from Scott Taylor and his wife what happened in the room. So the consistent testimony that they spoke about it doesn’t exist. So from day one he’s been covering up something and so also he said the case was closed within twenty four hours, he walked down the street and came to my home and confronted her and told her that in order to get the case reopened she had to get an attorney. So we talked with Corporal Depaz of the Dangriga Police Department, he said the case was open. However Corporal Depaz also said that they were waiting direction from the DPP in regards to whether or not they were going to charge Scott Taylor for a crime. This was after the autopsy report said that Leonard Balthazar died because of a chokehold of another person. So if a person was choked by another person that is murder. That is murder. I’m not a police officer but I’m quite sure they’re trained to know, to have that type of information in regards to their training.”

Balthazar’s family says they will be seeking to take legal action against the police department.