Family of Missing Ladyville Man Fears the Worst After 18 Days Without Leads

The family of missing man Mason Patnett has begun to fear the worst after countless searches have yielded nothing. On January 5, the 36-year-old was reported missing by his girlfriend, who had arrived at their home in Ladyville and found the front door open. The woman says she had spoken to Patnett the night before but was unable to reach him later on.  This prompted her to get the Police and Patnett’s family involved. The family has since launched multiple search efforts, but so far, they remain clueless as to where he might be. His sister, Sasha, says while her brother had a troubled past, he never mentioned anything about being in danger. With 18 days now passed, the family is fearing the worst, believing that he may have been killed. 

Sasha Parnett, Sister of Mason Patnett: “At this point we haven’t gotten any tips as to where he could be. We’re just searching areas that most likely he might be. It’s been some time, like you mentioned, and we have to be realistic. We’ve hoped and prayed that we can get him back alive and in one piece but the reality in Belize is that men don’t go missing in Belize and come back home in one piece safe and sound. So that’s just something that we have been learning to accept. So it’s been very difficult, you know, having to accept that, but hence the reason we’ve been searching places where you would find bodies and not people. It got us by surprise because we would not have expected something like this because he’s someone who he really doesn’t mess with anyone unless someone would bother him, you know. And he hasn’t told us anything about any issues recently, so it really caught us by surprise. He was just focusing on building his fence and, you know, a few days before he went missing he was on his WhatsApp status that he was, you know, cementing some posts for his fence. So it was just like a normal day and then he was gone. And that’s the painful thing because he’s someone that really keeps to himself. And most people, most of the media houses would know that he does have a criminal past but he’s been really trying to stay out of trouble recently. So no we don’t have any idea of anyone that could have an issue with him.”

According to the sister, Sasha, the family’s concerns have been exacerbated by several break-ins at the missing man’s home.  This week, Patnett’s home was burglarized and ransacked by thieves. The men made off with several hundred dollars’ worth of appliances and grocery items. According to the sister, it has been a rough road to travel, particularly since the Police have not been assisting them.   

Sasha Parnett, Sister of Mason Patnett: “It’s a very painful thing because he’s been in the community for approximately 16 years. And, you know, for someone from the community to go missing and things like this to be occurring, it seems that it’s a very heartless act, you know. We have been going through a lot recently and to be having to worry about, you know, break-ins and stolen items from his yard and stuff like that. It’s just, it breaks your heart to think that that’s where some person’s minds are at the moment. I must say that I’m very disappointed in the way that some members of the department have handled the situation with regards to assisting with searches. We’ve only had, when we’ve asked them for assistance we will have a very small turnout from them or they would show up but only a small amount of them would be, you know, actually assisting us with these searches, like actually being in the bushes with us and searching, you know, and I do appreciate those officers who were in the brush and in the mud with us. I really appreciate them, but it breaks my heart to see that. you know, as a department you’re being paid to assist us with this and we’re not getting the support that we would like to receive with most of our searches, which is why we have opted to just do personal searches to look for him. Because when we do ask the officers, it’s basically like they are not really there either way.”

If you have any information that may assist the family in locating Mason Patnett, please call 611-4270. Notably, Patnett is no stranger to the police.  Our archives show that he had been charged with several crimes including drug trafficking, robbery, and attempted murder. In 2012, he and Raheem Crawford were charged with the attempted murder of Marvin Bol. However, in 2018, Patnett was freed of the charge after the crown withdrew the charges, after his co-accused (Crawford) was murdered in 2014.