The Fire Department says last week’s fire in Sandhill was the result of arson

The Fire Department has confirmed that the blaze which destroyed the scene of last month’s triple murder was the result of arson. The department concluded its investigation today and ruled that the blaze was caused by a malicious act. Last Friday, the home where forty-three-year-old, Emerson Garcia, twenty-year-old Jareem Davis, and nineteen-year-old Charleston Jenkins were executed, went up in flames. Belize City Station Supervisor, Kenneth Mortis, says that investigators found traces of fire accelerants in the living room area of the home where the fire started.

Kenneth Mortis, Station Supervisor, National Fire Service: “The investigator has just officially concluded the investigation and we learned that this fire is as a result of a malicious act. Now if you’ll allow me to amplify. Malicious act meaning that some sort of foreign accelerant was used to assist in the cause of this fire. We observed throughout the remains that there were heavy spotting of unidentified source, some type of accelerant like I previously mentioned that that was concentrated in the living room area of the building and from there the pattern shows that the fire spread towards the remainder of the structure. However at this time of course the perpetrator or perpetrators behind this particular fire hasn’t been found by us. It’s a double whammy for the families involved knowing that they have been grieving the loss of the loved ones in that particular building and just a few days or weeks after they went back to finish the job in trying to burn down that building. However I must make mention that the extinguishment of this fire could not have been done solely by the fire department because we were greatly assisted by residents within the neighboring Sandhill Village.”

The police department stated on Monday that its investigations would have continued following the outcome of the fire department’s investigation.