Two Men Found Executed After Sarita Truck Robbed on Hummingbird Highway

Police have opened a major investigation into what appears to be a robbery that escalated into a double murder along the Hummingbird Highway. The grim discovery was made last night near mile 40 after officers encountered a Sarita delivery truck parked on the roadside, its windows rolled up, engine off, and the key still in the ignition. The vehicle’s cash compartment was empty, immediately pointing to a robbery.  A search of the area led authorities about a quarter mile into a feeder road, where they found the bodies of two men. One, dressed in a white Sarita shirt, camouflage pants, and black shoes, was identified as 22-year-old Raynard Raymond Garbutt of San Ignacio. He was lying on his right side with a gunshot wound to the back of the head. Nearby, was 43-year-old Robert Alexander Crawford, also shot in the head.  Investigators say a farmer checking his property made the discovery and alerted the Sarita office in Belmopan, which then contacted police. GPS data later confirmed the delivery truck had been stationary in the location since 3:48 p.m., providing a critical timestamp as detectives work to piece together the sequence of events.  Tonight, the father of one of the victims, Raynard Garbutt Sr., shared his grief and disbelief with Love News.

Raynard Garbutt, Father of Deceased: “They took them into a feeder road where they murdered them by doing it execution style. My son took three bullets in his head, I’m not sure how many bullets the other individual took. I can tell you that my son took three bullets in his head from behind his head. Every evening I would message my son or call him and just yesterday I was laying in my bed and the Holy Spirit just spoke to me and said why don’t you contact your kids. It’s three of them, two responded Raynard didn’t respond. Immediately a sad and sick feeling came over my body. Because he’s not one to not respond to my texts or to my call. He would immediately pick up his phone and message me so I messaged him to tell him I said “Babe please take care, be careful there.” Right then and there I figured something went wrong and five minutes after his mom called and said did you hear what happened to Ray and his driver ? I said no what happened. She said they found the truck abandoned, the occupants nowhere in the vicinity of the truck and the cash pan gone. And when I heard that I got so numb. So I called the OC in charge of Belmopan Police Station and I asked her if they got a report of an accident or anything on the Hummingbird Highway and she said “yes there was a robbery. I’m not saying that they’re dead.” and so I had a little hope. About an hour after she called me and she said the police they are out there, a Mennonite saw two bodies in an off-road just about a hundred yards from the truck to the right coming from Dangriga. The police wouldn’t allow me to go and identify the body which I understood because it’s protocol and so the corporal asked me to show her a picture of my son and so I showed her the picture and she said yes that’s your son, he’s dead. We found his ID on him with his name Raynard Garbutt and the driver also is dead. It was very tough. I asked God to please let me not entertain hatred or anger in my heart. They already got the money why kill my son and the driver ? And the way that they did it execution style ? All he talks about was his fiancé and the baby and how much he wanted to raise that baby. And his life just taken away, my granddaughter is left fatherless. Sitting here right now I still can’t believe my son is head. It’s very difficult to accept.”

Both men were transported to the Western Regional Hospital, where Crawford was pronounced dead at 10:26 p.m., followed by Garbutt at 10:27 p.m. Love News understands that Police recovered several items of evidentiary value from the scene, including a GAT 16×6 expended shell and an S&B live round. The amount of money stolen remains unknown.  This afternoon, Assistant Superintendent of Police ASP Stacy Smith provided a briefing on the preliminary findings in the investigation.  

Stacy Smith, Assistant Superintendent of Police: “Scenes of crime personnel were summoned and they processed the scene as well as the truck which was subsequently transported and impounded for further processing. Police investigation continues.”

Reporter: What does the location of where the bodies were found, what does that tell investigators? 

Stacy Smith, Assistant Superintendent of Police: “That suggests that they were taken to that location and presumably under some form of the duress. So that is what we are looking at. Also interestingly, the vehicle was parked on the side of the road so something happened that may have caused the driver of the vehicle to believe that he was stopping for a legitimate purpose when in fact that was not the case because of the very callous way in which it was done people presume that they were killed because the person was trying to deprive them of the opportunity of identifying them. However, we also know that in the last incident, the person was shot in that instance too. So there is no clear way to say it that they may have been familiar with that person, those persons, or whether the two incidents are connected. However, the evidential material that was retrieved from the scene will be compared to see if there’s some nexus between these two incidents.”

ASP Smith also issued a public appeal, urging anyone who may have been traveling through the mile 40 area yesterday, especially residents with surveillance cameras and motorists with dashcams, to assist.

Stacy Smith, Assistant Superintendent of Police: “We have no eyewitness so far. However, we know that it was, we suspect the incident to have occurred between 3:30 and 5:30 p.m. So that is still a period of time where it is highly trafficked. And it is for this reason that we are asking members of the public who may have been in that area, they may have seen something and thought it to be suspicious but did not make any, you know, upward communication to police. But now having known that such an incident took place if it is that you saw something that looked out of  place, out of the ordinary, we urge you to call the police station or share that information via 922 TIPS. I know a number of persons are in the habit of having dashcams in their vehicle so it’s quite possible that persons who were traveling in that general area during the period or even before may have picked up some evidence that can assist us in this investigation. So we ask persons whether those who hold dashcams in that area or houses or properties or businesses in that era to review your footages, take some time out and review your footages to see if you notice anything out of the ordinary. If you notice this delivery truck because we do believe that it was being followed for some time and that is why the persons were able to intercept them.”

Unconfirmed reports say that the men had experienced an attempted hold up in early November in the Santa Elena Town area in the Cayo District.  Police, however, say they are unclear on any such report./