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The first two days Sam and I were on the run we were far from our house. I felt helpless, especially given the fact that so many of our friends and workers were being arrested. I realized that unless I knew, moment by moment, what was happening, my chances of coming out of this intact, both emotionally and physically, were slim. I needed to be close to area where the events occurred and needed to watch, and hear, the actions of the authorities. I also needed to do my own investigation, since the police only seemed to be investigating my whereabouts. My safety is contingent on the truth being discovered. I today announced on NBC Television that I am offering a $25,000 reward for the capture of the person or persons responsible for Mr. Faul’s murder.
After two days we returned to the house, in disguise, and I began my watch.
The first day I colored my full beard and my hair light grey- almost white. I darkened the skin of my face, neck and hands carefully with shoe polish and put on an LA Saints baseball cap with the brim facing backwards and tufts of the front of my hair sticking out unkempt through the band. I stuffed my cheeks with chewed bubble gum stuck to the outside of my upper and lower molars – making my face appear much fatter. I darkened and browned my front teeth. I stuffed a shaved down tampon deep into my right nostril and died the tip dark brown – giving my nose an awkward, lopsided, disgusting appearance. I put on a pair of ragged brown pants with holes patched and darned. I wore an old, ragged long sleeve shirt. I donned an old Guatemalan style sarape and toted a bag containing a variety of Guatemalan woven goods. I adjusted my posture so that I appeared a good six inches shorter than my actual height and slowly walked up and down the beach with a pronounced limp, pushing an old single speed bicycle and peddling my wares to tourists and reporters using a broken English with a heavy Spanish accent. On my second day, while peddling small wooden carvings, I nearly sold a dolphin carving to an Associated Press reporter standing at the edge of my dock. He was pulled away from my enticement by an urgent phone call.
Among the people I spoke with that day was the caretaker at Mr. Faul’s house. The police had stated that Mr. Faul’s housekeeper discovered the body. His caretaker told me that Faul did not have a housekeeper. He himself discovered the body he said. I found this interesting and filed it away as a piece of data that might help at some point. Why would the police lie about this? Lies always have a reason.
Then I watched the police dig up my four dogs that had been poisoned and buried. They cut off the heads and re-buried the bodies. I found this curious. The dogs had been dead too long for an effective autopsy, considering it would be performed in a Third World country with limited access to laboratory resources. What was this all about?
I watched the police search my residence 7 times. At one point I got too close and was angrily ordered to go away. I did so while muttering “Pendejos!” loud enough for the officers to hear. Every search was allegedly performed in order to find me. On two occasions, however, the police carried large duffle type bags into the premises and left with the bags appearing nearly empty. Perhaps the bags contained their lunch and they ate while searching. Perhaps not.
On subsequent days using different disguises, I did the same general thing, one day selling tamales and burritos that I had purchased wholesale from a real vendor, on another pretending to be a drunk German tourist with a partially bandaged face and wearing speedo swimming trunks and a distasteful, oversized Hawaiian shirt and yelling loudly at anyone who would listen – “Leck mich um ausch!”. At 67 years of age it was quite a spectacle.
What I discovered is that the police are more concerned with finding me than catching Mr. Faul’s killer. Rumors are rife. The most enduring and frequently passed rumor is that the killing was punishment for a soured real estate transaction. I did not know, until I heard the rumor that Mr. Faul was working for a local real estate company. No-one seems to know the true details of the transaction or the parties involved, but the police could easily discover the details if they were so inclined.
I also was able to observe the machinations of the press. They stayed mostly on my long boat dock and behaved themselves, but occasionally they would nab one by passer or another and ask questions. Mostly they waited for me to be caught on camera. Yesterday I got to watch Amy bring NBC to film the police illegally (again) search my property. NBC used my boat service (Coastal Express) so I would like to thank them for the business. They also sat for a while just offshore doing God knows what. I watched perplexed and eventually they went back to town.
I will continue my investigations, since the police seem to have defaulted on this obligation. I have offered a reward. If anyone has any information, please give it directly to me. I will publish it here on this blog first, and then provide it to the police. That way it cannot just conveniently disappear if it is evidence that the Government finds distasteful.
I want to again beg the International community to apply whatever pressure it can to win the release of my friends and employees who have been arrested:
Eddie Ancona
William Mulligan
Mr. Mulligan’s Wife
Cassian Chavarria
Pease do what you can. Write your congressman to ask for sanctions against Belize. Write the Prime Minister and shame him. Just speak out. When enough people join a clamor for justice, the world changes.
P.S. No-one at the house, including the staff, know that I am nearby. If the police are reading this, do not randomly round up everyone for harboring a fugitive. Please.
