According to a report yesterday in The San Pedro Sun, a daily publication of San Pedro Town on Ambergris Caye, Belize, Canadian national, John DeShaines, remains under police investigation as the main person of interest in a double murder in Corozal in the north of the country.

The bodies of 52-year-old Canadian Francesca Matus and 36-year-old American Drew DeVoursney were found Monday, May 1 near a sugar cane field in the Corozal district.

Local police are being aided by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the murder investigation.

When questioned by local media about whether he was involved in the couple’s murder, DeShaines, who had been a tenant of Matus, said, “Not at all. She is very good friend of mine. Absolutely not.”

DeShaines was charged May 5 by the Independence Magistrate Court in southern Belize for an unrelated incident of stealing electronic items from the Placencia Casino valued at over US$50 thousand, reported The San Pedro Sun.

DeShaines was denied bail after that court hearing, and was taken to the Corozal Police Station as part of ongoing investigations into the double murder of the Canadian-American couple, in which he is a prime suspect.

The couple went missing April 25, and Matus had plans to fly out of the country the following day.

“When I arrived she was not home, and her vehicle was gone,”  said her friend Joe Milhoen, who had planned to take her to the airport and reported the couple missing April 26.

Local media report that Matus’ vehicle was found Sunday, April 30, appeared to be clean, and was only missing its battery.

Monday, May 1, a farmer reported finding the bodies when he was preparing to burn his sugar cane field.

Local police and FBI agents have impounded her car and are running tests to find clues. Officials believe more than one person was involved with the couple’s strangulation.

Investigators believe the culprits were familiar with the local area and had knowledge that the cane field was about to be burned, so hoped the bodies would have been destroyed in the burning.

Belize police are requesting anyone with information related to the couple or the case call 911 or contact the nearest police station, and said they guarantee confidentiality in the matter.