A former Colorado real estate developer and University of Denver alumnus was shot to death in Belize on Friday.
Boris Mannsfeld, 56, was found face down in a pool of blood Friday night at his Belize luxury development project, the Cocoplum Villas in Maya Beach, according to local news outlets. Police told local reporters that Mannsfeld died from a gunshot to the back of his neck.
Mannsfeld received his Master of Business Administration from DU in 1995 and spent more than a decade working as a licensed real estate agent in Colorado before moving to Belize in 2006, according to his real estate company biography.
In an interview with Denver Colorado Luxury Magazine published in January, Mannsfeld said he first arrived in Belize “on a whim in 1992,” falling in love with the “vibe.”
He began investing in Belize real estate that year, kicking off a more than 30-year career in tropical development.
Mannsfeld moved his family home to the Caribbean coast in 2006 and opened his Belize-based real estate company — Boris Mannsfeld & Associates Belize Real Estate — in 2010, his biography states.
But, as he told the Denver Colorado Luxury Magazine in January, Denver and Placencia, Belize, are both his home and he has roots in each of the cities.
Belize news outlets reported that Mannsfeld’s death raised questions, especially after an email surfaced where he described a high-profile, multimillion-dollar fraud case tied to the deaths of two associates: Ricardo Borja and Darren Taylor.
The Denver Post was not immediately able to obtain a copy of the email, but Belize’s Channel 5 said it contained information on stolen assets and money laundering.
The email also contained instructions to release important evidence — including names, bank details and passwords — to major news outlets and U.S. lawmakers if anything were to happen to Mannsfeld, Channel 5 reported.
As of Sunday afternoon, no suspects had been identified or arrested.
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