Guatemala police pursuing leads

Authorities were chasing leads Tuesday in the shooting death of Ogden architect Brett Richards during an attack last week on a Book of Mormon tour bus in Guatemala.

Funeral services are scheduled today in Ogden for Richards, 52, who died Wednesday after he was shot while scuffling with a group of armed bandits that ambushed the tour bus near the Mexican border.

Members of the Orem-based tour group, which visited sites some consider connected to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, have been interviewed by FBI agents in Guatemala as well as in Salt Lake City, said the victim's brother, Reed Richards.

A team of FBI agents from Miami arrived in Guatemala on Friday, he said, and fingerprinted the tour bus and produced composite drawings of the suspects. The FBI is also following the trail left by a stolen credit card.

Reed Richards said the bandits asked only for money and jewelry, not passports or credit cards. However, one passenger discovered his credit card was missing. That card was used about a dozen times, he said.

Three suspects were recorded on video surveillance equipment using the card to purchase more than $600 in merchandise at a perfume and jewelry store, according to a press release from Book of Mormon Tours.

Guatemala police have focused their search for the armed bandits on a group of local men who have a reputation for highway robberies, said Oscar Tiberon, a public relations officer for the national government.

Speaking from Guatemala on Tuesday, Tiberon said the police feel confident that the gang is responsible for Richard's murder but are hesitant to release further information until the men have been detained and questioned.

Several searches have been made in the Quezaltenango area where the ambush took place, but evidence is still inconclusive, he added.

"This is a really big thing. It's a huge case. It's a murder," said Tiberon in Spanish. "Since the investigation is of such a serious nature, we first have to ask some serious questions."

Anna Arrojo, who works for Libre Prensa, a Guatemala City

newspaper, said Tuesday that police have placed roadblocks along the road where the bus was ambushed and increased police presence from Quezaltenango to the Mexican border, though police suspect the robbers are hiding near the rural town of Colomba.