_{Jennifer Fitzgibbon, charged}

By Charles Gladden

BELIZE CITY, Mon. Aug. 4, 2025

Multiple charges have been brought against 56-year-old Jennifer Fitzgibbon, who police believe is responsible for the death of 6-year-old King Shakel Wade, who drowned while in her care in October of last year.

Fitzgibbon had been tending to other children at her residence in South Creek when young King fell into the canal at the corner of Fairweather Street and South Creek while playing on an old refrigerator with a sibling.

When the sibling witnessed the incident and informed the other kids, they thought it was a joke, but their older sister arrived and questioned them about their whereabouts. She was told that King had fallen into the water.

King Shakel Wade, deceased

She and Fitzgibbon then started a search within the area, and after an hour, King’s slippers were found floating in the canal, and his lifeless body was pulled out of the murky water several hours later after some men in the area began diving into the canal in an effort to retrieve him.

Since then, an ongoing investigation has been conducted. Fitzgibbon was criminally charged ten months later. She is facing charges of abandonment of a child and manslaughter by negligence, and appeared in court on Monday, August 4, when she was granted bail of $5,000 plus two sureties of $2,500 each.

The court ordered her to terminate all babysitting or caregiving activities while the case remains before the court. Fitzgibbon is scheduled to return to court on October 9 this year.