Investigators rule out 'person of concern' in Anne Swaney's murder
ABC7 I-Team Investigation
SAN IGNACIO, Belize (WLS) -- Thursday marks one week since ABC7 producer Anne Swaney was murdered in Belize, and law enforcement sources said they are back to square one after a person of interest fizzled out.
PHOTOS: Anne Swaney, 1976-2016
The man seen on the motorbike was the "person of concern", as Belizean police call them. William Xis is a 22-year-old horseback tour guide at the resort and ranch where ABC7 web producer Anne Swaney had been staying.
Xis met Anne during her first visit here a year ago, and he became her favorite trail guide. She sent him a Chicago belt buckle after returning home last year.
When she came back last week, she booked four days of trips with William - the four days leading up to her death. Anne, William and a female guide went on several long rides.
"I met Anne going down towards the river just outside the resort," said Rudy Juan, a resort patriarch who was the last ranch worker to see Anne alive about 8 a.m. last Thursday.
Trail guide William Xis was already out with another group of riders at the time she was killed.
On Wednesday night, he would not answer the I-Team's questions on camera, nor explain why he wouldn't. He says he also declined to allow police to record him, providing only a written statement.
When detectives interviewed Xis the first time at the local police station, he didn't provide them with complete information, according to sources familiar with the questioning. But now after re-interviewing Xis, authorities tell the I-Team he is no longer a person of concern.
WATCH: FBI joins Anne Swaney murder investigation
On Thursday, a full week after Anne was killed, a task force of Belizean detectives and several U.S. agents will start fresh in looking at the murder case.
WATCH: Remembering Anne Swaney
