Belize - Francesca Matus, 52, & Drew De Voursney, 36, murdered, Corozal, 25 Apr 2017

[Kamille]

It's extremely surreal! He truly was someone that everyone loved! Like I said I haven't talked to or seen him in years. It sucks that this is what made me realize how much of an impact he made on me from when I was a kid.

Welcome Boone :welcome:

So sorry for the loss of your friend Drew. From all accounts, it appears that he truly was a good man and a much loved individual. So glad that his friends and family are pushing for answers in this case and that because of that the FBI appears to be getting involved. Hopefully they will make the Belize LE accountable for the investigation and collection of evidence in this case. Not sure there would be as much attention if only FM were murdered as her family and friends have not been quite as vocal nor do I think any of them have traveled to Belize for answers.

MOO

 

[Wondergirl]

RBBM. Good post.
In other murder cases in Belize that we've read about, victims were murdered in their own home, no need to hide their bodies.

Police has stated they believe MS & DD were dumped at the location were they were found, so that would mean they were murdered somewhere else.

That could mean they were taken to someone else's home/property, or they drove themselves there. Just speculating.
My point is, that's why their bodies had to be disposed of/hidden.

In the interview, police said the vehicle was clean, and made me wonder if the bodies were transported in a different vehicle. I'm glad the FBI team is in Belize processing the car, and hope they find some dna/evidence.

You raise an excellent point.

The murder location is unknown.

There MUST be video from that fateful Tuesday night. Not sure on Belize LE practices, but one can hope they secured security footage from as many places as possible, to trace their whereabouts.

-Where were Francesca and Drew going with that large sum of money that night?

-Did they bring the $ to Scott's bar?

-What local stores would sell Duct tape? I would think the duct tape would be key here

-What could the brownish red liquid stain on the exterior of the vehicle have been?

-Why did LE want to cremate Drew prior to his family arriving?

-Was the white Isuzu a common vehicle in Belize? There must be footage of it's travels that night

WG

 

[dotr]

http://edition.channel5belize.com/archives/145815
May 5 2017

The Canadian national, who says he has been living in Belize for the past two and a half years with his girlfriend and two kids is accused of the theft of over fifty-seven thousand dollars worth of electronics from the Placencia Casino, for which he was arraigned today.

Around one-thirty p.m., Deshaies arrived at the Independence Police Station and within minutes was escorted to the court where he appeared unrepresented before Magistrate Yolanda Demoya. He had been criminally charged for two offenses: the theft of fifty-seven thousand three hundred and seventy-eight dollars worth of data servers with hard-drives, laptops, tablets, fourteen gaming machines, external hard-drive, electronic chips and adapters amongst other miscellany.

John Deshaies, Accused of Theft “This was a job matter; this was me doing my job.”

Duane Moody
“So you believe that you are wrongly accused?”

John Deshaies
“Absolutely. Absolutely.”

Duane Moody
“Sir so what now because now you are being remanded to the prison.”

John Deshaies

“Well we got to find out.”

rbbm

 

[otto]

http://edition.channel5belize.com/archives/145815
May 5 2017
John Deshaies
rbbm

This is messed up. It sounds like there are several owners of the casino. One of the owners hired this man to remove property from the casino and store it in another location. He did that. Another owner of the casino did not agree with property being removed, so instead of charging the man who paid someone to remove the property, they arrest the man who was hired to do the job.

On top of that, because that hired helper knows one of the murder victims, he is interrogated about the murders. Presumably he knows nothing about the murders, and so he is labelled "uncooperative".

Lazy police started the murder investigation by claiming the couple had a lot of money in their pockets at the bar (which is unprovable) and therefore the murders are a result of robbery. When no one accepts that conclusion, police claim it must be an ex-pat. It's obvious to me that police will do anything to sweep this under the carpet and avoid investigating anyone who is a native of Belize. Rather than following the evidence, they are concocting theories and looking for ways to prove their theories ... classic tunnel vision strategy.

 

[Wondergirl]

Smells funny for sure.

Thankfully the FBI is there now and we can hope the investigation will move forward.

 

[Satchie]

Why is DeShaies not saying who hired him to remove the equipment, why is he covering for that person?

Was this mentioned before?: "Chinese businessman goes berserk inside Placencia casino". Feb this year, he fired a gun outside the locked casino while banging on the doors. Definitely some weirdness going on with the casino, which I bet would have involved very large amounts of money.
https://www.breakingbelizenews.com/2017/02/02/chinese-businessman-berserk-placencia-casino/

 

[otto]

You raise an excellent point.

The murder location is unknown.

There MUST be video from that fateful Tuesday night. Not sure on Belize LE practices, but one can hope they secured security footage from as many places as possible, to trace their whereabouts.

-Where were Francesca and Drew going with that large sum of money that night?

-Did they bring the $ to Scott's bar?

-What local stores would sell Duct tape? I would think the duct tape would be key here

-What could the brownish red liquid stain on the exterior of the vehicle have been?

-Why did LE want to cremate Drew prior to his family arriving?

-Was the white Isuzu a common vehicle in Belize? There must be footage of it's travels that night

WG

I think the police statement that it was a robbery and that they were had a lot of money is complete nonsense. Duct tape could have been introduced to the scene by the suspect, or it could have been in Francesca's car - a possibility since her headlight is attached with duct tape.

 

[otto]

OT ... is anyone here under flood watch or under water today? There's non-stop coverage of Eastern Canada flooding on CBC today, lots of people without insurance.

 

[bluesneakers]

OT ... is anyone here under flood watch or under water today? There's non-stop coverage of Eastern Canada flooding on CBC today, lots of people without insurance.

I think the official warning is over but lots of basements in my area are flooded. There are some great pictures here:
http://www.blogto.com/city/2017/05/toronto-heavy-rain-flooding/

Not great like "Oh, yay the Lake is rising!" They just give an idea of what's happening and they're gorgeous photos.

 

[dotr]

Just a thought, but any chance FM or DD were one of the share-holders at the casino?
Also wondering why JD's identity was released, but not the identity of the other alleged suspect?
speculation, imo.
http://7newsbelize.com/sstory.php?nid=40233

It came as a shock to their friends in the Corozal Expat Community because they couldn't think of anyone in their circle who would want Matus and De Voursey dead. Here is what Colin Mcgowen had to say when we asked if this was an attack from within their own community. Colin McGowen, Owner Scotty's Bar
"I wouldn't speculate on anything. If it was I would be very surprised. They were both very well liked throughout the whole community. So it hit people hard."
It hit people even harder when Police named Canadian John Deshaies as a prime suspect in the double murder.

What is even more troubling is that Deshaies rented the downstairs of Matus' Consejo Shores home in Corozal.

But Deshaies remains as just a suspect in that case at this point. Today in Independence he was charged for theft and handling stolen goods in an unrelated case. He allegedly took over $57,000 worth of items from the Placencia casino: hard drives, laptops, machine gaming systems among many other pieces of equipment. The information is that police took him to Corozal yesterday to retrieve some of the items. Now police have been following this theft case since March and the report is that Deshaies was hired by one of the shareholders of the Casino to remove all these devices and gaming machines. But after his arraignment, he told the media that he doesn't agree with the charges and he was just doing his job

The identity of the second suspect has not been revealed by authorities

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...elize-victim-s-best-friend.html#ixzz4gJeAVdXu
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
​

 

[Wondergirl]

In 2016, there were 138 murders in the country and 51 were solved — about 37 per cent.

At the same time, the government is working hard to prove it is a safe country worth visiting. Tourism is important for the economy, providing 14 per cent of all jobs and 23 per cent of GDP.

A special police force was created for tourists.

In the area where Matus’ body was discovered, Corozal, there were six murders in 2015 and seven in 2016.

https://www.yorkregion.com/news-sto...ke-you-suffer-keswick-mourns-francesca-matus/

 

[Wondergirl]

138 murders for population of 300,000?

I'm sorry, but that's insane.

Belize sounds like a very dangerous place to me.

JMO

WG

 

[otto]

138 murders for population of 300,000?

I'm sorry, but that's insane.

Belize sounds like a very dangerous place to me.

JMO

WG

The beach might be nice, and the price may be affordable, but it's obvious that any ex-pat who chooses Belize as a retirement spot is taking a huge risk with their life. The only time I read about Belize in the news is when another ex-pat has been murdered - to the point where it seems normal to read about another murdered foreigner in Belize every few months.

It's obvious that Belize officials know that tourists are targeted in the murders because they set up a special police force to protect/investigate tourist murders/crimes.

 

[SilkySifaka]

There is a good pic of deshais in daily mail, I can't figure out how to post link on tapatalk


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[fred&edna]

Do we know which Placencia casino? Were/are all Placencia casinos owned by The Placencia Group/Canyon Acquisitions?

http://www.theplacencia.com/

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-rele...ities-and-the-beauty-of-belize-116838628.html

**ETA Legal woes seem apparent - Ontario Securities Commission

 

[MaryG12]

So glad I found this discussion! I've been following it since about page 4. I personally knew Drew and grew up with him in Nashville.
I haven't talked to him or seen him in a few years so when my dad called and said he was missing in belize I was a bit surprised. On the other hand I figured he just went off the map for a few days, who knows. Until the weekend when the car was found and then Monday their bodies were discovered. It devistating to get news that a childhood friend was murdered. Drew is 6 years older than me. It hit me a lot harder than I expected. I looked up to him. He was one of a few older guys that would take us younger guys (in our youth group) camping and climbing and repelling. Hell we flipped his first car on it's side in a field on a camping weekend. One trip I remember very well is a repelling trip, my dad took our youth group to the Twin Arches to repell and got kicked off because we never got a permit. Whoops!! Anyways! There was a bunch of us there younger and older, one of the older guys grabbed me by my feet and started swinging me around by my ankles. He didn't realize it but I was close to a concrete pick nick table. Well the next time around my head was headed straight for the corner. Drew to the rescue! He dove over and basically hit me to make my head miss the table. Told the guy who was doing it in more words he's an idiot and pay attention.

You never expect to experience this kind of situation on a personal level. I've only read and seen movies about this type of stuff. Everyone here has the right to their own opinion. And some people's opinions and views on things make a lot of sense. But all of the information that we get about the events in the case, we gather from media, so hard to trust. I've seen two or three different explanations for almost every step of this terrible murder.
Hooefully some light will be shed soon. For Drews mom especially!

Well sorry for the life story and the small rant. I more or less just wanted to let y'all know that this site and you guys are awesome. It's kind of eased my mind through this not knowing what happened. Just being able to read new content and see other people's views and opinions on what happened is nice.

I may not post much after this just because I know what you guys know. Only David and Brandon probably know what's really going on.

Welcome to WS Boone, am very sorry for your loss, I hope some answers from LE will arise soon regarding this case. Thank you for sharing your memories about Drew.

 

[MaryG12]

RBBM. Good post.
In other murder cases in Belize that we've read about, victims were murdered in their own home, no need to hide their bodies.

Police has stated they believe MS & DD were dumped at the location were they were found, so that would mean they were murdered somewhere else.

That could mean they were taken to someone else's home/property, or they drove themselves there. Just speculating.
My point is, that's why their bodies had to be disposed of/hidden.

In the interview, police said the vehicle was clean, and made me wonder if the bodies were transported in a different vehicle. I'm glad the FBI team is in Belize processing the car, and hope they find some dna/evidence.

And to be honest here - the only time I ever hear of Belize in the news is when a murder of a tourist/expat takes place there.


Troubling, to be sure, I have never traveled to Latin America nor the Caribbean but know people who have although not Belize.


I remember when one of my cousins got married, they live in NY, this was back in the 1990's and they planned on going to Jamaica for their honeymoon but that never took place. IIRC they went to the Adirondacks instead (much closer to where they lived in upstate NY).

 

[musicaljoke]

138 murders for population of 300,000?

I'm sorry, but that's insane.

Belize sounds like a very dangerous place to me.

JMO

WG

Yes, that's a high murder rate.

For comparison, US had 12 murders per 300,000 people; Canada had 4.5 per 300,000: Aust 3 per 300,000 and Great Britain had fewer than 3 per 300,000.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_intentional_homicide_rate

 

[MaryG12]

OT ... is anyone here under flood watch or under water today? There's non-stop coverage of Eastern Canada flooding on CBC today, lots of people without insurance.

Can you guys please send some rain down south to Florida, we are having a drought right now, both people and wildlife are being affected. Thank you

 

[Quiet Time]

Suspect detained in Belize double murder is the 'best friend' of 52-year-old Canadian victim found dead in a sugar cane field with her US marine vet boyfriend...

They arrested that Deshais' friend of the couple.
Tried to copy and paste...