Belize - Kimberley Stephens, 55, American, found dead in Placencia, 16 Dec 2017

[dotr]

http://edition.channel5belize.com/archives/158128

Kimberley Stephens

Fifty-five-year-old Kimberley Lin Stephens was strangled – killed with a cell phone cord. The American national’s decomposing body was found here off the Placencia road – it was lying behind this gray SUV – a rental she picked up the day she arrived in Placencia – Saturday, December sixteenth. The manager, who declined interview on Wednesday, says that Stephens has rented from them about three times before. He said that she seemed normal and everything appeared fine that day when they picked her up from the airstrip in Placencia, off that first flight on Saturday morning. She came over to the rental company, collected the vehicle and left. But after that no one seemed to have seen her when she drove away from the car rental compound – a week later, on Saturday, December twenty-third, she turned up dead.

 

[dotr]

Like Francesca Matus, this woman was selling her home.
http://edition.channel5belize.com/archives/158128

According to her neighbors and close friends, expats who live in Maya Beach, Stephens would spend two weeks at a time in Belize. But this time, they didn’t even know she was in country – they only found out when they heard she was found dead. They told us that she was selling her home – a deal that apparently had already closed – and she was back in Belize reportedly to finalize that sale. Today, police told us what they know about her death.

There was no ransacking of the vehicle her personal belongings was intact inside the vehicle.”

Stephens reportedly returned to finalize the sale of her home – which the signs planted in front of the house, points to. Her neighbors say that it doesn’t appear that her house has been broken into. But they say she once had vehicle here at her place but now it is nowhere to be seen.

 

[Satchie]

Like Francesca Matus, this woman was selling her home.
http://edition.channel5belize.com/archives/158128

Neighbours don't think she ever made it to her house. So either she was killed the day she arrived, or she had someone she stayed with.

From the landing strip, she'd drive north to get to Maya Beach, where her house was, and south to Placencia Village, where businesses are based. It was early Saturday, she maybe drove south to do her real estate business and stock up on supplies.

She was found in the back of her car, and according to one report, wasn't wearing shoes. https://www.breakingbelizenews.com/2017/12/24/american-woman-found-dead-inside-rental-car/
Also her laptop is apparently missing.

We should note that while police said her possessions were not tampered with, 7News has confirmed that her laptop hasn't been found. We should note also that Stephens was in the middle of executing a land transaction. 7News has confirmed that she had contracted a realtor to sell her property in Belize - but was trying to cancel the sale at the last minute. That sale cannot now be completed since it was awaiting her signature for the final transfer of property.

I suspect she was killed outside her car.

I'm suspicious of the property deal that she refused to sign. Someone might have been angry about that, or perhaps she was going to accuse someone of something and get them into trouble.

However it's also possible she had a friend she was planning to live with when in Belize (hence selling her house), but that relationship was in trouble, so she didn't want to sell after all.

 

[Satchie]

There's a shot of the real estate sign in front of her home, in the middle of this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yxa6UzenYZM

This is a link to the agent listed on the sign. https://1stchoicebelize.com/about-david-kafka.html. Seems very trustworthy, wouldn't likely be involved in anything dodgy.

 

[Elainera]

Oh man poor Kim!

This brings back memories of my neighbor and friend, also an expat and also selling her home at the time when she was killed 12 years ago. It was her own estate agent who had tried to get her to sign some dubious papers so he could get at her money in some way. When she refused he stabbed her. Then he cut off her head and took it with him, that sick ! This all happened right next door to me with me being completely unaware. Still makes me sick just to think about it.

Anyway back to Kim, I'm trying to think how this unfolded. This is all pure speculation.

I think the cell phone cord points to an unplanned murder - the perp grabbed whatever was available.

If true, this would mean that Kim likely knew her killer, possibly her agent or a friend whom she had picked up. I think they had stopped somewhere as I don't think anyone would start strangling someone while driving. So they stopped somewhere, maybe to talk, and had an argument that ended with her being killed.

It was reported she was found in the back of the car. Were they sitting on the backseat when the murder happened, or was she moved there afterwards?

If they were both sitting in the back, my first thought was she might have had a secret affair with someone, possibly a married man?

If she was put there after she died it might have been because the perp needed to move the vehicle. Maybe they had stopped in a very remote spot and he didn't want to walk all the way, so he drove to a point where it was easiest for him to get back to wherever he needed to go.

However, reporting is not consistent as this article also says she was found behind her car.

The woman was dressed in a long black pants and a green checkered, blouse lying face down immediately behind the SUV.

https://www.breakingbelizenews.com/2017/12/24/american-woman-found-dead-inside-rental-car/

If that is true it is odd. Why would the perp drive the car to the vacant lot where it was found, remove her body from it and leave it behind the car? It makes no sense. If she was found outside the car it would make more sense that they decided to stop at this vacant lot for whatever reason (to talk perhaps), exited the car and the argument and killing happened outside of it. But why would the killer have a cell phone cord at hand while standing outside the car? :thinking: Maybe the argument started inside the car, she felt threatened and exited the car and he grabbed the cell phone cord and came after her?

Her laptop is reportedly missing, apparently the only item that's missing from her belongings. If the killer took it I would assume that he did so because he thought she might have files on it that could identify him. He would know that emails and other conversations and possible links to him would be available online for LE to access, so I would think that she might have had photos of him on her laptop? If true that would again lead me to believe that she had a (possibly secret) relationship with someone. Was her phone found?

 

[Elainera]

I'm looking through more articles to see what else has been reported.

This one says LE has not ruled out suicide:

Myvett [Assistant Commissioner of Police] said that the incident is being treated as a “death investigation” until the evidence can lead them to a determination of either suicide or homicide.

http://www.reporter.bz/front-page/strangled-to-death-murder-or-suicide/


Another version of the location of her body:

the body of Kimberly Stephens, 55, was found on the floor in front of the back seat

http://amandala.com.bz/news/american-woman-murdered-placencia/


Here it says Kimberley was upset when she rented the SUV:

She rented the grey Mitsubishi from her usual spot the same morning. The Manager told us that Stephens was visibly disturbed and unhappy when she came in but he didn't think anything of it. Now there are many questions as to what happened after that or in the days leading to her death- initial information was that Stephens may have taken her own life but police haven't ruled anything out as yet.

http://www.7newsbelize.com/sstory.php?nid=43159


ETA: all these articles are from late December. There has been nothing since then in msm.

 

[Satchie]

I'm looking through more articles to see what else has been reported.

This one says LE has not ruled out suicide:



http://www.reporter.bz/front-page/strangled-to-death-murder-or-suicide/


Another version of the location of her body:



http://amandala.com.bz/news/american-woman-murdered-placencia/


Here it says Kimberley was upset when she rented the SUV:



http://www.7newsbelize.com/sstory.php?nid=43159


ETA: all these articles are from late December. There has been nothing since then in msm.

Re the mix-up about where the body was located, and proposing suicide as a possibility, I think some Belizean journalism doesn't meet up to standards we'd expect from a major US media outlet. As well, I sometimes get a sense of a lack of experience with this kind of crime, with the whole idea of crime scenes, etc. For example, a journalist might be familiar with cases where bodies have been dumped out of cars, but not with anyone abandoning a perfectly good vehicle with a body inside. It speaks of someone who didn't need to steal the car.

 

[Elainera]

Re the mix-up about where the body was located, and proposing suicide as a possibility, I think some Belizean journalism doesn't meet up to standards we'd expect from a major US media outlet. As well, I sometimes get a sense of a lack of experience with this kind of crime, with the whole idea of crime scenes, etc. For example, a journalist might be familiar with cases where bodies have been dumped out of cars, but not with anyone abandoning a perfectly good vehicle with a body inside. It speaks of someone who didn't need to steal the car.

Quite possible (about journalism in Belize)!

About the car, I think the person couldn't afford to be seen with it. From the map, the road she was found on seems to be the only road running up and down that peninsula. It might have been too risky to take the car and drive all the way up North to the mainland to sell it or whatever.

Another possibility would be that Kim and the killer met where the car was found, the killer arriving in his own car.

I hope LE has taken fingerprints from the rental.

I wonder what she was visibly upset about.

 

[Satchie]

Quite possible (about journalism in Belize)!

About the car, I think the person couldn't afford to be seen with it. From the map, the road she was found on seems to be the only road running up and down that peninsula. It might have been too risky to take the car and drive all the way up North to the mainland to sell it or whatever.

Another possibility would be that Kim and the killer met where the car was found, the killer arriving in his own car.

I hope LE has taken fingerprints from the rental.

I wonder what she was visibly upset about.

A key detail would be how long the car had been in the vacant lot, if anyone can say for sure it was or wasn't there earlier. I noticed this in one of the news stories, though I don't recall reading it anywhere else:

She originally rented it on Saturday, December 16 and was to have it returned yesterday.

https://www.breakingbelizenews.com/2017/12/24/american-woman-found-dead-inside-rental-car/

If true, it seems quite a coincidence that the car was found on the day she was supposed to have returned it, meaning police would soon have started looking specifically for that car.

 

[Satchie]

I was thinking, most people now back up their laptop, especially if they're travelling with it. She may have left a physical backup in the US, or stored it in the cloud.

So likely all her digital footprint is retrievable, but I have a nagging sense it's not easy for foreign police to get access to an American's data from American companies, it can take intervention from family and US LE.

Then someone in Belize would need to troll through all her emails, text messages, backed up files. Not sure Belize police have that kind of resources. It seems sometimes someone needs to hire a private detective if they want that kind of investigation.

 

[Elainera]

A key detail would be how long the car had been in the vacant lot, if anyone can say for sure it was or wasn't there earlier. I noticed this in one of the news stories, though I don't recall reading it anywhere else:

https://www.breakingbelizenews.com/2017/12/24/american-woman-found-dead-inside-rental-car/

If true, it seems quite a coincidence that the car was found on the day she was supposed to have returned it, meaning police would soon have started looking specifically for that car.

That is a possibility but I think it's unlikely, simply because it was said she was in a state of advanced decomposition. The smell in the car would have been unbearable .... (sorry for the graphic detail).

 

[Satchie]

That is a possibility but I think it's unlikely, simply because it was said she was in a state of advanced decomposition. The smell in the car would have been unbearable .... (sorry for the graphic detail).

Very true, I hadn't thought of that. How tragic it is, I hope her murder is being taken seriously by Belizean and US authorities and the perp is caught.