Found Deceased Dominican Republic - Orlando Moore & Portia Ravenelle, from NY on vacation, April 2019

[ilovechili]

You're welcome.

Those videos help me visualize the area OM and PR are reported to have had their accident/wreck.

I'm still trying to understand how OM and PR could be involved in an auto accident, end up like they did, and the vehicle end up like it did. I need documentation, and I don't think it will be provided, IMO. I'd love to be wrong.

I thank you as well.

I keep looking at the second video in particular and stopping it at several places to see the terrain, the grade, the shoulder. There is more shoulder of the road than I expected, the grade seems not inclined much at all with quite an area before one would reach the ocean and more. I can't quite picture the car rolling sideways.

The truck may have enough weight to have rolled but even then I have questions and it would have a ways to roll. A tire blows, again there is some road shoulder and one would be trying to let up gas and maintain.

No expert, just my thoughts.

In both accidents they were traveling apparently from east to west, what makes everyone go off here from east to west? It is hardly the only spot that runs along the ocean/mile marker. Why do they always end up in the ocean and why did it almost appear they have never before hauled a vehicle up from that area and had so much trouble doing so? Apparently they do it every couple of days

I would like to see video of them hauling that truck up, it is far bigger and heavier than that shell of a car...

 

[?mysterian?]

I thank you as well.

I keep looking at the second video in particular and stopping it at several places to see the terrain, the grade, the shoulder. There is more shoulder of the road than I expected, the grade seems not inclined much at all with quite an area before one would reach the ocean and more. I can't quite picture the car rolling sideways.

The truck may have enough weight to have rolled but even then I have questions and it would have a ways to roll. A tire blows, again there is some road shoulder and one would be trying to let up gas and maintain.

No expert, just my thoughts.

In both accidents they were traveling apparently from east to west, what makes everyone go off here from east to west? It is hardly the only spot that runs along the ocean/mile marker. Why do they always end up in the ocean and why did it almost appear they have never before hauled a vehicle up from that area and had so much trouble doing so? Apparently they do it every couple of days

I would like to see video of them hauling that truck up, it is far bigger and heavier than that shell of a car...

You're welcome.

You ask excellent questions. Maybe soon they will have answers, at least for the families.

I would also like to see that truck extracted from the ocean also and have not located any so far, but I'm still looking.

 

[bradfordsleuth]

Confirm the identity of an American who died in an accident with a partner

So I translated this one. It says that Ravenelle had 'multiple body blows' see below bbm.

I will give a little bit of latitude for translation errors....but wanted to highlight this.


"The Dominican National Police confirmed on Wednesday that the woman who died in a hospital in the country to which she was transferred after suffering a traffic accident is the American Portia Ravenelle, 32, reported missing with her partner since last March 27 .

The spokesman of the institution, Frank Félix Durán, informed Efe on Wednesday that the US authorities that collaborate in the investigation confirmed the identity of the deceased from the fingerprints sent Tuesday by the Dominican investigators.

In the case of his companion, Orlando Moore, aged 43, the deterioration of the body, which was found in the waters of the Caribbean Sea days after the accident, did not allow to obtain clear information of the fingerprints, for which photographs of the tattoos of the man so that the family can identify him, said Durán.

The investigations indicate that Moore and Ravenelle, who were missing for days, suffered a traffic accident on March 27 when they were traveling to Las Americas International Airport, which serves Santo Domingo.

The Dominican authorities believe that the vehicle in which the couple was traveling fell into the Caribbean Sea when it suffered the accident at kilometer 19 of the Las Américas Highway, and now they are working on recovering it to continue with the investigations.

Navy divers tried to confirm on Wednesday "that the vehicle that had fallen to the sea was" in the aforementioned point of the south coast of the country, but the conditions of the waves "have not allowed to verify it for the time being," he pointed out. press the prosecutor of Santo Domingo, César Alcántara.

The investigations carried out in recent days "determine that the vehicle in which both tourists were traveling traveled from Samana (northeast) to Santo Domingo, but did not reach the tollbooth of the Las Americas highway, nor to the International Airport", reported on Tuesday the police spokesman.

According to reports, on March 27, an ambulance moved a woman with the characteristics of Ravenelle who had multiple body blows to the Dario Contreras hospital in the Dominican capital and who died on 4 April in the intensive care unit (ICU). ) of that health center.

Meanwhile, on March 31, four days after the accident, it was found floating in the Caribbean Sea, some 20 or 30 kilometers away from the point of the accident and very close to the port of Sans Soucí, in the municipality of Santo Domingo Este, the lifeless body of a man who is very much like Moore.

On Monday, the authorities confirmed that they received a communication from the relatives of the disappeared, whose most recent photograph on their social networks shows them somewhere in Samaná mounted on horseback with two other unidentified people.

The couple traveled to Samaná on March 23 to spend four days on vacation in a hotel in the northeastern part of the Dominican Republic."

 

[bradfordsleuth]

Confirm the identity of an American who died in an accident with a partner

Between the 50-56 second mark of this video you can see traffic moving. It looks like there may be a small vehicle sized gap in the median where one could squeak through from the other side. Anyone attempting to get through it would be going a a pretty slow rate of speed as it looks pretty tight.

 

[?mysterian?]

So I translated this one. It says that Ravenelle had 'multiple body blows' see below bbm.

I will give a little bit of latitude for translation errors....but wanted to highlight this.


"The Dominican National Police confirmed on Wednesday that the woman who died in a hospital in the country to which she was transferred after suffering a traffic accident is the American Portia Ravenelle, 32, reported missing with her partner since last March 27 .

The spokesman of the institution, Frank Félix Durán, informed Efe on Wednesday that the US authorities that collaborate in the investigation confirmed the identity of the deceased from the fingerprints sent Tuesday by the Dominican investigators.

In the case of his companion, Orlando Moore, aged 43, the deterioration of the body, which was found in the waters of the Caribbean Sea days after the accident, did not allow to obtain clear information of the fingerprints, for which photographs of the tattoos of the man so that the family can identify him, said Durán.

The investigations indicate that Moore and Ravenelle, who were missing for days, suffered a traffic accident on March 27 when they were traveling to Las Americas International Airport, which serves Santo Domingo.

The Dominican authorities believe that the vehicle in which the couple was traveling fell into the Caribbean Sea when it suffered the accident at kilometer 19 of the Las Américas Highway, and now they are working on recovering it to continue with the investigations.

Navy divers tried to confirm on Wednesday "that the vehicle that had fallen to the sea was" in the aforementioned point of the south coast of the country, but the conditions of the waves "have not allowed to verify it for the time being," he pointed out. press the prosecutor of Santo Domingo, César Alcántara.

The investigations carried out in recent days "determine that the vehicle in which both tourists were traveling traveled from Samana (northeast) to Santo Domingo, but did not reach the tollbooth of the Las Americas highway, nor to the International Airport", reported on Tuesday the police spokesman.

According to reports, on March 27, an ambulance moved a woman with the characteristics of Ravenelle who had multiple body blows to the Dario Contreras hospital in the Dominican capital and who died on 4 April in the intensive care unit (ICU). ) of that health center.

Meanwhile, on March 31, four days after the accident, it was found floating in the Caribbean Sea, some 20 or 30 kilometers away from the point of the accident and very close to the port of Sans Soucí, in the municipality of Santo Domingo Este, the lifeless body of a man who is very much like Moore.

On Monday, the authorities confirmed that they received a communication from the relatives of the disappeared, whose most recent photograph on their social networks shows them somewhere in Samaná mounted on horseback with two other unidentified people.

The couple traveled to Samaná on March 23 to spend four days on vacation in a hotel in the northeastern part of the Dominican Republic."

Thanks for the translation! I'm still looking unsuccessfully for video of the dump truck being hauled out of the ocean, since it appears to not be present in later videos.

 

[Traymar]

Re the difference between the dump truck and the passenger vehicle, I can tell you that a dump truck will definitely be made of wear-resistant, high-strength steel, that would make it uniquely fit to withstand the sort of beating it would get tumbling down a cliff and being beaten against the rocky shoreline.

I work for a steel company. One of our products is just such a steel that is used primarily in dump trucks. I'm posting one of our videos that clearly demonstrates the strength of the steel. It shows a dumpster (dump truck body) being subjected to many strength tests, such as being thrown down a cliff. It's pretty amazing how strong it is! About 3 minutes into the video, they drop a car into the dumpster several times, and that will give you a strong visual of the difference in the strength of the two.

IMO, this would explain the difference in the condition of the two vehicles pulled from the sea. Mind you, I don't know that our steel was used to make that truck from the accident, but even if it wasn't ours, it would have been some brand of wear-resistant, high-strength steel - a necessity for the wear and tear such vehicle bodies are subject to in their work.

 

[Stunned]

THANK YOU!
Its amazing the difference between the two vehicles. I know the truck had just landed there, but it looks completely intact. This video shows clearly that the water isn't that deep.

That was my first thought seeing this. The water appears shallow!

 

[keptbycats]

Is this that truck being brought up? I'm not completely sure, but if it is, it does look pretty beat up.

 

[bradfordsleuth]

I agree—if there weren’t trees at the side of the road, or a cliff going up from the road, it’s hard for me to visualize what could have happened. Unless....what about that hard u-turn, or overcorrecting from dropping the wheel into a soft shoulder, or a tire blowing out—and any of these things causing a rollover?

This is very high on my list of possibilities.
JMO

 

[bradfordsleuth]

Is this that truck being brought up? I'm not completely sure, but if it is, it does look pretty beat up.

It could be it. Thank you! I tried unsuccessfully to find this.

The truck that was in the water had a bright red cab and dark grey tipper with panels on it. Whats left of this cab looks orangish....but the dates seem to line up. This was posted March 26th, a day later (and a day before P & O's accident.)

If it is the same dump truck, then whoa, that current really does do a number on steel!

 

[Traymar]

It could be it. Thank you! I tried unsuccessfully to find this.

The truck that was in the water had a bright red cab and dark grey tipper with panels on it. Whats left of this cab looks orangish....but the dates seem to line up. This was posted March 26th, a day later (and a day before P & O's accident.)

If it is the same dump truck, then whoa, that current really does do a number on steel!

Looks right - the cab is all but destroyed, but the bed is not mangled, just come apart at the point of the connections or seams. The cab itself is probably not steel. MOO.

 

[ilovechili]

It could be it. Thank you! I tried unsuccessfully to find this.

The truck that was in the water had a bright red cab and dark grey tipper with panels on it. Whats left of this cab looks orangish....but the dates seem to line up. This was posted March 26th, a day later (and a day before P & O's accident.)

If it is the same dump truck, then whoa, that current really does do a number on steel!

I was not going to say so but I am glad I am not the only one who was seeing red one minute and orange the next. I thought that even before the retrieval video. Sometimes I think I am losing my mind lol.

 

[?mysterian?]

I was not going to say so but I am glad I am not the only one who was seeing red one minute and orange the next. I thought that even before the retrieval video. Sometimes I think I am losing my mind lol.

I saw the red/orange color differences also.

 

[?mysterian?]

Is this that truck being brought up? I'm not completely sure, but if it is, it does look pretty beat up.

Looks like maybe it is. The article the video was attached to had a photo of the intact (relatively) on it's side in the ocean.

 

[keptbycats]

I saw the red/orange color differences also.

Yes, the more videos I watched of that truck in the water, the more I kept seeing it fluctuate between orange and red. Kind of crazy!

 

[Sleuth15]

Looking at the photo of the car as it was next to the tow truck, the unfastened seat belts can be seen loose at the rear of the car. The divers may have unbuckled them...does not seem like they would. The engine cylinder head is completely missing and you can see the piston heads. It would take amazing force to knock off the engine head.

 

[Vern]

THANK YOU!
Its amazing the difference between the two vehicles. I know the truck had just landed there, but it looks completely intact. This video shows clearly that the water isn't that deep.

Sure it is; one vehicle was in there for a week + getting bashed around on the reef underwater at that location and the cliff face. For a week + in salt water in getting 'blended' due to the extremely rough tides that were being experienced. That's why they couldn't attempt an earlier removal ... the 'blender' was being a blender. The other was not.

Also, suspect your video sees the seas at low tide. A very large difference between high and low tides along the DR southern coast.

If you look at the car video, you can see the tide-line on the cliff-face. That car was still submerged underwater so it isn't as shallow as it looks. Some areas may also be deeper than others round that spot as there is a reef off cliff, so possibly large rocks underneath as well where the car may have smashed/banged on.

 

[?mysterian?]

Is this that truck being brought up? I'm not completely sure, but if it is, it does look pretty beat up.

That does appear to be the same truck. Here's a longer video of the truck.

I'm amazed it took approx. 2 wks.(if I have the timeframe correct) to locate OM's and PR's vehicle, unless it maybe was in a deeper section of the ocean. At low tide, the reddish-orange dump truck seemed mostly above water in one of those videos I linked upthread. If there's a quite a variation in the water depth due to the tides, seems like it would be easier to see, locate, maybe even attach cables to a vehicle for retrieval at low tide or even haul it out unless you wanted to wait and let the tide come in and help lift it out. I don't know, I have no wreckage recovery knowledge.

Anyway, that seems to be a fairly notorious place for accidents, it's a shame the wreckage apparently wasn't located sooner.

 

[ilovechili]

That does appear to be the same truck. Here's a longer video of the truck.

I'm amazed it took approx. 2 wks.(if I have the timeframe correct) to locate OM's and PR's vehicle, unless it maybe was in a deeper section of the ocean. At low tide, the reddish-orange dump truck seemed mostly above water in one of those videos I linked upthread. If there's a quite a variation in the water depth due to the tides, seems like it would be easier to see, locate, maybe even attach cables to a vehicle for retrieval at low tide or even haul it out unless you wanted to wait and let the tide come in and help lift it out. I don't know, I have no wreckage recovery knowledge.

Anyway, that seems to be a fairly notorious place for accidents, it's a shame the wreckage apparently wasn't located sooner.

In some of the articles, it sounded like the fishermen saw the vehicle and they knew where it was almost from the first. It was also mentioned they saw a man or body at the same time. It was also stated they could not retrieve it because of conditions. I agree, I would think at low tide, they could have retrieved it earlier than they did on any day. I think it was also speculated that they did not have a crane, etc. that could do it, or was it stated in an article? Well clearly the truck is far bigger and they got that out prior to the car going in.

No expert here though either. Just pointing out more statement, events and things that do not make much sense.

 

[keptbycats]

That does appear to be the same truck. Here's a longer video of the truck.

I'm amazed it took approx. 2 wks.(if I have the timeframe correct) to locate OM's and PR's vehicle, unless it maybe was in a deeper section of the ocean. At low tide, the reddish-orange dump truck seemed mostly above water in one of those videos I linked upthread. If there's a quite a variation in the water depth due to the tides, seems like it would be easier to see, locate, maybe even attach cables to a vehicle for retrieval at low tide or even haul it out unless you wanted to wait and let the tide come in and help lift it out. I don't know, I have no wreckage recovery knowledge.

Anyway, that seems to be a fairly notorious place for accidents, it's a shame the wreckage apparently wasn't located sooner.

Good find!

I'm amazed at how much damage that area in the water/rocks can do to a vehicle. When the car was first shown, I thought it was really hinky how damaged it looked. It seemed more damaged to me than it could possibly be from just being in the water. It looked like a burned out shell! However, with seeing the video with this truck, I'm a bit more convinced that all that damage to the car really is the result of being bashed around in the water, alone.

However, there are still plenty of other things that still seem strange to me.