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

[Gardenista]

Anybody speak Spanish?

 

[osu]

*Translated from Spanish by Google


Central Media RD
@centralmediard

FBI investigates case of American couple Portia Ravenelle and Orlando Moore died in DR idominicanas.com/fbi-investiga-…
7:24PM • 4/10/19

https://twitter.com/

centralmediard/status/1116119689963270144?s=21

 

[acutename]

Is it just me or does it look like there’s someone also sitting in the back seat with the window down? I played with the color on my phone... thoughts?

all I can see "clearly" ('cuz it is not clear at all) is a guy's arm with a tattoo- likely his near and dear could ID that. I cannot really see the driver and I do not know what is in the back seat- person, reflection, luggage....

 

[acutename]

It is also possible that she took that turn too fast and lost control of the car.

It is hard to believe that a couple traveling in a foreign country was killed in a freak accident, but when you factor in a lot of things it just makes it all the more likely that that's exactly what happened. We don't know what condition the car is in either and won't for awhile as divers can't access it.

do we know for sure what the weather was that night?

If anyone or anything else was involved in the accident, there might be some damage to the car inconsistent with going off the cliff. I find it odd that she was out of the car .... esp. if she was so concerned about safety, seems she would have been wearing a seat belt. IMO. We do not know if there was an oncoming vehicle that blinded or crowded her, or if there was something in the roadway.

 

[Herat]

Shouldn't the cliff also have some fresh tracks, abrasions, car paint to indicate the car rolled off the cliff?

 

[ilovechili]

Not buying it.

Maybe with more facts that actually show a scenario that makes any kind of logical sense.

I won't hold my breath on that one.

jmo.

 

[acutename]

found this article-
Pareja estadounidense habría sufrido accidente de tránsito; encuentran cuerpos podrían ser ellos

I guess this is Dominican MSM?

if you translate the comments, they are diverse.

maybe if there is anything to be learned from this, it is that you should keep a copy of your passport in your shoe or your underwear or some place where it might stay with your body even after trauma, though how to practically do this in the sweaty tropics, in a comfortable way, I do not know. (IMHO)

 

[Vern]

HLN just said her body was found the morning of the airport flight on the side of the road. He was seen in the sea/ocean on March 31st. Today is April 10th, we hear the news last night. So are we to believe what, she survived in the ocean, got out of the car, to the shore and walked up to the road and collapsed? Spends four days in a hospital before she dies. They had reported missing people from another country, they had an unknown Jane Doe almost from day one and a man in the ocean on a route to the airport. I believe family reported it within two days of their not returning home. She was found the day of their flight and on a toll road that goes to the airport and was it ever checked if anyone missed a flight with regard to finding her on a road to the airport? Was it ever reported anyone missed a flight--we do have customs forms and dates one provides they are in a foreign country etc. Did the rental company call LE and say they had a car not returned but that the woman who had it had been calling with concerns the day of and they planned to return it?

Just questions and perhaps those answers will come...

There is no indication she ever was in the water. She was found up on the roadway with severe head trauma the same day as the accident. Police, at the time, treated it as a hit and run on her because they saw no sign of their vehicle about (Because it was at the bottom of the ocean by that point). No hint that she was soaking wet etc. Where are you getting this info from?

Police Chief has already stated that no missing persons report was made in the Dominican Republic (see linked article and press conference quite a few pages back now). The news articles about them missing is what brought them to the police attention and allowed the linking between his body, the submerged car (still not recovered) the fishermen reported in the ocean, and her - they knew where to look for the car because they knew where she had been found gravely injured.

Clearly, we aren't talking 1st world nation here, but nothing anyone did would have prevented this … and they'd have been located (deceased) earlier had numerous folk done things differently --- and not just in the Dominican. I'm quite certain that with no missing persons report having been filed in the Domincan, the police actually probably were busy trying to identify both of them ... based on missing persons reports they actually had on file IN the Domincan. IMO.

 

[Vern]

found this article-
Pareja estadounidense habría sufrido accidente de tránsito; encuentran cuerpos podrían ser ellos

I guess this is Dominican MSM?

if you translate the comments, they are diverse.

maybe if there is anything to be learned from this, it is that you should keep a copy of your passport in your shoe or your underwear or some place where it might stay with your body even after trauma, though how to practically do this in the sweaty tropics, in a comfortable way, I do not know. (IMHO)

The conspiracy theorists are rife out there. Sigh. Maybe tattooed passports are the wave of the future … or microchips. Works for pets.

 

[acutename]

I'm not certain that they did drive themselves from the airport to the resort. One of the articles states that they rented the car for three days - specifically so they could get back to the airport for the flight out. Now, if they were only spending three days at the resort maybe, but I'm thinking that most go for like 1 week jaunts no?

Perhaps the resort in question doesn't have transportation service for that 0130 flight? Or any transportation service?

vacation was reported as Mar 23 to Mar 27.... if the "end" days are travel days, the car could have been only rented for 3 days.

(Of course, reported info on this case is garbled- I have seen OM said to be 40, 43 and 52 and PR said to be 32 and 52. I have seen reports of him having 2 sons but now the reports say the tattoo on his arm is his daughter's name. whatever. sorry for the families since communication with the DR seems difficult.)

 

[Vern]

Fisherman heard a rumble and saw car in the water "that day." Unclear in the article what "that day" is, but assuming it's March 27, the date Orlando and Portia were driving to the airport. Car is not recovered.

Orlando's body washed ashore 19 miles from the car. Found on March 31. Body "eaten by fishes." March 31 is....quite awhile ago.

Portia died April 4.

Very frustrating that LE, hospitals, and apparently even locals didn't connect any of this with a missing couple - especially Orlando, who had a tattoo for pete's sake.

jmo

Thing is, as per the Sherriff Press Conference and article linked very early on in this thread, the couple was not reported missing to police in the Dominican Republic. Perhaps reported in the US, but not in the DR. All the news articles on it were the DR Police's first clue about it … and they did get them located, deceased, very quickly after they became aware of them actually being missing in their country.

 

[acutename]

The conspiracy theorists are rife out there. Sigh. Maybe tattooed passports are the wave of the future … or microchips. Works for pets.

yeah... eventually they will microchip us all at birth

 

[Vern]

vacation was reported as Mar 23 to Mar 27.... if the "end" days are travel days, the car could have been only rented for 3 days.

(Of course, reported info on this case is garbled- I have seen OM said to be 40, 43 and 52 and PR said to be 32 and 52. I have seen reports of him having 2 sons but now the reports say the tattoo on his arm is his daughter's name. whatever. sorry for the families since communication with the DR seems difficult.)

I'm still uncertain. That interview with the Canuks makes it seem like they had only realized that last day, when they visited the waterfall prior to sharing the bottle of rum, how far the airport actually was to travel to. Doesn't seem like they'd already driven it from the airport to the hotel.

 

[Vern]

Assuming that it's found in the car or ever. I don't know, I guess it doesn't change anything either. If a human could be ejected from a car, certainly a human's purse could be.

Hadn't the Canadian couple said that on the one car ride they took together, that PR had instructed OM not to have the car window down? If that's the case, I can't really see her having her window down at 2AM, but if you're going down a highway right next to the Caribbean on a nice night I could see wanting some fresh sea air. Sorry, not really adding anything to the conversation but just MOO.

The photo of them after the toll booth, she is the passenger and clearly has the window down and her arm on the window sill.

 

[Trinitee]

In this photo of the car at the toll booth, although not good quality, it appears that it was Orlando sitting in the passenger seat and Portia was driving? If you zoom in, it looks like a mans body frame on the passenger side of the vehicle.
JMO

There is definitely a male in the passenger seat but there also appears to be a female in the rear (passenger side) seat directly behind him. Maybe it’s just my eyes getting old but I swear there someone behind him.

 

[elclarkey]

When I request the route from GMaps, it transfers through an underpass from the Marginal road onto the Autopista shortly after turning East.

View attachment 178962

I think various thing are possible, including the driver being distracted by checking GMaps or arguing with their partner or suddenly spooked by something they saw, hitting something on the road or a pole, something going wrong with the car, over-correcting after veering the other way, darkness and a lack of reflectors so that the driver simply drove off the edge of the highway.

Personally, I think it being a freeway makes an encounter with bad guys much less likely, it wasn't a deserted country road.

Awesome work with the map directions. I should have thought of that myself.

I'm still having some trouble with the car ending up in the water. If you look at how the car would make its way over to the main highway, it seems like a sharp right turn, followed closely by another pretty sharp left turn onto the (ramp I'm assuming). It seems like the driver would not have been able to make that right turn w/o a pretty large reduction in speed. And there isn't enough road to accelerate and speed up much more after that. It just doesn't make sense to me.

Man, I would love to see a street view of that cross-section.

Of note, I agree and was thinking the same thing about your theory that an encounter with bad guys is likely on a major highway stretch.

 

[TTF14]

There is definitely a male in the passenger seat but there also appears to be a female in the rear (passenger side) seat directly behind him. Maybe it’s just my eyes getting old but I swear there someone behind him.

Could they have hired someone to drive them to the airport on the promise that person returns the rental car after dropping them off so they wouldn't miss their flight?

 

[ilovechili]

There is no indication she ever was in the water. She was found up on the roadway with severe head trauma the same day as the accident. Police, at the time, treated it as a hit and run on her because they saw no sign of their vehicle about (Because it was at the bottom of the ocean by that point). No hint that she was soaking wet etc. Where are you getting this info from?

Police Chief has already stated that no missing persons report was made in the Dominican Republic (see linked article and press conference quite a few pages back now). The news articles about them missing is what brought them to the police attention and allowed the linking between his body, the submerged car (still not recovered) the fishermen reported in the ocean, and her - they knew where to look for the car because they knew where she had been found gravely injured.

Clearly, we aren't talking 1st world nation here, but nothing anyone did would have prevented this … and they'd have been located (deceased) earlier had numerous folk done things differently --- and not just in the Dominican. I'm quite certain that with no missing persons report having been filed in the Domincan, the police actually probably were busy trying to identify both of them ... based on missing persons reports they actually had on file IN the Domincan. IMO.

I am saying there is nothing clear about this case yet and I am waiting for that clarity. Between the length of time, the conflicting news reports with everything from ages, to dates, to whether they checked out or didn't, to the times of their flight even, whether the family reported it or did not, that clarity so far does not exist. It was said from what I understand they reported it on the 29th.

I fail to see how she was on the road for one and only he ended up in the ocean. I have been far from the first to wonder that and unless I missed it, I have heard no explanation for it nor can I think of one that would not also leave questions.

I would assume investigation has just begun and hopefully we will see a thorough look into it and a providing of the findings. That remains to be seen.

 

[Micmecca]

What people don't know yet is that photo of the white Kia wasn't taken at the toll booth. It was taken at the resort they stayed at. The picture is showing the car pulling up to the front door lobby. Compare the background of the picture with pictures of the resort's drive thru entrance and you'll see that this is a fact.

Dailymail reports that it's just a picture of the car they rode in. This guy Peter Martinez of CBSnews reports it's from the toll booth which is an obvious lie. Although the national police chief did say they had a picture of the car at the toll booth. I don't think he released it. And I don't know if the above picture is supposed to be the toll booth picture but now we know it's obviously not. So either the reporter is reporting factually incorrect information. Or the national police is releasing bogus information.

 

[TTF14]

What people don't know yet is that photo of the white Kia wasn't taken at the toll booth. It was taken at the resort they stayed at. The picture is showing the car pulling up to the front door lobby. Compare the background of the picture with pictures of the resort's drive thru entrance and you'll see that this is a fact.

Dailymail reports that it's just a picture of the car they rode in. This guy Peter Martinez of CBSnews reports it's from the toll booth which is an obvious lie. Although the national police chief did say they had a picture of the car at the toll booth. I don't think he released it. And I don't know if the above picture is supposed to be the toll booth picture but now we know it's obviously not. So either the reporter is reporting factually incorrect information. Or the national police is releasing bogus information.

Thank you! Welcome to WS!