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

[ilovechili]

a lot of the travel web sites say to not drive at night- so, it makes you think it is not safe, IMO.

I agree totally. That was stated to her by the rental car agency and and the travel sites say it as well. I ran into a Canadian warning that mentions that exact highway with tourists en route to the airport and armed robberies, not just rental cars but even occasionally taxis as well. They advise to always have a daytime flight, never a night time flight.

 

[ilovechili]

In the video of the drive along the highway posted by Satchie (# 150), there are street lights but I wonder if all of them are lit at night. In the town where I used to live, here in the U.S., city council decided to leave many of the street lights off at night to save energy costs. When my sister was visiting, she commented on how dark it was in places.

When the road is so dark for lack of lighting, it can be hard to discern the road from a nearby body of water. At least, that was my experience when I was about 10 and my family stopped at a campsite while on vacation. A tornado and heavy rainfall had just been through the area, so much of the campground was under water. My dad was driving to the camp store to purchase something and I went with him. It was a terrifying experience, as I couldn't tell if we were still on the road.

If PR (presuming she was driving) turned around momentarily as they came to the curve in the road, she could easily have become disoriented if the road wasn't well lit, and lost control. I wonder if it's possible she was ejected through the windshield. I was very confused after reading last night about the bodies found, but after reading here it seems more plausible it was an accident. However, I hope there is a thorough investigation. I was hoping so much the couple would be found alive, but knew it was unlikely at this point. :-(

It is hard to trust media with conflicting stories and incorrect remarks but it was stated in one that she escaped as they went underwater in the ocean: "According to the Dominican Authorities, Ravanelle managed to escape the car crash as the automobile went under water."

It also states that it is still being investigated: "There is still an ongoing investigation to confirm root causes of the incident itself."

It is worth reading, it tells a bit more about the victims and who they were. It also references the fishermen, etc.

Mount Vernon couple dies after car plunges into sea in Dominican Republic

ETA: This was also the most recent article as of yesterday.

Edited Again LOL: Actually I posted it this morning, my days are running together So it was recent as of this morning...

 

[osu]

Video of the area (cliff) and divers locating vehicle.
Localizan en R. Dominicana vehículo de accidente de dos estadounidenses

April 11, 2018
Santo Domingo, Apr 11 (EFE) .- Dominican divers found Thursday in waters of the Caribbean Sea the vehicle in which allegedly traveled a couple of American tourists disappeared at the end of March and, according to investigations, died in a traffic accident.

 

[TTF14]

It is hard to trust media with conflicting stories and incorrect remarks but it was stated in one that she escaped as they went underwater in the ocean: "According to the Dominican Authorities, Ravanelle managed to escape the car crash as the automobile went under water.".

Apparently they both managed to escape as it went under....but they both still ended up dead.

 

[ilovechili]

Apparently they both managed to escape as it went under....but they both still ended up dead.

I can't even imagine.

One question I still have is someone said up thread it was assumed she was a victim of a hit and run. However, if she was in the ocean, escaped the car and made it to the road, that is a feat in and of itself, but I would have thought it would have been quite obvious she had been in the ocean. Now we hear she was in the car so they must have a way of now knowing that I would assume.

Apparently they are now trying to retrieve the car so there will be more info to come I would imagine.

It is nothing but tragic what should have been a fun filled getaway turned out this way for this couple.

 

[bradfordsleuth]

Video of the area (cliff) and divers locating vehicle.
Localizan en R. Dominicana vehículo de accidente de dos estadounidenses

April 11, 2018
Santo Domingo, Apr 11 (EFE) .- Dominican divers found Thursday in waters of the Caribbean Sea the vehicle in which allegedly traveled a couple of American tourists disappeared at the end of March and, according to investigations, died in a traffic accident.

Thank you for posting this.
That is one heck of a cliff in the video! I am struggling to figure out how she would have battled those waves in a panicked state in the darkness of the night while gravely injured and pulled herself up the cliff to the road. I cannot fathom what type of strength and determination it would have taken for her to accomplish this.

I firmly believe that she never was in the water, that she was somehow ejected right on impact. I think that he may have gotten out while in the water, but then drowned. I really hope we find out what happened somehow.

From all accounts, these were two really wonderful people and it is so sad that they died this way.

 

[Plo_Koon]

Calm down. That's not what I said. I'm just saying if it walks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck...it's a duck. We have a car in the sea, two dead and nothing else. If they were being robbed, the thieves went through an awful lot of trouble to dispose of the car when they could have sold it piece by piece for scrap.

I think people are viewing this through a "this is how we do it here" lens when in reality there is a very big difference in the way investigations are conducted here versus there.

I am calm. I was only saying, and MOO here, that not everyone is going to be so quick to see it as an open and shut case. Could it be? Sure. It probably is, but I'm not going to label people wanting more information as fanning a conspiracy. See margarita's above links where FBI is being requested to reconstruct and investigate.

 

[ilovechili]

Thank you for posting this.
That is one heck of a cliff in the video! I am struggling to figure out how she would have battled those waves in a panicked state in the darkness of the night while gravely injured and pulled herself up the cliff to the road. I cannot fathom what type of strength and determination it would have taken for her to accomplish this.

I firmly believe that she never was in the water, that she was somehow ejected right on impact. I think that he may have gotten out while in the water, but then drowned. I really hope we find out what happened somehow.

From all accounts, these were two really wonderful people and it is so sad that they died this way.

I don't see it either, in fact I can't quite see either scenario unless something was lost in translation, passing of information and media accounts. I can't quite see her ejected on the roadway and I certainly cannot see her getting up that rocky oceanside and incline after getting out of a car in the water. What happened probably lies somewhere in between, I guess she could have been thrown on impact with something but the question there is with what and/or why then it says she escaped once the car was in the water.

It says the fishermen heard what sounded like a loud crash on the roadway. They then allegedly saw a car in the water. It does not really give a timeline on that. She was allegedly at some point found on the roadway. What happened between these three things if anything? Did they see the car come hurtling down the incline or was it further away from them and they just heard a crash and at some point saw the car in the water? It does not sound like the fishermen's accounts were heard until this recent Tuesday per the article?

I would imagine they will access her medical records, hopefully bring the bodies home for further autopsy and the retrieval of the car may give some additional facts.

Linking again just to verify these accounts:

Mount Vernon couple dies after car plunges into sea in Dominican Republic

I am not a big mapper but I came across one that lets me zoom in closer than some to see the area, the roadways, trees, the ocean when one sets it to satellite. It gives me a better perspective. Now I wish I knew how to add where the toll booths are lol.

Las Americas International Airport to Samaná - 3 ways to travel via , and bus

 

[Hatfield]

I think this whole story stinks to high heaven!

Me too.

The female body found on the road and the male in the ocean. wth?

We know people can sometimes be ejected but unless they rolled the car before going into the water and unless windows are all broken out then I dont buy it right now.

We need to see the car damage and if windows are all there and if no sign of a rollover then I dont see how she could be ejected.

Having bad thoughts right now about a "fake pullover" with flashing lights which made them stop.

 

[ilovechili]

Me too.

The female boy found on the road and the male in the ocean. wth?

We know people can sometimes be ejected but unless they rolled the car before going into the water and unless windows are all broken out then I dont buy it right now.

We need to see the car damage and if windows are all there and if no sign of a rollover then I dont see how she could be ejected.

Having bad thoughts right now about a "fake pullover" with flashing lights which made them stop.

That is my problem, even with a window down you do not fly through a window, your bottom half is on the seat and your legs on the floor. With an impact by another vehicle from behind or even they themselves rear ending one, then I can see being put through the front window, etc. With a rollover, etc. possibly.

Not on the highway without some impact. And it says they are still looking at what caused it and what happened....

The article above said the fishermen (I don't think the first account I read said this but again, media for you) heard a crash they thought on the highway. That to me means something was hit or hit them loud enough for them to notice and remember it.

Just thoughts...

 

[Dee10]

I don't see it either, in fact I can't quite see either scenario unless something was lost in translation, passing of information and media accounts. I can't quite see her ejected on the roadway and I certainly cannot see her getting up that rocky oceanside and incline after getting out of a car in the water. What happened probably lies somewhere in between, I guess she could have been thrown on impact with something but the question there is with what and/or why then it says she escaped once the car was in the water.

It says the fishermen heard what sounded like a loud crash on the roadway. They then allegedly saw a car in the water. It does not really give a timeline on that. She was allegedly at some point found on the roadway. What happened between these three things if anything? Did they see the car come hurtling down the incline or was it further away from them and they just heard a crash and at some point saw the car in the water? It does not sound like the fishermen's accounts were heard until this recent Tuesday per the article?

I would imagine they will access her medical records, hopefully bring the bodies home for further autopsy and the retrieval of the car may give some additional facts.

Linking again just to verify these accounts:

Mount Vernon couple dies after car plunges into sea in Dominican Republic

I am not a big mapper but I came across one that lets me zoom in closer than some to see the area, the roadways, trees, the ocean when one sets it to satellite. It gives me a better perspective. Now I wish I knew how to add where the toll booths are lol.

Las Americas International Airport to Samaná - 3 ways to travel via , and bus

That is a good zoom-in map. If you look to where the exit to the airport is, back up just a bit before the that, zoom-in and put the map in satelightmode, you will see the toll booth area it IDK 10 lanes perhaps.

I wonder if just after the toll booth there is what looks like a little rest area, could her notes or map have been take the lst right after the toll booth & they went of there? But, I don't think they would have built up the speed. This case is so confusing. They were so close to the airport too, it's so sad.

 

[CaseyLPC]

I wander if they both got out of the car and managed to swim/be carried by the currents to the place where his body was found. Maybe he was too injured to make it back to the road and she went up to the road to try and get help and collapsed...They did not say she was found right where the car went off the cliff, but rather a ways back down the road.

 

[Hatfield]

That is my problem, even with a window down you do not fly through a window, your bottom half is on the seat and your legs on the floor. With an impact by another vehicle from behind or even they themselves rear ending one, then I can see being put through the front window, etc. With a rollover, etc. possibly.

Not on the highway without some impact. And it says they are still looking at what caused it and what happened....

The article above said the fishermen (I don't think the first account I read said this but again, media for you) heard a crash they thought on the highway. That to me means something was hit or hit them loud enough for them to notice and remember it.

Just thoughts...

Yea its all so sketchy right now and I am leaning toward foul play because things dont seem to be adding up right now.

We have a car in the water and neither person is near the car. The male's body ends up 13 miles away. The female's body ends up on the roadside.

We know life can sometimes be stranger than fiction but I am hard pressed to think how a normal accident could end up with both bodies in two totally different locations and both away from the vehicle that is at bottom of the water.

Her body location is the most perplexing but even his body being 13 miles away is also perplexing. Because when in the middle of a normal wreck and if impact with water is great enough then it can knock out a person where they would not have the wherewithall to unbuckle and climb out a window.

Im guessing they both would have put on safety belts for the late night ride to the airport on unfamiliar roads so I am guessing they both originally had safety belts on.

So even for him to have been able to float away from the car then it could only happen a couple of different ways. Like if the impact did not knock him out and he managed to unbuckle after impact and either open door or window and climb out and then drown and float 13 miles away.

Or impact was so great it threw him through a window and the impact somehow broke him free of his safety belt. Much evidence in the car would show this if it happened that way.

Her body location is even more perplexing. She would have had to had similar ways to get out of the car after impact and then somehow climb back up to the roadside to collapse and be found.

Investigators need to pull up that vehicle and that should provide additional evidence to either help prove or disprove a normal accident.

I am also surprised we have not seen pictures of the actual alleged wreck site. If fisherman can see the car in the water then news media should be able to get pictures of the exact location. So why are there not pictures of the scene.

I have to admit I am jaded right now because of a couple other cases. One was this case below where a tourist was murdered and it was an inside job by the security guard.

Resort Guard Arrested After Florida Woman Killed Near Airbnb Vacation Resort

I worry that when they checked out at 2AM how easy it would be for someone that worked at the motel to make a phone call to someone that would be able to intercept them on the only road to the airport that is a 2 hour drive on that road.

The other main reason I am jaded right now is a personal traveling experience where there was a car theft ring going on and we were warned about not parking our vehicles in a certain spot when we took the flight out of the area. I was like most people and didnt think too much of the warning and thought it was mostly a rumor. But I still decided to move my car to a different location before we flew out. Sure enough when we got back on the return flight, one of our group had their nice brand new truck missing. It was enough to realize that coordination and collusion was going on and it was basically an inside job involving some of the people involved with the trip.

 

[ilovechili]

That is a good zoom-in map. If you look to where the exit to the airport is, back up just a bit before the that, zoom-in and put the map in satelightmode, you will see the toll booth area it IDK 10 lanes perhaps.

I wonder if just after the toll booth there is what looks like a little rest area, could her notes or map have been take the lst right after the toll booth & they went of there? But, I don't think they would have built up the speed. This case is so confusing. They were so close to the airport too, it's so sad.

Yes, I did not know if it was just me but I have never been able to zoom that close on some maps (although I do not map a lot other than to get directions). I felt the same, they had almost concluded the drive to the airport when this happened, so close, so sad.

I did not look at the airport area so much because the fishermen stated San Domingo Estes and that area I thought was more towards where they left the road they traveled most of the trip for the Los Americos highway so I looked from there along where it runs next to the ocean. I will go take a look. Do we have an exact location where we can actually pinpoint it?

 

[Dee10]

Police try to recover deceased American couple’s car

The vehicle still under water was located next to Las Américas highway, east of Santo Domingo, “at the same spot” where the authorities presume the Kia rental car went off the road the night of March 27, when the couple was heading to Las Americas Airport, according to what a source told the National Police.

The vehicle will be pulled out of the water “in the next few hours,” Efe reports, but the authorities at the site didn’t have the crane needed to retrieve the car.

 

[Hatfield]

Police try to recover deceased American couple’s car

The vehicle still under water was located next to Las Américas highway, east of Santo Domingo, “at the same spot” where the authorities presume the Kia rental car went off the road the night of March 27, when the couple was heading to Las Americas Airport, according to what a source told the National Police.

The vehicle will be pulled out of the water “in the next few hours,” Efe reports, but the authorities at the site didn’t have the crane needed to retrieve the car.

Thats good news if they can get the car out soon. It should provide lots of evidence to help confirm if this was a normal accident or not and how both of them managed to not be in that vehicle.

Lets just hope the investigators are the real deal. It makes you wonder if the FBI would be allowed to monitor or participate in the investigation or not.

One concern I have is even if the investigation is legitimate then sometimes a tourist related area will suppress the truth to avoid bad publicity. We have seen that happen with crimes at Universities and crimes in other tourist areas. Lets hope we can get an honest and open investigation.

 

[Stunned]

The children in the Hart family were ejected. But they were ejected down the cliff. And 1 body has never been found.

 

[Dee10]

As if this case couldn't get crazier:

The car that the couple had rented, the river, plate A799107, was located at the bottom of the Caribbean Sea, when it was taken by a cable to be promoted it disengaged and fell back into the waters, and they continue trying to tie them again.

Google Translate

 

[ilovechili]

Yea its all so sketchy right now and I am leaning toward foul play because things dont seem to be adding up right now.

We have a car in the water and neither person is near the car. The male's body ends up 13 miles away. The female's body ends up on the roadside.

We know life can sometimes be stranger than fiction but I am hard pressed to think how a normal accident could end up with both bodies in two totally different locations and both away from the vehicle that is at bottom of the water.

Her body location is the most perplexing but even his body being 13 miles away is also perplexing. Because when in the middle of a normal wreck and if impact with water is great enough then it can knock out a person where they would not have the wherewithall to unbuckle and climb out a window.

Im guessing they both would have put on safety belts for the late night ride to the airport on unfamiliar roads so I am guessing they both originally had safety belts on.

So even for him to have been able to float away from the car then it could only happen a couple of different ways. Like if the impact did not knock him out and he managed to unbuckle after impact and either open door or window and climb out and then drown and float 13 miles away.

Or impact was so great it threw him through a window and the impact somehow broke him free of his safety belt. Much evidence in the car would show this if it happened that way.

Her body location is even more perplexing. She would have had to had similar ways to get out of the car after impact and then somehow climb back up to the roadside to collapse and be found.

Investigators need to pull up that vehicle and that should provide additional evidence to either help prove or disprove a normal accident.

I am also surprised we have not seen pictures of the actual alleged wreck site. If fisherman can see the car in the water then news media should be able to get pictures of the exact location. So why are there not pictures of the scene.

I have to admit I am jaded right now because of a couple other cases. One was this case below where a tourist was murdered and it was an inside job by the security guard.

Resort Guard Arrested After Florida Woman Killed Near Airbnb Vacation Resort

I worry that when they checked out at 2AM how easy it would be for someone that worked at the motel to make a phone call to someone that would be able to intercept them on the only road to the airport that is a 2 hour drive on that road.

The other main reason I am jaded right now is a personal traveling experience where there was a car theft ring going on and we were warned about not parking our vehicles in a certain spot when we took the flight out of the area. I was like most people and didnt think too much of the warning and thought it was mostly a rumor. But I still decided to move my car to a different location before we flew out. Sure enough when we got back on the return flight, one of our group had their nice brand new truck missing. It was enough to realize that coordination and collusion was going on and it was basically an inside job involving some of the people involved with the trip.

Boy I agree with you, the reason there are questions is because there is absolutely nothing so far to document what happened. We have no exact location, no reason for a crash, etc.

It bothers me too that we are aware she was talking and concerned about this trip all day, in front of probably many at the motel, to the car rental company and more. They had a rental car at the hotel, well known as well I am sure.

While it does not happen probably in every case, it is naive to think there could not be more to this. There are many cases in such areas that still have questions today and whose families still say so.

I do not know what happened but closing out possibilities is something I can't do just yet. Things do not add up, facts are not there, pictures are not, documentation is not of anything to do with this.

I have traveled not to the Dominican but to another area many times. I look back at my first year (pretty green and naive) and then look at all of the years to the same area thereafter. You start to see beyond the veneer, beyond the tourist zone, the happy to serve the tourist face, and you get to know locals who, you can have some very good talks with and you get to know the truth of the area. Like Disney World, they are supposed to be happy places with happy experiences.

Once you see that and really pay attention, you will see beyond the happy, pretty, all is good tourist area and that anything bad tends to be not seen or kept away. You will see that bartender who is waiting on an impatient snotty tourist who turns around, thinks no one can see him on a long day and that friendly smile drops from his face for a split second and a grimace comes over it before he turns back all happy.

I got a bit sidetracked but yep, waiting for answers. If it made sense, no problem. So far, it does not.

 

[Hatfield]

As if this case couldn't get crazier:

The car that the couple had rented, the river, plate A799107, was located at the bottom of the Caribbean Sea, when it was taken by a cable to be promoted it disengaged and fell back into the waters, and they continue trying to tie them again.

Google Translate

How convenient the cable disconnects and car falls back down to cause even more damage to the car and help confuse the evidence.

Like I said, I am real jaded in these cases and things like this is what contributes to why I am so suspect of things.