JAMAICA - Claudia Ann Kirshhoch, 29, Negril, 27 May 2000

[belimom]

I hadn't heard this information before - the rest of the article talks about hits at the bartender's mother's home and hit in a rear room in the house (bbm):

.......As early as 5:00 a.m. yesterday, the team began its search. They were led through a back gate at the Beaches Hotel leading onto the road but at this stage the dog lost the trail. This, its trainer said, suggested that Miss Kirschhoch had left the property and might have boarded a vehicle. But further up the boulevard, "Valerie" again picked up the trail in the vicinity of the Swept Away Hotel. As a result, a contingent of police personnel were deployed to conduct searches in that area.

At 7:30 p.m. the team trekked along the Bloody Bay Public Beach where "Valerie" scratched into the sand and barked in the direction of the offshore Boobie Quay. This resulted in Mr. Oakes requesting a boat to get onto the island.

On his return to shore, he told The Gleaner that the dog made some alerts during the water search leading them to believe it had smelt something belonging to the writer. "It could be clothing, personal belongings or something that Claudia may have touched that is in the water. Straight in line from where we were to where Valerie is alerting is the house of the girlfriend of someone who had been questioned earlier. So we will be talking to the detectives to see where we go from here. We are going to search the water in that area," he said..........

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20000817/News/News4.html

 

[belimom]

Sarx? Will a water-search dog pick up on something someone *touched* that is in the water? (see post above ^^^^^) Seems a little off to me. I would think they would have a lot of false hits in that regard. Any better info on that? Thanks!

 

[sarx]

Sarx? Will a water-search dog pick up on something someone *touched* that is in the water? (see post above ^^^^^) Seems a little off to me. I would think they would have a lot of false hits in that regard. Any better info on that? Thanks!

I'm afraid I'm gonna have to stay far far away from this one.

 

[neesaki]

Sarx? Will a water-search dog pick up on something someone *touched* that is in the water? (see post above ^^^^^) Seems a little off to me. I would think they would have a lot of false hits in that regard. Any better info on that? Thanks!

I had the same question. I thought that the dogs would only pick on the scent of an actual person / remains in the water. Items of clothing, etc. seem far fetched to me. Not my expertise though.

 

[CinnamonToast]

I'd like to know what came of the lawsuit filed by Claudia's parents against the resort. Claudia's story/case has long disturbed and saddened me. When folks go missing here in America it's bad enough, but when someone goes missing in a foreign country, it seems like some sort of sinister, impossible vortex.

Bumping for Claudia. I doubt we'll ever know exactly what happened to her, but she still matters and her story still haunts me.

 

[Murkywaters]

Resorts in Jamaica are facing a 'historic' sexual assault problem

In a dark laundry room at a Jamaican Sandals resort, pinned to the floor by a hotel lifeguard, a Michigan teenage girl lay paralyzed with fear as the man bit her lip and raped her, violently robbing her virginity.

When her mother found her after the assault, trembling and holding herself in a hallway, the 17-year-old couldn't speak. She could only point to a metal door. Behind the door, her friend was being gang-raped by three resort lifeguards. This is the Jamaica that the U.S. State Department has repeatedly warned tourists about.

This is the island paradise that the government says has a pervasive sexual assault problem, the place where two Detroit women were raped in September, and an estimated one American is raped each month.

 

[Seratonin]

 

[Deleted member 287549]

Recently saw the UM segment featuring CK's disappearance in Jamaica. Very sad & disturbing. I don't necessarily think that Jamaica is more dangerous than many U.S. cities (and probably less dangerous than some of them), but cases like this do highlight that people are in potential danger wherever they go - even on vacation.

I do not think that CK disappeared of her own volition; she almost certainly met with foul play. I do think the bartender AG may have had something to do with this, since he was probably the last person to see her alive. However, given that there is no real proof - I can see why the authorities didn't hold him.

Too bad the parents haven't gotten closure re: what happened to their daughter. Unfortunately, her mother passed away in 2015.

 

[GoBuckeyes]

Claudia Kirschhoch​

Name: Claudia Ann Kirschhoch
Went Missing: Negril, Jamaica
Date:May 27, 2000
Occupation: Assistant Editor
Date of Birth: February 9, 1971
Height: 5'2"
Weight: 105 lbs
Marital Status: Married
Characteristics: Caucasian female with Brown hair and brown eyes. Claudia has a tattoo of a Phoenix on her right hip.


Name: Claudia Ann Kirschhoch
Nicknames: No known nicknames
Location: Negril, Jamaica
Date: May 27, 2000

Bio​

Occupation: Assistant Editor
Date of Birth: February 9, 1971
Height: 5'2"
Weight: 105 lbs
Marital Status: Married
Characteristics: Caucasian female with Brown hair and brown eyes. Claudia has a tattoo of a Phoenix on her right hip.

​

Details: "Twenty-nine-year-old travel guide editor Claudia Kirschhoch was a last-minute replacement on a travel junket to the Sandals' new resort in Havana. She arrived with three other travel writers in Montego Bay, Jamaica, on the morning of May 24, 2000, but they soon learned that they would not be traveling to Havana. They basically became stranded in Jamaica because their flights back to New York were booked through June 1.

On May 25, Claudia and Tania Grossinger were sent to the Sandals' resort in Negril. They had meals together and talked over drinks in the evening. While there, Claudia also became friends with bartender Anthony Grant and she went dancing with him at the resort.

The next day, Claudia told Tania that she and Anthony smoked dope and went skinny dipping. On May 27, Tania was able to get a flight back to New York for later that day and called their room at 8AM. They went to breakfast, and then said their goodbyes. They planned to meet again in New York when Claudia returned. That afternoon, she was seen by a lifeguard in a bathing suit and t-shirt with a portable radio walking away from the resort on the beach; this was the last confirmed sighting of her."