Belize police question Canadian
Snowbird had been threatened before her death
Police in Belize detained a Canadian in the seaside town of Placencia for “testing,” before being transported back to Corozal for questioning in connection with the grisly double-homicide of Francesca Matus, 52, of Keswick, Ont., and Drew DeVoursney, a former U.S. Marine from Georgia, the National Post has learned.
A police source, who is not directly involved in the investigation, could not say if the tests were related to the homicide, or whether any charges had been laid. The source did confirm that the detained Canadian was male.
The mother of DeVoursney said the U.S. embassy in Belize told her that two people were questioned in the deaths and that both had been released. It’s not clear whether one of those was the Canadian.
Char DeVoursney also said the Federal Bureau of Investigation is in the country helping with the homicide investigation.
The FBI says it does not comment on whether it is investigating a case or not and the Belize police detective in charge of the case could not be reached for comment Thursday.
The bodies of Matus and DeVoursney were found Monday afternoon near a sugar cane field in Corozal district, not far from Belize’s northern border with Mexico. The couple were found lying on top of one another, with their wrists bound by duct tape. Autopsies revealed they both died of strangulation.
They were believed to be in possession of a substantial sum of money. Authorities have, from the outset, been operating on the theory that the murders were a result of a robbery gone wrong.
Jules Vasquez, a reporter with Channel 7 Belize News, interviewed Dennis Arnold, the senior police investigator on the case Wednesday. Arnold told Vasquez that there “could have been” more than one person involved in the crime and that Matus, a snowbird with a mortgage brokerage business in Canada, had been subject to “threats.”
Arnold stated that members of Corozal’s ex-pat community “knew exactly what was happening.” Calls to Arnold’s office Thursday were not returned. An officer on the desk in Corozal said his boss was out in the field, and could not be reached.
Matus, a mother of 22-year-old twin boys, had loved the ocean, boating and the part-time life she had built in Belize, where she spent the winter months.
Her cousin, Ivana Pucci, described how her relative felt “safe” in the Central American country, and how Matus, a “52-year-old in a 35-year-old body,” was a “beautiful person, both inside and out.” Her home in Belize was on the waterfront.
DeVoursney and Matus had been dating for a few months and were last seen leaving Scotty’s Bar and Grill, a popular watering hole among ex-pats, last Tuesday night. Matus was supposed to fly back to Toronto the next day.
When she didn’t show up at the airport she was reported missing to police. Hundreds of expats joined in the search for the couple, gathering at Scotty’s each morning, before fanning out into the area.
“They had a lot of friends,” said Colin McGowan, a part-owner of Scotty’s.
Pucci said the Canadian government has made arrangements to bring Matus’ remains home, but is not sure when that will occur.
Char DeVoursney said she’s disappointed in the lack of progress in the investigation, but is hopeful her son’s remains will be returned home shortly.
“We’re hoping to bury him in a national cemetery here in Georgia,” she said.