MuSuLPhReAk
18-09-2009, 12:26 PM
Yet another murdered Canadian in Mexico :mad:
A Montreal woman has been found stabbed to death inside her apartment on an island near Cancun, Mexico, and a young Mexican man has been arrested.
Renée Wathelet, 60, was discovered Thursday morning stabbed multiple times and with her throat cut when police entered her Isla Mujeres island apartment, which faces the Caribbean Sea, local media reported.
Isla Mujeres sits northeast off the Yucatan Peninsula near the tourist hot spot Cancun.
Canada's Department of Foreign Affairs confirmed Friday it was aware that a Canadian woman had been killed on that island. No further information was provided, citing privacy issues.
"Consular officials are providing support and assistance to the family in Canada and are in contact with the Mexican authorities responsible for the investigation into the circumstances of the death," spokesman André Lemay said.
Neighbours alerted police to the scene between 10 and 11 a.m. after they heard screams and then encountered a man carrying a bloodied knife leaving Wathelet's residence, German wire agency DPA and Mexican news agency SIPSE reported.
Local police told the news agencies they arrested a 24-year-old Monterrey man named Jose Joaquin Palacios Garaza in connection with the slaying, described as "brutal" by the local press.
The El Periodico de Quintana Roo newspaper reported police arrested Palacios Garaza shortly after they arrived on the scene.
Cmdr. Carlos Osorio Magana told DPA that, as of Thursday afternoon, they had not been able to interview the suspect because he was "extremely intoxicated."
SIPSE later reported that the suspect told police he was defending himself. SIPSE also said the suspect was not intoxicated, but mentally ill.
Enfoce Radio quoted police saying the suspect had developed a friendship with Wathelet.
Wathelet's body was taken to Cancun for an autopsy, reports said.
According to a Wathelet's blog, En direct des iles, Live from the Islands, she had befriended a man named Jose who she often walked with on the beach, talking about the island.
Wathelet, who described herself as a nomad, appears to have fallen in love with the island. She posted a 41-second YouTube video on Tuesday of waves hitting the shore.
"This is where every morning I sit, looking north, and, smiling, think of all those I love," she wrote describing the video.
On the her last blog entry, which was posted the day she was found dead, Wathelet wrote of her lifelong ritual of early morning walks.
"A few steps . . . into the water I watch the sun slowly emerge . . . before starting my morning walk, sand, rocks, leaves," she wrote. "When I try to match my breath with the rhythm of the waves I look north, to Montreal — Hello everybody, yes I think of you every morning."
Wathelet said in an MSM Travel interview posted Tuesday that she discovered the island about 10 years ago through a friend and now lived in "alone in a small apartment facing the Caribbean Sea."
Wathelet left a life working in the finance industry to become a "nomad" and a freelance social media consultant, according to her resumé posted online. She worked as an investment adviser until 2008.
The slaying is the latest in a string of violent attacks in Mexico over the last five years.
In January, two Canadian men were shot and seriously injured at a nightclub in the Mexican resort town Cabo San Lucas.
In July 2008, UN gang members Elliot Castaneda and Ahmet Kaawach were gunned down outside a street eatery in Guadalajara, Mexico.
Two months earlier, Vancouver-area resident Bouabal Bounthavorn Ingo, 29, was killed in an apparent botched theft at a posh Cabo San Lucas hotel after being shot three times in the head. His girlfriend was shot in the ankle. Two men have been charged.
In January 2007, Woodbridge, Ont., resident Adam DePrisco, 19, was killed outside an Acapulco nightclub. Mexican officials say he was the victim of a hit-and-run accident, while members of his family say they believe he was beaten to death.
Jeff Toews, a 34-year-old Albertan, died after falling from the balcony of a Cancun resort in May of that year. However, Toews's family believes he, too, was the victim of a beating.
Domenic and Nancy Ianiero, also of Woodbridge, Ont., were found murdered with their throats slashed in February 2006 at a resort in the Mayan Riviera.
Foreign Affairs warns travellers to exercise a high degree of caution for a number of reasons in Mexico, among them "high levels of criminal activity."
A Montreal woman has been found stabbed to death inside her apartment on an island near Cancun, Mexico, and a young Mexican man has been arrested.
Renée Wathelet, 60, was discovered Thursday morning stabbed multiple times and with her throat cut when police entered her Isla Mujeres island apartment, which faces the Caribbean Sea, local media reported.
Isla Mujeres sits northeast off the Yucatan Peninsula near the tourist hot spot Cancun.
Canada's Department of Foreign Affairs confirmed Friday it was aware that a Canadian woman had been killed on that island. No further information was provided, citing privacy issues.
"Consular officials are providing support and assistance to the family in Canada and are in contact with the Mexican authorities responsible for the investigation into the circumstances of the death," spokesman André Lemay said.
Neighbours alerted police to the scene between 10 and 11 a.m. after they heard screams and then encountered a man carrying a bloodied knife leaving Wathelet's residence, German wire agency DPA and Mexican news agency SIPSE reported.
Local police told the news agencies they arrested a 24-year-old Monterrey man named Jose Joaquin Palacios Garaza in connection with the slaying, described as "brutal" by the local press.
The El Periodico de Quintana Roo newspaper reported police arrested Palacios Garaza shortly after they arrived on the scene.
Cmdr. Carlos Osorio Magana told DPA that, as of Thursday afternoon, they had not been able to interview the suspect because he was "extremely intoxicated."
SIPSE later reported that the suspect told police he was defending himself. SIPSE also said the suspect was not intoxicated, but mentally ill.
Enfoce Radio quoted police saying the suspect had developed a friendship with Wathelet.
Wathelet's body was taken to Cancun for an autopsy, reports said.
According to a Wathelet's blog, En direct des iles, Live from the Islands, she had befriended a man named Jose who she often walked with on the beach, talking about the island.
Wathelet, who described herself as a nomad, appears to have fallen in love with the island. She posted a 41-second YouTube video on Tuesday of waves hitting the shore.
"This is where every morning I sit, looking north, and, smiling, think of all those I love," she wrote describing the video.
On the her last blog entry, which was posted the day she was found dead, Wathelet wrote of her lifelong ritual of early morning walks.
"A few steps . . . into the water I watch the sun slowly emerge . . . before starting my morning walk, sand, rocks, leaves," she wrote. "When I try to match my breath with the rhythm of the waves I look north, to Montreal — Hello everybody, yes I think of you every morning."
Wathelet said in an MSM Travel interview posted Tuesday that she discovered the island about 10 years ago through a friend and now lived in "alone in a small apartment facing the Caribbean Sea."
Wathelet left a life working in the finance industry to become a "nomad" and a freelance social media consultant, according to her resumé posted online. She worked as an investment adviser until 2008.
The slaying is the latest in a string of violent attacks in Mexico over the last five years.
In January, two Canadian men were shot and seriously injured at a nightclub in the Mexican resort town Cabo San Lucas.
In July 2008, UN gang members Elliot Castaneda and Ahmet Kaawach were gunned down outside a street eatery in Guadalajara, Mexico.
Two months earlier, Vancouver-area resident Bouabal Bounthavorn Ingo, 29, was killed in an apparent botched theft at a posh Cabo San Lucas hotel after being shot three times in the head. His girlfriend was shot in the ankle. Two men have been charged.
In January 2007, Woodbridge, Ont., resident Adam DePrisco, 19, was killed outside an Acapulco nightclub. Mexican officials say he was the victim of a hit-and-run accident, while members of his family say they believe he was beaten to death.
Jeff Toews, a 34-year-old Albertan, died after falling from the balcony of a Cancun resort in May of that year. However, Toews's family believes he, too, was the victim of a beating.
Domenic and Nancy Ianiero, also of Woodbridge, Ont., were found murdered with their throats slashed in February 2006 at a resort in the Mayan Riviera.
Foreign Affairs warns travellers to exercise a high degree of caution for a number of reasons in Mexico, among them "high levels of criminal activity."