Woman Killed in Belize Was Threatened: Cops

2 people have been detained
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted May 4, 2017 6:03 AM CDT
Updated May 4, 2017 7:06 AM CDT
2 Suspects in Custody in Belize Murders
Drew DeVoursney   (GoFundMe)

Two suspects are in custody in the case of an American man and his Canadian girlfriend found murdered in Belize, reports the CBC. No details on the suspects have been released, reports WSB, but CNN previously reported police were questioning two ex-pats who live near the Corozal home of Francesca Matus, who police say had been threatened. Matus, 52, and Drew DeVoursney, 36, of Georgia were last seen leaving a bar in Corozal last Tuesday before a cane cutter found their bodies in "an advanced state of decomposition" in a sugarcane field outside of town on Monday. A day earlier, Matus' white SUV had been discovered in another field about six miles away.

Police tell 7 News Belize that the body of DeVoursney, a former marine who served in Iraq, was on top of Matus' body. Both had duct tape on their wrists and had been strangled, police say. They also had broken bones in their necks and blunt force trauma, CNN reports. Devoursney's mother tells WSB that police have not provided family members with the names of the suspects or any motive for the killings. She adds her son, who owned a vacant lot in Belize, "was supposed to come home next week and was signed to start school with his brother where he was going to learn to operate heavy machinery," per the Globe and Mail. "Now he's coming home in a way I've always dreaded." (More Belize stories.)

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