Jeff Dunsavage's Blog (589)

Missing in France? Don’t expect police to come looking.

Though the United States and Canada have bolstered their missing person organizations with the help of the Internet, France has suddenly taken a step in the opposite direction. Law enforcement agencies in the country have ended missing person's searches for adults.

The news came in the form of a press release that was posted earlier this week to…

Two men are reportedly in custody and police are searching for a third man in connection with the slaying of a sailor from Chicago who was working on a tall ship in the Bahamas. The arrests in the fatal shooting of Kyle Bruner, 34, was reported by the Nassau Tribune.

Bruner, 34, a former special education teacher, was apparently trying to help a woman being mugged by two armed…

This is my family's story, which appeared in this morning's Star-Ledger newspaper in New Jersey. Four years after my brother's disappearance from the island of Roatan, it is the first time we've been able to get out of the Middlesex County section and onto the front page (above the fold! This is progress!). It's also the first story to try to touch on the larger issues facing…

Read this useful article in the Tico Times

Steve Flesch languished for a MONTH in the Costa Rican health-care system, suffering repeated infections before dying, while the U.S. State Department and President Obama blew off his family's pleas for help. There is a special circle of hell reserved for career diplomats and politicians who can't pull their heads out of their posteriors long enough to help citizens of their country in this kind of need. Shame on John Kerry, shame on President Obama!!…

State Department says they can't help because he doesn't have his passport (it was stolen). Family has been trying to get him home for a month. Read the full article

President Obama is in Costa Rica NOW -- please share this story widely and let the White House know you want the…

This article in American Airlines' magazine, American Way, uncritically promotes Honduras as a tourism destination without providing even a perfunctory caveat about safety. This country's rampant and escalating crime problem warrants a full-blown travel advisory from the State Department, not more puff pieces looking to draw…

The U.S. government has issued a travel advisory to its citizens over the presidential election petitions filed against Uhuru Kenyatta.  In the advisory, the Barak Obama led administration tells its citizens to avoid gatherings and demonstrations as the ruling on the petitions is likely to be issued on Easter weekend.  …

Things must be getting bad in "Latin America's Safest Country" -- the U.S. State Department has finally gotten around to issuing a warning about the violent-crime spree that has been plaguing Costa Rica:

Within the last few weeks, the Embassy has received increased reports of armed robberies of tourists in the Puerto Viejo…

KRGV in Weslaco, Texas, reports that the number of United States residents missing in Mexico keeps climbing, according to federal investigators. Law enforcement officials said the chances of finding them are slim.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has at least 272 cases on file. Each case may include more than one victim. FBI stats show that 254 of the missing were from McAllen…

Inside Costa Rica reports that  Costa Rica is the safest country in Latin America, according to a study published recently by publisher-analyst, Latinvex. The ranking of 19 countries is based on data from…

Michael Overfield, who was named Silverton’s First Citizen for 2000 and was known for his efforts to restore historical buildings in the small East Valley town, was shot and killed Feb. 27 on an island off the coast of Honduras. The 53-year-old developer moved to Central America about a decade ago, according to his son, Tim Overfield, who declined to discuss the details of his father’s death.

Overfield was killed…

A 46-year-old homeless man suspected in the killing of a Sarai Sierra, the Staten Island, NY, mother of two who was murdered in Istanbul, Turkey, in January was taken into custody on Sunday, the Turkish authorities said. 

The authorities in Hatay, near the Turkish-Syrian border, said the suspect — identified only by his initials, Z.T., and a nickname, Laz Ziya — had been detained in Reyhanli Township. 

In a video recorded shortly after his…

The Honduran government is asking for help from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in solving a five-month-old homicide case involving a Canadian citizen. Themy-Alexandre Vallée, 34, was shot outside a bar on the island of Roatan while on vacation in Honduras in October 2012. His friends and family have been questioning why the suspect, whose identity is known to police, hasn’t been arrested.…

The daughter of an Ottawa man who'd been missing in Panama since November says a body found last Friday in the Central American country was her dad. Ed Moynan's daughter, Sandy, posted a message on Facebook confirming that her father's body had been identified.She thanked family, friends, patients and colleagues for their support over the last four months and said funeral details would be posted shortly.…

The body of a Minnesota man who went missing after bodysurfing in Mexico has been located. Mark Stoneberg, 58, was on vacation in Sayulita, near Puerto Vallarta on Feb. 26 with his wife when he went missing at about 5 p.m.

Nancy Stoneberg, 47, says that authorities in Mexico called off the search for the father of three after only a few hours, saying he was presumed drowned. After Nancy requested urgent action, however, a Mexican navy search and rescue team was deployed to search for…

Mexico is one of the countries where journalists “face the most danger” from criminal organizations, resulting in the murders and disappearances of many members of the media, the president and CEO of the Mexico City daily El Universal, Juan Francisco Ealy, said Monday. More than 70 journalists have been murdered and 13 others have gone missing in Mexico,…

The Australian government issued an advisory on Friday warning its nationals not to travel to  Mindanao because of  the “high threat” of kidnapping in the province. Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade issued the advisory amid tension between the Malaysian government and the followers of Sulu Sultan Jamalul Kiram III over the latter’s claim on Sabah.

“We continue to strongly advise you not to travel to central and western Mindanao, including the Zamboanga Peninsula and…

Six years after concerns about student safety prompted the California State University System to suspend programs in Mexico, the chancellor’s office has announced that it is relaxing its policy in areas of the country considered safe for travel by the U.S. State Department. 

Read full article

CSU's decision is based on the U.S.…

The U.S. State Department's latest travel warning for Libya still advises U.S. citizens "against all but essential travel to Tripoli and all travel to Benghazi," citing ongoing instability and violence, but says non-emergency U.S. government personnel can return to the U.S. Embassy in Tripoli.The State Department had ordered all non-emergency U.S. government workers out of Libya on September 12, the day after an attack that killed four Americans -- including U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens --…