Honduras Seeks Help From Mounties in Case of Canadian Tourist Murdered on Roatan

[Jeff Dunsavage]

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.

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Two days after an exclusive CBC News interview with Vallée's mother,Chantale Vallée, the Department of Foreign Affairs also sent a diplomatic note to the Honduran government, stressing the importance of the investigation to Canada and urging authorities there to conduct the investigation swiftly and transparently.

The following quote from Ms. Vallée is the most important point for U.S. families with loved ones missing abroad to remember:

“Of course I am happy something is moving. If I didn’t have help from the media, it wouldn’t move so fast,” Vallée told CBC News. “They should have done that right away and not wait so long.”

Honduras sought Canadian assistance because the Canadian government, spurred (one might say "shamed") by media attention, aggressively pressed for the "invitation" -- something the U.S. State Department is loath to do when an ordinary U.S. citizen disappears or is murdered abroad. Congratulations to Ms. Vallée for pressing, by way of the media, to get the Canadian government to insist that the Honduran government do the right thing in the case of a murdered Canadian.