Timeline: Sheila Nabb beating case

TORONTO – The husband of a Calgary woman severely beaten in Mexico says his wife is slowly recovering after extensive facial reconstruction surgery.

Yesterday, Mexican authorities said they were standing by their arrest after the man accused told a local newspaper he was forced to sign a confession he never read.

Jose Ramon Acosta Quintero, 28, has admitted he hit Sheila Nabb in a hotel elevator, but denied he wanted to kill her and said he never expected to be charged with attempted murder.

As details unfold, Global News looks at key events surrounding the Sheila Nabb beating case.

January 22, 2012: Mexican news site noroeste.com reports a Canadian woman in her mid 20s was found in a pool of blood in an elevator at the upscale Hotel Riu Emerald Bay in the resort town of Mazatlan. The victim’s name is not released.

 
Foreign Affairs issues a travel warning for Mexico that includes the resort of Mazatlan. The area has seen a surge in violence related to organized crime.

January 23, 2012: The victim is identified as Sheila Nabb, a 37-year-old Calgary woman originally from Nova Scotia. Nabb and her husband Andrew were on vacation from their home in Calgary.

January 24, 2012: In an e-mail to media outlets, Nabb’s brother, Peter Giles, says his sister has emerged from her medically-induced coma.

According to reports, several bones in Nabb’s face are broken. Giles states his sister is expected to undergo facial reconstructive surgery later in the week.

January 26, 2012:  A Facebook fundraising events page is created for Nabb in order to help pay for medical expenses.

January 27, 2012: Mexican authorities state they are examining surveillance footage of the alleged attacker, but remain tight-lipped about the investigation.

Oralia Rice, minister of tourism for the Mexican state of Sinaloa, confirms Nabb’s husband is not a suspect.

According to Mexican officials, a suspect is arrested. The suspect’s identity is not released, but media reports state the suspect is a Mexican national.

January 28, 2012: The man arrested in connection to the beating of Nabb, Jose Ramon Acosta Quintero, makes a stunning revelation to media, admitting he is responsible for the attack.

Mexican police tell Global National’s Francis Silvaggio that Jose Ramon Acosta Quintero, 28, was drinking with a Canadian friend before the attack happened. Police say they were at the Canadian’s mother’s house, where that friend lives part-time. Read the full details of the story here.

Meanwhile, Nabb is brought back to Calgary’s Foothills Medical Centre on a private air ambulance.

January 30, 2012: Quintero appears in court and is denied bail. Prosecutors are given 90 days to gather evidence.

January 31, 2012: Quintero tells a local newspaper he was forced to sign a confession he never read. Quintero admits he hit Nabb in the hotel elevator, but that he never expected to be faced with first-degree murder charges.

“I know that they (the authorities) need to clean up Mazatlan’s image because it was a Canadian tourist, I understand that, but even if they charge me with a lesser offence (than attempted murder), they still clean up the image, they already have me in here,” he said in a jailhouse interview with the newspaper Noroeste.

February 1, 2012: Mexican authorities are standing by their arrest
in the savage beating of a Canadian tourist after the man accused told a
local newspaper he was forced to sign a confession he never read.

February 2, 2012: In a statement released by Alberta Health Services, Nabb’s husband says his wife has successfully undergone extensive reconstructive surgery and is beginning her long recovery.

“Although she is still sedated, she has been very responsive and we are
happy to see small improvements every day,” he says.

– With files from The Canadian Press