The search for a Toronto woman and her American boyfriend who went missing in Belize nearly a week ago, finally yielded a clue after her vehicle was found abandoned in a cane field near the village of Paraiso, north of the town of Corozal.
Francesca Matus, 52, and Drew De Voursney, 36, were last seen driving the white Isuzu Rodeo leaving a local bar at around 11 p.m. on Tuesday, April 25, their friend Nancy Rifenbark told Global News.
READ MORE: Canadian woman and her American boyfriend still missing in Belize
The SUV was found early in the afternoon Sunday, with nobody inside.
“The vehicle was found,” an officer with the Belize police department confirmed. He declined to offer further information, citing the ongoing nature of the investigation.
Joe Milholen, a friend of Matus’ who first reported her disappearance, told Global News that the vehicle was found by a local hunter. But he said the discovery didn’t offer up as many clues as had been hoped.
“There’s very little evidence, almost nothing to even give us a clue as to what might have happened … even the registration was gone and the keys were gone, so nothing really to tell us anything,” Milholen said on the phone from Corozal.
“The only thing it means is that we’ve switched our focus from the car now — as we have it — to trying to figure out where they went from there.”
Milholen added that Canadian authorities are working with Matus’ family to assist with the search.