Another Canadian has been killed at a popular vacation destination (this time the Dominican Republic, where an Ontario teenager died on the way to hospital after a brawl outside a nightclub). Global News takes a look at Canadians who have died at vacation hot spots over the past several years.
Gagné
Jean Gagné, 41, was shot on New Year’s Eve in the Domincan Republic where he was vacationing with a friend.
The men were attacked in the middle of the night. Gagné, of Quebec City, was shot in the heart and a private security guard working at the villa where the men were staying was shot in the leg.
The security guard was arrested along with two Haitian women who were with Gagné and his friend.
Police said Gagné was the victim of a robbery plot.
Bounthavorn
Vancouver-area resident Bouabal Bounthavorn, 29, died after three men appeared at the door of his room at the Hotel Riu in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, and shot him in the head three times on May 15, 2008.
The victim’s 24-year-old girlfriend, Masha Heikali, of Burnaby, B.C., was shot in the foot before the gunmen fled. The incident was reportedly a botched robbery, and two men have been charged.
Toews
Jeff Toews, a 34-year-old man from Grande Prairie, Alberta, died after falling from a balcony at the Moon Palace Golf and Spa Resort in Cancun in May 2007.
Mexican authorities blamed his injuries on a fall from the second storey of the resort after Toews returned from partying at a Mexican night club. But his family believes he was brutally beaten, possibly by Mexican security guards at the resort.
Toews was found severely injured and clinically brain dead. His family brought him back to Alberta before deciding to donate his organs and remove him from life support.
DePrisco
Woodbridge, Ont., resident Adam DePrisco was killed outside an Acapulco nightclub in January 2007. According to local police, DePrisco was the victim of a hit-and-run accident.
But Marco Calabro, who travelled to Mexico with DePrisco, said his friend was targeted and beaten after being thrown out of the bar for dancing with a local man’s girlfriend. An Acapulco city official also said DePrisco was beaten in the street.
DePrisco’s family has publicly called for a boycott on travel to Mexico.
Ianiero
Domenic and Nancy Ianiero of Woodbridge Ont, were found murdered with their throats slashed in February, 2006, at a resort near Playa del Carmen in the Mayan Riviera.
The couple was in Mexico for their daughter’s wedding, along with more than a dozen other family members. In the following months, dozens of individuals emerged as suspects, including two women from Thunder Bay, Ontario.
Kimberly Kim and Cheryl Everall were vacationing at the resort where the couple was murdered, and departed the morning after their deaths. The women did not learn they were suspects in the case until returning to Canada.
Kim and Everall were finally cleared in July 2009, when an arrest warrant was issued for Blas Delgado Fajardo, a security guard at the resort who disappeared the day the couple was killed.
Members of the Ianiero family have criticized Mexican authorities over their handling of the case and conflicting statements made to the media.
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