A young Texas firefighter met a horrible death, apparently kidnapped and murdered while on his anniversary vacation. The family is demanding answers and they want them now. They can just keep jumping up and down all they want, the FBI says. Our DOJ has a couple questions for the widow. “Why were you stupid enough to vacation in Mexico to start with? Don’t you read the travel alerts?”
Murdered and stuffed in a hole
The first mistake Jamie Snow made was allowing her husband Elijah to book a vacation in Cancun for their 10th wedding anniversary. The second mistake was to leave him alone in the hotel bar after he had too much to drink. That was the last time she saw him alive.
Authorities, the Mexican ones, say what happened to Elijah Snow was a “tragic accident,” another drunk tourist got trapped in a window and died. The family hired a lawyer to act as a private detective and he’s convinced Snow was kidnapped and murdered. He wants some help from the FBI. They claim they’re willing to step in but first the Mexicans have to ask for help. They still call it an accident so there isn’t any case. The feds did update the bulletin with some extra stern language though.
The “official” cause of death is “mechanical asphyxia due to thoracic-abdominal compression.” The prevailing theory is that he got caught hanging half way through a window and suffocated himself. What nobody is real sure of is how he got there. They aren’t saying which way the head was facing but they seem to think he was trying to climb in backwards.
Either way, he was wedged at his armpits and had no legitimate reason to be anywhere near that window. Plus, all his cash was gone. Then there are all those bruises. If it quacks like a duck it’s a duck. He was kidnapped and murdered.
Meanwhile, the DOJ added getting murdered to the list of things to avoid in Mexico. You may want to “reconsider” your travel there, not only because of COVID-19 but also because of violent crime. “such as homicide, kidnapping, carjacking, and robbery.” They note these courtesies of the friendly local natives are “common in Mexico.” They’re sure to remind you that you’re on your own so bring bodyguards at your own expense.
“The U.S. government has limited ability to provide emergency services to U.S. citizens in many areas of Mexico, as travel by U.S. government employees to certain areas is prohibited or restricted. In many states, local emergency services are limited outside the state capital or major cities.”
I’ll stay down here
According to Elijah’s stepfather, David Oujesky, who took the photos, “You don’t get that kind of bruising by climbing into a window. I think he was beaten to death and that they tried to hide the body, dragged him back there and stuffed him into the hole.” He’s probably right. The day started early for the couple and ended with him murdered.
They “woke up at 3 a.m. on Sunday, July 18 to catch an early flight to Cancun and arrived there mid-morning and checked into the Royalton Chic Suites Cancun,” allegedly “an all-inclusive, luxury beachfront resort in Cancun’s hotel zone.” They “spent the day at the pool, went back to their room to clean up, then went out for dinner at an on-site Asian restaurant, before heading downstairs to a first-floor bar.”
They’d both consumed alcohol and he was inebriated, having consumed several margaritas that day, a bottle of sake with dinner, and ordering a dirty martini at the bar, when she called it a night. Between 9:30 and 10 p.m. “Jamie grew tired” and wanted to go up to the room. Elijah decided to stay and get murdered.
“I’ll stay down here and have another cocktail,” were his famous last words. All the bars closed at 11 p.m. under local Covid rules. “My son’s a CrossFit guy. He was in outstanding shape. There was not an ounce of fat on him. His shoulders aren’t even going to go through that space. He was left hung up at his armpits.”
His murdered corpse was discovered “next door at the Sunset Resort, where a gardener arriving at work at 7 a.m. discovered Snow’s body protruding from a tiny window of a locked employee bathroom, behind the stage of an outdoor theater where guests had earlier gathered for a show.” There were “no signs of foul play.” He was “left dangling from the window just two feet off the ground, in an area not visible to guests or surveillance cameras.” Mexican police returned “his wallet, his driver’s license, fire department ID, and concealed handgun license, but they have yet to return a rubber wedding band he wears when he’s traveling and the clothes he was wearing.”
Elijah “was carrying $100 and the money was missing when police returned his wallet, which still contained his credit cards.” Snow’s step-father also notes, he can’t imagine Elijah “would sneak into a neighboring hotel, locate a bathroom in a dark, secluded area and decide to climb through the tiny window. If my son had to pee, he’s going to turn around and pee. He’s not going to try to break into somewhere to pee.”
