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Update: Police ID Body Found In Dominican Republic As Missing Westchester Tourist
By
Claire Lampen
Published Apr 10, 2019
Modified Apr 10, 2019
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By
Claire Lampen
Published Apr 10, 2019
Modified Apr 10, 2019
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Update: Law enforcement officials in the Dominican Republic matched Portia Ravenelle's fingerprints to one of the two bodies previously believed to be a missing Westchester couple. The U.S. Department of State has reportedly confirmed her death. Police in the DR say they believe a second corpse, pulled from the ocean and severely decomposed, is Orlando Moore, but need his family to identify a tattoo before making a definitive identification.
Police in the Dominican Republic have recovered two bodies matching the description of the Mount Vernon couple who recently disappeared on vacation. CNN reports that Portia Ravenelle and Orlando Moore may have gotten into a car crash en route to the airport, explaining why they checked out of their hotel on March 27th, but never made it onto their flight back to Newark.
According to the Dominican Republic's National Police Colonel Frank Felix Duran Mejia, local fisherman reported a car that had run off the road and into the ocean, although the water has been too rough to identify the vehicle itself. Still, Duran Mejia reportedly said that the fishermen found an unconscious woman lying in the road to Santo Domingo's international airport on the 27th. She was subsequently taken to the hospital, where she died on April 4th. The woman lacked ID, according to CNN, but fit Ravenelle's description.
Meanwhile, law enforcement believes that a body pulled from the water near Sans Souci may be Moore. The corpse has badly decomposed, but a tattoo reading "Milano" remains legible on the right arm. Autopsies are underway, and authorities have fingerprinted the bodies, but believe the couple crashed their rental car. They do not suspect foul play.
Moore's half-sister, Lashay Turner, initially reported the couple missing on March 29th, when they failed to return from their four-day trip. Their sudden radio silence worried their family and friends: The couple posted to social media throughout their vacation, and even spoke with a neighbor shortly before their return trip. But when they should have been headed home, both Moore and Ravenelle went dark. A Canadian tourist the couple befriended at their all-inclusive resort—the Grand Bahia Principe Cayacoa in Samana—told CNN she and her boyfriend spent the couple's last day with them, and that both seemed nervous about making the roughly 100-mile drive to the airport late at night.
Both Moore, 43, and Ravenelle, 32, were reportedly parents. According to their loved ones, both were "very responsible": As Lashay put it, Moore wouldn't "just run off on a hiatus ... he's gonna let someone know where he is."
Tagged
dominican republic
missing couple
mount vernon
orlando moore
portia ravenelle
westchester
Claire Lampen
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