Friends of a 52-year-old Toronto woman who was murdered in Belize along with her American boyfriend, who had been missing for almost a week, remember her as a “beautiful woman” who didn’t “deserve anything like this.”
The bodies of Francesca Matus and Drew De Voursney, 36, from Georgia were discovered by local authorities with their wrists bound by duct tape and strangled in a sugar cane field in Chan Chen Village, in the country’s northern Corozal district, near the Mexican border late Monday afternoon.
The couple had been missing since last Tuesday. They were last seen leaving a local bar around 11 p.m.
“She was a beautiful woman … fabulous neighbour,” said Tony Tallon, who lived next door to Matus in Keswick, Ont.
“We had such wonderful parties and dinners and when she comes to everybody’s house, she was dressed up with a glass of wine,” she added.
Matus had been in Belize since December, said friend Jackie Logan fighting back tears, where she would spend her winters enjoying life on her waterfront property before returning to the Toronto area.
The mother of two twin sons, aged 22, spent her summers and falls in the Lake Simcoe town with her family.
“The thing about Francesca was that she would just light up a room as soon as she walked in,” said Logan.
‘This is just a horrible situation’
Despite Tuesday’s inclement weather, friends and neighbours gathered outside her Ontario home to remember Matus and lay flowers.
“She was a good friend … a great neighbour and it’s just a complete shock that she had to go through this because she is the type of person that doesn’t deserve anything like this,” neighbour Ryah Lopizzo told CTV News Toronto.
“This is just a horrible situation, just horrible,” added Tallon.
Friends had been holding out hope since the couple was first reported missing.
Dozens of Canadian and American expats were involved in the search for the pair, scouring beaches, waterways and brush around Corozal where Matus owned a beachfront home.
Authorities found the bodies piled on top of each other a day after they located Matus' white Isuzu Rodeo SUV in a different sugar cane field near the village of Paraiso, also in Corozal.
Friends in Belize reported Matus and De Vousney missing when she didn’t show up at the airport for her flight home on Wednesday.
Her friend, Joe Milhoen, went to pick her up at her home to drive her to the airport but the pair was nowhere to be found.
Her vehicle was not in the driveway and her suitcase and passport were still inside the home, according to Milhoen.
Belize police told CTV News Toronto they believe the couple were victims of a robbery gone wrong.
“It is shocking and it’s devastating,” Logan stated. “She deserved so much better than this. She really does.”
