Found Deceased Mexico - Daniel Dion, 51, Acapulco, 22 Oct 2010

http://news.sympatico.cbc.ca/home/ottawa-area_man_found_dead_in_mexico/042588f5

31/10/2010 9:25:55 AM
CBC News

An Ottawa-area businessman who was reported missing in Mexico has been found dead, his family says.

Daniel Dion, 51, was from Sherbrooke, Que., but lived near Ottawa in the town of Carleton Place.

His sister, Johanne Dion, confirmed on Sunday that authorities have found his body, but provided no other details. Family members had flown to Mexico to help with the search.
 
http://www.montrealgazette.com/Quebecer+Daniel+Dion+found+slain+Mexico/3754521/story.html

Quebecer Daniel Dion found slain in Mexico

The lifeless body of Sherbrooke native Daniel Dion, 51, was found in the trunk of his rented car in Mexico on Saturday. The car was had been torched, his daughter said.

Dion, who ran a company that makes purses out of recycled materials, had been on a business trip near Acapulco, and was missing since Oct. 22.

“They beat him to death and burned the car,” Catherine-Elizabeth Dion said Sunday.

She did not know exactly where the car was found.

He was the type of person who called or texted his wife, friends and family members many times a day, so his relatives became concerned when he was not reachable on Oct. 23. Somebody tried to use his credit card on Saturday but the card was declined.

Dion, who lived near Ottawa and also had a home in Taxco, Mexico, was to travel on Sat. Oct. 23 to Chilpancingo, about 100 kilometres northeast of Acapulco.

Dion relatives had been in Mexico searching for him for the past few days.

Dion is the second Canadian slain in southern Mexico since 2007. Also in that period, a Canadian was killed in a hit-and-run and a couple was wounded in a robbery attempt.

6
 
Wow - was hoping that Daniel would have been found alive. Mexico it seems, is a scary place right now. It is such a beautiful place, however I am sure that this and other stories of killings and violence will change peoples minds when chosing vacation plans. Thinking of Daniels family right now - I hope they get the answers as to what happened to him. RIP
 
The day of his disappearance he was headed to the Barbarroja bar with a man named Carlos Ortega Cardenas. The next day he was to have travelled east of Acapulco to meet with business contacts.

Neither he nor his white Volkswagen Jetta made it to the rendezvous.

://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2010/10/31/15897096.html
 
His family said the last time he was seen alive was on Oct. 22, when he was heading towards a restaurant called Barbarjoia with a business associate.
Dion, who had a home in Taxco, Mexico, was scheduled to fly home on Oct. 26.

Someone tried to use one of his credit cards on Oct. 23, but it was declined. Not long after that, family members flew to Mexico to try to help authorities find him.

At first, the family hoped to free him by paying a ransom, but no ransom demand ever came.

On Sunday, his charred remains and his watch were found in the trunk of his rental Volkswagon Jetta, on a road in Zumpango del Rio, about 130 kilometres from Acapulco.

http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/883701--canadian-found-in-trunk-of-torched-car-in-mexico
 
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/ca...und-dead-in-mexico-says-family-106403093.html
Bolduc discovered that his uncle had rented a 2010 white Jetta from Hertz, which was equipped with a GPS tracking device. The rental car company got in contact with the GPS tracking company, and on Wednesday they confirmed the grisly discovery.



http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/883701--canadian-found-in-trunk-of-torched-car-in-mexico
Contract killers murdered Canadian businessman Daniel Dion and stuffed his body into the trunk of his rental car in southern Mexico before setting it ablaze, his family believes.
\

Such a very sad end to a seemingly wonderful family man.
RIP
 
OTTAWA - It was Daniel Dion's own frantic family who found his skeletal remains in the trunk of his rented burned Volkswagen Jetta.

Dion's car was found in the mountainous outskirts of Guerrero, around 3:30 p.m. Saturday, local time. Family members had tracked it there because the car was equipped with a GPS tracking system.

The GPS stopped sending a signal around 10 a.m. Sunday - likely the time the car was set on fire.

Family members, including Dion's partner Denise Lalonde, were present when the trunk was opened revealing human remains.

"Everything in the auto had melted, the dash and the windows. Through the holes where the turn-signal lights were, we saw what seemed to be bones," said one of Dion's nephews who didn't want to be identified.

"The police lowered the back seat and we saw remains - remains of a skeleton. There was part of a cranium, vertebrae and some bones."

Family members are still waiting on DNA tests to determine conclusively if the remains are Dion's. They found a burned watch which we they believe was his.

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2010/10/31/15897096.html
 
DNA tests needed to confirm remains in Mexico

The family of a missing Ottawa-area businessman will stay in Mexico until DNA tests confirm human remains found in Daniel Dion's burned-out rental car belong to him.

[snip]

The only identifying factor was a watch Dion was wearing the night he went missing. Although his family is still waiting for DNA confirmation, they have little doubt the remains belong to Dion.

More: http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/Canada/20101101/OTT_Dion_Remains_101101/
 
'My brother was executed': Dion's sister

By DOUG HEMPSTEAD, Ottawa Sun
Last Updated: November 1, 2010 2:20pm


It was Daniel Dion’s own frantic family who found his skeletal remains in the trunk of his burned Volkswagen Jetta.
Dion’s sister, Johanne, still in shock from the news, thinks Dion was targeted.

“My brother was executed,” she said, speaking Sunday from her home in Sherbrooke, Que. “It was ordered by someone. It was because he was involved in social causes and knew government officials.”

She was also critical of the lack of help the family received in the hunt for the missing man.

“It’s my family that did all the investigation and it’s thanks to my family that we found my brother.”

She said it was Dion’s brother, Gaetan, who first learned his body had been found.
Photos of burned white 2010 VG Jetta: http://www.ottawasun.com/news/ottawa/2010/10/31/15896151.html#/news/ottawa/2010/10/31/pf-15898521.html
 

From our own investigations we can confirm the following:

On the last night Daniel was seen, he did have some cash. But the amount is between $500 to $5,000, which is a lot of money in Mexico but nowhere near the $41,000 or $100,000 US which was reported.

There is absolutely no way that anyone can confirm that Daniel was beaten to death. The Mexican forensics will continue their investigation on this.

Daniel was a honorific consul here in Mexico and had many powerful contacts in the government. He gave work to over 2,000 Mexicans — prisoners and people of the poor mountain communities of Costa Chica and Costa Grande. He paid them double their salaries for their work making purses for ecopurse.

If I had any advice to give to anybody that has to live the nightmare that our family is going through it’s the following: get an interpreter and work your own investigation.

Read full article:
http://www.ottawasun.com/news/ottawa/2010/10/31/15896151.html#/news/ottawa/2010/10/31/pf-15898391.html

Rest in Peace Daniel Dion

:rose:
 
Reports suggest slain Canadian had criminal ties

http://www.torontosun.com/news/canada/2010/11/01/15912451.html

OTTAWA - The hot Mexican sun baked Daniel Dion’s bones for days after he was first discovered.

Concern for property -- not the man -- led a car rental agency to where Dion was broiled in the trunk of a Volkswagen Jetta.

Perhaps fearful of people who leave a man to be stripped to the bones by licking flames, a GPS-company man left the skeleton to the 30-degree heat and Dion’s family in the dark.

Dion’s fates hint at a contract killing, family members say. And Mexican news reports suggest that Dion had strong ties to a world of criminals and politicians.

His Ecopurse company employed more than 2,000 prisoners and in an August IRZA news agency interview, Dion bragged of unfettered access to the prison system.

He also boasted of his connections to powerful politicians, including Mexican President Felipe Calderon.

Mexican media report he had faced accusations of influence peddling.

His family believes he fell afoul of professional criminals.

Whatever the truth, Dion’s skeleton remained in the burned out car for days.

As Dion’s family grew worried about his fate, Hertz had grown concerned for its rental car -- a new Jetta retails for about 237,000 pesos or $19,500. The onboard GPS signal had winked out at 10 a.m. on Oct. 24, two days after Dion’s family lost touch with him.

Hertz dispatched GPS-company Encontrack. A staffer found the charred hulk and what may have been human remains in the trunk but Hertz filed no police report and didn’t tell Dion’s family.

It was not until Wednesday that a family member who had flown to Acapulco winkled that information from Hertz representatives. Even then, it took OPP investigators to scrutinize Dion’s credit card history before the family even knew where Dion had booked his final rental.

On Thursday, 33 km north of Chilpancingo, Mexico -- 100 kms northeast of Acapulco -- family finally arrived at the site of Dion’s death.

He was unrecognizable. But the skeleton in the trunk wore his wristwatch.

Mexican authorities will conduct an autopsy to determine how Dion died and, perhaps, to learn if he was alive when the car was set alight.
 
Man killed in Mexico had criminal record
Last Updated: Monday, November 1, 2010 | 11:52 PM ET

An Ottawa-area man whose remains were found the trunk of a burned-out car in Mexico had a criminal record in Canada, CBC News has learned.

The family of Daniel Dion, who ran a business that manufactured "eco" purses out of recycled materials as part of an inmate rehabilitation program in Mexico, are still awaiting DNA results to confirm the identity of the remains found in the rental car. But they are convinced the remains are Dion's after recognizing a blackened watch found in the car alongside charred human bones.

Dion, 51, of Carleton Place, Ont., was convicted in 1993 on one count of possession of a concealed weapon, one count of marijuana possession and one count of production of marijuana. Between 1982 and 1996, he faced at least 45 charges, including a number of drug- and gun-related counts. He was acquitted on most of the charges, a check of his criminal record has shown.

In 2009, Dion applied for bankruptcy protection in Canada.


Despite his checkered past, family and friends described Dion as a gifted entrepreneur and a warm person.

He was last seen leaving a restaurant in Acapulco at about 2 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 23, accompanied by three men, according to local reports.

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/montreal/story/2010/11/01/ottawa-missing-dead-mexico.html#ixzz146Lmjrnr
 
She said her mother told her that two days before her father disappeared, an article about his business was published in an Acapulco newspaper in which he criticized the lack of help he was getting to expand his business.

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/montreal/story/2010/11/01/ottawa-missing-dead-mexico.html#ixzz147hJrgFt

Perhaps he made enemies of what had been business associates or friends.
La familia cree que el asesino o asesinos de Dion le conocían y vinculó la muerte con un artículo publicado en un periódico local de Acapulco dos días antes de su desaparición en el que criticó la falta de apoyo para expandir su empresa.

http://www.excelsior.com.mx/index.php?m=nota&id_nota=680531
I'll go try find that article and see exactly who/what was DD criticizing. Sounds a bit too excessive to me.
 
Found a two-page old article about D.Dion and his Ecopurse business

February/March 2009 Edition #29 of MASEXPOS magazine

Pages 100 and 101
= http://issuu.com/olvaid/docs/masexpos_29

mostly about exhibitions participation and promoting his products
 
Case gets special attention: journalist

[snipped...] Leyva is investigating around 600 other homicides that have taken place this year in the Mexican state of Guerrero. The area is one of the most deadly in a country that has experienced a rash of violence driven by drug cartels.

One of the key differences in Dion's case, Leyva said, is that the body presumed to be his was burned. Normally, such killings are used as a message, with bodies dumped in public places, often with notes attached, Leyva said. On Tuesday night alone, it's reported gunmen killed three policemen in the area where Dion was last seen.

Mexican journalist Zakarias Cervantes, who has been covering Dion's case for Acapulco's El Sur newspaper, said authorities are struggling to keep up with the glut of murder investigations, but Dion's has received special attention.

"In cases of homicides of foreigners, authorities get more pressure because it has to do with people from outside the country and there are political implications," Cervantes said.

He said sources inside the Mexican government have told him they suspect Dion's disappearance was business-related.

An official release from the government on Monday said Mexico stands in "solidarity" with the Dion family.

"From the moment that information was received regarding Mr. Dion's disappearance, the Mexico-Canada Consular Rapid Response Mechanism was activated. In this framework, Mexican authorities have been working with Canadian authorities to follow developments in the case," the release said.

"The government of Mexico reiterates its rejection of violence and reaffirms its firm commitment to the rule of law."

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/ottawa/story/2010/11/02/dion-case-112.html#ixzz14GVc1oD0
 
(similar to the article you posted Tara in your #25, but has some additional info)
Carleton Place man killed in Mexico had criminal record
November 3, 2010
<<< snippets >>>
Daniel Dion, 51, faced dozens of charges between 1984 and 1995.

Most recently, he was convicted in 1995 of drug possession for the purpose of exporting, possession for the purpose of trafficking and carrying a concealed weapon, court records show. Dion received a fine and was sentenced to 30 days in prison.

Dion was also convicted in 1984 of four counts of break and enter. He was sentenced to 30 days in prison and two years&#8217; probation.
Michel Dussault, Dion&#8217;s lawyer who has also represented Hells Angels members from the Sherbrooke, Que., chapter for 30 years, said the 51-year-old had no ties to organized crime.
Dion&#8217;s wife, who will soon return home from searching for her husband in Mexico, says she had no idea her husband had a criminal record.
Outgoing Carleton Place Mayor Paul Dulmage, once involved in a fledgling business enterprise with Dion, lashed out at media reports about the dead man&#8217;s criminal record and an alleged business bankruptcy.

Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Carleton+Place+killed+Mexico+criminal+record/3765172/story.html
 

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