Mexico - Arlington TX Firefighter Elijah Snow, wed anniversary found dead at Cancun resort, Jul 2021

[tamsidea]

July 17, 3021
Wife Jamie Snow, woke up at 4am after the first night at a popular beachside all inclusive resort in Cancun to find her husband, Elijah, had still not returned to their room from the hotel bar where she last saw him. Jamie and Elijah had traveled to Cancun to celebrate their 10th wedding anniversary.
At around 8:30am she received notification that her husband had been found deceased. Mexican authorities told her they believed her husband died by accident after falling "over" or "between" the walls of their resort and the neighboring resort. Snow's family found the explanation hard to believe, especially when they viewed crime scene photos a Mexican Attorney was able to obtain for them. The family believes Elijah was kidnapped and beaten and possibly also suffocated. They are pressing for an investigation.

Elijah Snow was a father of two and had served as an Arlington Firefighter for 8 years.

Arlington Firefighter Celebrating Anniversary Found Dead in Cancun

Family Of Arlington Firefighter Elijah Snow Says He Was Kidnapped, Murdered At Cancun Resort

 

[CocoChanel]

Slightly different details from this MSM source…..
Family Of Firefighter Elijah Snow Says He Was Kidnapped, Murdered At Cancun Resort

After having a few drinks at the hotel lobby bar, the couple went to their room, according to Elledge, when Jamie Snow noticed her husband stopped and went back to the bar. She went to sleep, only to wake up about 4 a.m. and discover he hadn’t returned to the room.

 

[MimosaMornings]

Slightly different details from this MSM source…..
Family Of Firefighter Elijah Snow Says He Was Kidnapped, Murdered At Cancun Resort

First night there for your 10 year anniversary and he goes back to the bar?
Did he forget something?
An argument?
Wanted another drink?

 

[CocoChanel]

IMHO, family stating the victim was kidnapped is a bit premature before the investigation is completed. It would be unusual I think for kidnappers to kill a victim and leave him “between the walls of the resort next door”.

Family Of Firefighter Elijah Snow Says He Was Kidnapped, Murdered At Cancun Resort

Snow started searching the hotel for her husband at that point, Elledge said. About 8:30 in the morning someone told her he had been found dead, possibly after falling between the walls of the resort next door.

 

[CocoChanel]

This would also be a PR nightmare for the resorts involved and Cancun as a destination. I expect more stories to come from some more colorful news sources shortly.

 

[CocoChanel]

https://www.star-telegram.com/news/local/arlington/article252960783.html

This source said he was found “over a wall between resorts”.

Family members did not believe that explanation, and hired a local attorney who obtained crime scene photos, according to KTVT-TV.

Randy Elledge, Snow’s father-in-law, told the TV station that it appeared that Elijah Snow was beaten and possibly suffocated.


Read more here: https://www.star-telegram.com/news/local/arlington/article252960783.html#storylink=cpy

 

[tamsidea]

I tried to paraphrase the highlights of the story in my initial post because like several of you saw there were slightly different details among the different MSM sources.
I left out the FIL's description of the pictures because I knew he may have assigned different meaning to what they have learned from authorities based on emotions rather than scientific evidence. IMO, it's completely understandable for the family to be searching for some kind of explanation and feel like there had to be more to it than he just wandered off after drinking and fell over a wall. I doubt they would be able to differentiate between wounds in a post-mortem photo ~ whether they were caused by a fall or being beaten. My limited knowledge of blood pooling makes me think there would be a lot of what looked like bruising on the side of the body facing down at TOD. I assume the head had very little pooling because (per FIL) they were theorizing he was beaten mostly below the neck - which doesn't seem likely to me. They probably can't make sense of it. I can't imagine the grief and confusion! Very sad.

 

[anonypotomous]

The article I read said he was found 10 miles away hanging out of a window. I'm so confused.

“The body was located in a bathroom window” at a hotel, which was not the resort where Snow was staying, according to the tweet translated from Spanish. Benito Juárez is about a 30-minute drive, or 10 miles away, from the beachfront hotels in Cancun.

https://www.star-telegram.com/news/local/arlington/article252991218.html#storylink=cpy

 

[anonypotomous]

Truly horrific!

UPDATED 07/24

Full article here: Arlington firefighter death: Mexico officials say it was accident | wfaa.com



***
Snipped and BBM for focus

Authorities with the Quintana Roo State Attorney General's Office, which is investigating Snow's death, said in a statement late Friday that Snow died of mechanical asphyxia due to thoracic-abdominal compression.

The statement said Snow was trapped in a window when trying to enter a bathroom and could not support his feet on the ground, giving him no support point to release himself from the window.

The Quintana Roo authorities said Snow's death appeared to be an accident but that they were still investigating what happened.

The Mexican Attorney General’s Office tweeted some information earlier Friday, saying Snow’s body was found in a bathroom window at a hotel in the Benito Juarez district. Authorities said it’s not the same hotel where Snow and his wife were staying at.

It was remained unclear why Snow was at the hotel or how he got there.

***

WTF.

 

[anonypotomous]

Trapped in a window when trying to enter a bathroom? Why on earth would he be trying to enter a bathroom from an outside window?? How did he get to the other resort?

 

[Synergizer Bunny]

Trapped in a window when trying to enter a bathroom? Why on earth would he be trying to enter a bathroom from an outside window?? How did he get to the other resort?

If it is true that he was found 10 miles from his resort, did his kidnappers abduct him and he was trying to get away?

We travel to Cancun quite a bit. My husband is always more cautious than I am. I want to wander around; and he wants to stay at our resort.

I can envision this husband walking on the beach and being accosted by some outsiders on the beach. It was late at night, and he was alone and intoxicated. Those elements can spell disaster.

JMO.

 

[anonypotomous]

If it is true that he was found 10 miles from his resort, did his kidnappers abduct him and he was trying to get away?

That's very possible. It would be easier to sleuth if we knew what hotel, where the window was, how high off the ground the window was. etc. There's not a lot to go on, and it's pretty frustrating. If he was being abducted, it would be easy to grab his legs and pull him back out of the window, no? Odd because he wasn't jumping OUT, he was jumping IN. And how long was he there? Wasn't he yelling for help if he was stuck? Was it a remote area where he was? This is all so very strange.

As far as the distance between resorts, it's to even hard to say now because the reporting has been a bit sketchy on this one. Some articles say he was found at a resort 10 miles away and some say he was found at the resort next door. The investigators are saying it was purely an accident.

I always worry when things like this happen in another country. Oftentimes the info, reporting and even investigations can be severely lacking.

 

[annpats]

He just turned around and went back to the bar, and his wife just left him there? A lone man partially drunk would be a soft target for criminals looking for money or someone to harass.

Still, if he was at the bar, there must be CCTV, as there also must around the lobby and other areas. And of course the hotel next door (or 10 miles away?) will also have cameras.

So, we may be able to see how many perpetrators there were, and how they coerced him to leave his hotel.

He was a firefighter, so must've been quite fit and strong.
I wonder if they be-friended him, and slipped something in his drink??

 

[Sunny Day]

Trapped in a window when trying to enter a bathroom? Why on earth would he be trying to enter a bathroom from an outside window?? How did he get to the other resort?

Was this a bathroom that was for another hotel room, or was it a public bathroom? If public, why did he have to try to sneak in through a window? Truly bizarre. Hope they tested for drugs.

 

[rainynights]

July 23, 2021
Expert: Arrests, Prosecution Unlikely In Case Of Arlington Firefighter Found Dead In Cancun

The family of Arlington firefighter Elijah Snow, found dead in Mexico this week, returned safely to North Texas Friday.

The American Airlines plane carrying them received a water cannon salute from fire trucks at DFW airport when it arrived. An honor guard of firefighters lined the arrival area at Terminal D to greet Snow’s wife [J], family, and close friends.

The attorney general in the state of Quintana Roo, in Mexico, told CBS 11 News a multi-pronged investigation was opened into Snow’s death. Their initial investigation has not turned up evidence he was kidnapped, according to Oscar Montes De Oca. However, investigators are in the early stages he said, and were still waiting on details from tests including an autopsy.

[…]

Snow’s funeral is scheduled for Tuesday in Arlington.

 

[Pretty Potato]

This is just my opinion, but I find it highly unlikely that a young, ostensibly in-shape male would be a target for kidnapping. And why would they take him to another luxury hotel? It just doesn't add up. If they were going to rob him, they could have done so and then left him (or just killed him). There is no way that a young man being forcibly taken into a hotel wouldn't attract undue attention.

I'm sure it's a comfort to his family to believe that none of this was his doing, but the simplest explanation is that he was there of his own accord. And why would a married man go to a hotel 30 minutes away when on vacation with his wife? Hmm... There are very few explanations, and none of them are things the family wants to think about.

As far as how he ended up in the window... At a wild guess, probably a) drunk and b) trying to avoid being caught doing whatever he was doing.

 

[themeltingmind]

Staying at the bar under normal circumstances wouldn’t be off to me except they’re US citizens in Mexico. Typically people are overly protective traveling internationally regardless but they almost exaggerate it for Mexico.

I say almost because I think these resorts keep them in their bubble a bit. If he was still in the area where it sounds like they have several resorts, that makes sense.
What doesn’t make sense is leaving his wife unless they have some agreement to sometimes see other people or they argued about it. Sitting at the bar for another drink is one thing, but this sounds like he was up and looking to hang out even with other men - platonically even.

Adding argument as a possibility for why he stayed out longer and roamed too if he didn’t make fast friends at the bar. Bathroom window could be chalked up to poor choices too.
For the wife’s sake, I almost hope it wasn’t because I know I’d feel so much guilt, not realizing how inebriated he was.

I hope the resort has cameras. Hoping they’ll have a an answer soon, and peace for the family,

 

[Pretty Potato]

Staying at the bar under normal circumstances wouldn’t be off to me except they’re US citizens in Mexico. Typically people are overly protective traveling internationally regardless but they almost exaggerate it for Mexico.

I say almost because I think these resorts keep them in their bubble a bit. If he was still in the area where it sounds like they have several resorts, that makes sense.
What doesn’t make sense is leaving his wife unless they have some agreement to sometimes see other people or they argued about it. Sitting at the bar for another drink is one thing, but this sounds like he was up and looking to hang out even with other men - platonically even.

Adding argument as a possibility for why he stayed out longer and roamed too if he didn’t make fast friends at the bar. Bathroom window could be chalked up to poor choices too.
For the wife’s sake, I almost hope it wasn’t because I know I’d feel so much guilt, not realizing how inebriated he was.

I hope the resort has cameras. Hoping they’ll have a an answer soon, and peace for the family,

What makes you say he was looking to hang out with other men? (As opposed to women?) Just curious!

 

[Rosegold68]

which hotel was this?

 

[anonypotomous]

The media isn't giving any details at all, so we can only guess why he went back. My guess is that maybe she was done drinking for the evening and wanted to go back to the room. Perhaps on the way to the room he told her he wanted to keep drinking at the bar (maybe he was having fun with new friends), an argument happened, and he went back to the bar. Maybe after going back, the new group he was drinking with said "Hey, lets head next door for another round!" and he went with them. Who knows what happened after that. It's just so sad, it being a 10th anniversary trip. Can't imagine he'd want to leave her alone that night, their first night of what I'm guessing was supposed to be a romantic trip without the kiddos.

It's also possible that he just drunkenly and absentmindedly may have decided to maybe take a walk on the beach to sober up bit before going back the to room, and was met with foul play.