Rebecca’s Story

 

 

                 We awoke on Tuesday morning, May 8, 2007 to a spectacular sunrise over the Atlantic.  We were beginning our second full day in Cancun, Mexico on our dream vacation in paradise.  I was a 38 year old waitress from North Carolina and my cousin, Ashley, a 19 year old student at East Carolina University, had won this 5 night trip for 2 in a contest she entered by renewing the lease on her apartment near college. 

                 We had both spent the last several months preparing for our trip to paradise, working extra hours, saving our money, reading every travel guide and web site we could find, trying to be prepared and ready for our first adventure outside of the US.  We had memorized the bus routes, picked out our guided tours and mapped our trip weeks before our arrival.  Once in Mexico, all we needed to do was to have fun, just like the brochure said.

                 On this, what would become our last day in Cancun, we traveled by bus into the city to a local spa for a pedicure and then had lunch and did some shopping around the market place.  We met a couple from California over lunch and talked about all the things we had seen so far and even discussed how friendly everyone seemed and that so far our lack of Spanish hadn't been much of a problem, as most everyone we had encountered spoke English.

                 After lunch we took the bus again, back through the hotel zone to one of the public beaches, where we spent a bit of time swimming, gathering sea shells for home and taking photographs.  And by late afternoon we were back at our hotel getting ready for our first big night out.  We were booked on a dinner cruise from around 730 until midnight and were so excited. 

                 The cruise, which was really aboard an oversized pontoon, took us out across the waterway to an “island” set up with a huge buffet dinner, a full open bar and little  umbrella topped tables along the beach.  After dinner, which was quite good, we were treated with a Vegas style show with singing and dancing, with at one point, Ashley being drug on stage for some dancing.   Again, there was an open bar and drinks were flowing.

                 I observed that many of the guest were getting pretty drunk and I unknowingly made a decision that would later save my life, by deciding to slow my drinking way down and keeping my wits about me, since there was only the two of us on our trip.  

                 After returning to the dock, we all headed for the bus stop down the road and caught the bus to the hotel zone.  On the way, we heard so many others fellow travelers planning to continue the evening at the local clubs, we decided to hurry and freshen up at our hotel and grab some money and go out dancing.   We even joked how we had been in bed before 11 pm both nights before and it was time we saw what all the fuss was about.

                 The first club we went to, the City, which is one of the largest in Cancun, wasn't letting guest in at the time, so we crossed the street and went to a small patio type bar with a live DJ playing disco songs from the 70’s and early 80’s.  We did the hustle and chatted with other guests for a while.  Then, at some point around 330 am we headed back up the block to our hotel.  At this time the streets were filled with people partying and with the neon lights and music being played so loud it reminded you of Las Vegas. 

                 After crossing the street we stopped in a little store for some cigarettes and were befriended by two young Security Guards from the Bulldog Café.  They struck up a conversation with us and seemed to be harmless young men.  The one man, “Carlos” spoke perfect English and began to tell us about all the wonderful things to see and do in Cancun.  His friend, Javier, spoke very little English and sort of just smiled a lot and said yes or no from time to time.

                 Anyways, after chatting for  a few minutes, Ashley had to use the bathroom and went ahead to the hotel, next door, while I stayed behind to have a look inside the nightclub.  The doors were all wide open, yet the club was empty and I still do not know if they had already closed for the night or if they were closed all night for some reason.  Nevertheless, I went inside and looked around with “Carlos” and then came back out to the street.  He told me how famous people had played there like Guns and Roses and Motley Crue and I admit I was impressed with the sheer size of the club, especially without people inside.  It was built like a huge roman coliseum. 

                 After returning to the street, I thanked him for the tour and said it was nice meeting him.  He then offered to walk with me to the hotel and I told him it wasn't necessary.  Then he said something like, oh come on, we will cut through the club and come out in the back of the lobby and you will be safer that way and I agreed, because he seemed so nice and sincere.

                 Once inside the club this time, he took me down a hallway to the right, towards the hotel side of the club.  But when we got to the end of the hallway, the door was bolted shut and would not open.  When I turned around and said something about it, he grabbed me and said “Give me what I want, and I will take you where you want to go”. 

                 My memories from here through the next 48 hours are sketchy at best, but I do remember thinking at first that it was some sort of joke or something.  I mean, he was about 25 or so years old, stocky but young looking and he had been the perfect gentlemen up until this point and I was completely shocked by this sudden change. 

                 Once I realized he was serious I began to curse and fight against him.  And I can remember him just wailing on my head with his fist and saying “American Tourista” and “you know you want it”.  At one point I could clearly see his face standing in a doorway and he was smiling at me, while he backhanded me across the face and knocked me to the floor.  When my face hit the cold concrete, I can remember telling myself, “just play dead and either he will go away or he will go ahead and kill you, because it is over, you cant do any more”

                 Then, I heard shoes running away.

                 The rest of the story I have pieced together from Ashley and hospital records, police reports, etc.

 

                 After my beating, I got myself up and somehow walked out of the nightclub and onto the street area, where I came upon Javier and grabbed him by the arm, bleeding and begging for help.  He merely pushed me away and up the sidewalk towards my hotel and proceeded to return to the club and clean up the blood from my attack.

                 Once I made it to the hotel, I had the sense about me to tell them to get Ashley “Smith” in  room 407, and they called up and told her to come down, that her Aunt had been injured and she needed help getting to the room.  She actually thought I had cut my foot or something.  Yet, once she got off the elevator and came towards me and saw what I looked like, she passed out cold and fell to the floor.

                 After she came around, and realizing that I was critically injured, she screamed for  the hotel clerk to call the police and an ambulance.  However, he refused until she returned to our room and retrieved our credit card to show proof that she could pay for the ambulance.     After some time had passed, the Ambulance came, and after showing them the credit card, they merely sat me into a chair, (yes, a plastic chair) in the back of a van, and drove me to the hospital, not so much as offering me a towel to wipe the blood, which was flowing down my face from my wounds.

                 I was driven to AMAT Hospital, where again Ashley was made to produce our credit card, before even they would touch me.  At this point, I was in and out of consciousness' and the swelling in my face had completely shut both of my eyes, so I was temporarily blinded for the next 36 hours.  I was cut and bleeding around my left eye and mouth, my nose was obviously broken and gushing blood and I could barely stand up, much less walk.  And during all of this, Ashley had to help me into the hospital from the ambulance and onto a bed, while EVERYONE around us kept saying “no comprende”.  

                 After struggling to fill out paperwork (which was all in Spanish) for me to be treated, Ashley called my husband back in North Carolina and briefly filled him in on what had happened, which at this point, she had no real idea.  She only knew what she saw by looking at me, because I was in shock and screaming at her “it was Carlos, the guy at the club” which meant nothing to her at this point. 

                 Finally, a lady in the waiting area who had overheard her on the telephone, stepped in and introduced herself as a travel agent and offered to contact our travel agency and the US Consulate for help.  About an hour and a half later, after returning to the hotel to dress properly and get money for food, and again speaking with my husband by telephone, Ashley returned to the hospital to meet with the doctor who was supposed to see me.  Shortly after her arrival two ladies arrived, one from our travel agency and one from our hotel.  They sat with Ashley for the next several hours while we were questioned by women police from the sex crimes unit. 

                 During this questioning, Ashley realized what had happened to me and she explained to the police where we had been and with whom.  I told them what I knew about what had happened to me and begged for them to go and get him, and they assured me they would do whatever they could to find this monster.

                 At some point a surgeon came in and informed Ashley that I needed immediate surgery on my face, which he said was “crushed”.  Ashley informed him that my husband said for me to be stabilized and immediately returned to the US for medical treatment and she went so far as to call my husband and have him to speak with the surgeon.  During this, at some point I was handed a telephone and spoke with my husband, who told me to “get the hell out of Mexico, you are not safe there, just get to the airport and come home, NOW” and with those words, we left Mexico.

 

       May 6, 2007, on the flight to Cancun.         May 11, 2007, after returning to the US.

 

                 After barely 72 hours in Mexico, I returned to the US with a broken nose, both eye sockets and cheeks broken, broken ribs, over a dozen stitches and without 3 of my teeth.

                 I naively thought, that because I was raped and beaten so badly, and the fact that there was a witness to this, that the police would make an arrest.  However, I have been continually told that “they are working on it” and over a year later, no one has been arrested in my case. 

                

If you or someone you know has a story like these, please feel free to contact us and share your story.  You may be able to save another life.

 

Contact us:

Rebecca@ithappenedinmexico.com