Here is a short version of my story:
In September 1998 I moved to Santo Domingo. Ten days after my arrival Hurricane George arrived. Eight days after I arrived in SD a man that worked at the same company as me disappeared. He went out for lunch from work and was never seen again. His disappearance resulted in 400 people who worked with us doing a ground search. The area where he went missing was across the street from where we worked. He often walked there. The same people also did a research of this area a year or so later.
Next comes the part that effected my life from 1998 until 2000. My coworkers and so-called friends whom I had worked with for 20 years all started feeling the need to be a part of ?the story?. This is when the rumors started. I won?t go into ALL of the rumors here because there were too many of them. The stories got larger and larger the longer the disappearance went unsolved.
I compare it to the game we used to play when we were kids?you know the one where you stand in a line and the first person whispers a secret into the ear of the next person and each person continues to repeat the secret?by the time it gets to the end of the line?. the secret has nothing to do with what the first person in line said. In the end it is all in the imagination of hearing what you want to hear to make the secret bigger and better.
The first rumor was that the missing man was my boyfriend and that he went to meet and live with me in the DR. Trust me when I tell you that the rumors exploded from every direction after that.
How did this effect me AND my family and friends?
We were all questioned starting with the local police then the state police then the FBI. All of this questioning went on from 1998 until 2000. Oh yeah and don?t forget the private detectives investigations of me.
I was on the FBI list of suspects (yes they DO consider you a suspect) and person of interest until the man was found. I had to notify them whenever I moved, traveled or changed my phone number.
The ?story? of the search for the missing man continued to be in the local newspapers near my hometown, newspapers in the DR and on TV in both countries for all those years. Just when I thought it was going to calm down it would be in another newspaper or on another missing persons show on TV.
How did it effect my life?
I was recognized as a ?wanted suspect? and could not get a job! BIG PROBLEM
It was not know if the man was dead or alive which caused more rumors that he was dead and that I murdered him. BIG PROBLEM.
And so on and so on??..
How did I handle it?
I responded to the press when I felt the need for some damage control to me.
I told NOBODY who did not know about it already to avoid more publicity.
If people did know about it I told them my ?truth?.
What was the final outcome of the ?story??
A hunter found the missing man in a swamp in the year 2000. He had drowned in the swamp in the very same area that was searched by hundreds of people at the time he disappeared. His death was determined to be an accidental drowning.
Thank God this story is over and is history for me, my family, friends, and most important it is over for this poor man?s friends and family. I can not speak for them but I am sure it was a LONG nightmare.
Hopefully by sharing my story here some people will ?GET IT? that the ?NEED? to be a part of the story is in my opinion just plain wrong.
I understand all about curiosity but we also need to let the professionals take care of ?the truth?. AND the solutions to such curiosities DO NOT come from a message board on the internet.
In September 1998 I moved to Santo Domingo. Ten days after my arrival Hurricane George arrived. Eight days after I arrived in SD a man that worked at the same company as me disappeared. He went out for lunch from work and was never seen again. His disappearance resulted in 400 people who worked with us doing a ground search. The area where he went missing was across the street from where we worked. He often walked there. The same people also did a research of this area a year or so later.
Next comes the part that effected my life from 1998 until 2000. My coworkers and so-called friends whom I had worked with for 20 years all started feeling the need to be a part of ?the story?. This is when the rumors started. I won?t go into ALL of the rumors here because there were too many of them. The stories got larger and larger the longer the disappearance went unsolved.
I compare it to the game we used to play when we were kids?you know the one where you stand in a line and the first person whispers a secret into the ear of the next person and each person continues to repeat the secret?by the time it gets to the end of the line?. the secret has nothing to do with what the first person in line said. In the end it is all in the imagination of hearing what you want to hear to make the secret bigger and better.
The first rumor was that the missing man was my boyfriend and that he went to meet and live with me in the DR. Trust me when I tell you that the rumors exploded from every direction after that.
How did this effect me AND my family and friends?
We were all questioned starting with the local police then the state police then the FBI. All of this questioning went on from 1998 until 2000. Oh yeah and don?t forget the private detectives investigations of me.
I was on the FBI list of suspects (yes they DO consider you a suspect) and person of interest until the man was found. I had to notify them whenever I moved, traveled or changed my phone number.
The ?story? of the search for the missing man continued to be in the local newspapers near my hometown, newspapers in the DR and on TV in both countries for all those years. Just when I thought it was going to calm down it would be in another newspaper or on another missing persons show on TV.
How did it effect my life?
I was recognized as a ?wanted suspect? and could not get a job! BIG PROBLEM
It was not know if the man was dead or alive which caused more rumors that he was dead and that I murdered him. BIG PROBLEM.
And so on and so on??..
How did I handle it?
I responded to the press when I felt the need for some damage control to me.
I told NOBODY who did not know about it already to avoid more publicity.
If people did know about it I told them my ?truth?.
What was the final outcome of the ?story??
A hunter found the missing man in a swamp in the year 2000. He had drowned in the swamp in the very same area that was searched by hundreds of people at the time he disappeared. His death was determined to be an accidental drowning.
Thank God this story is over and is history for me, my family, friends, and most important it is over for this poor man?s friends and family. I can not speak for them but I am sure it was a LONG nightmare.
Hopefully by sharing my story here some people will ?GET IT? that the ?NEED? to be a part of the story is in my opinion just plain wrong.
I understand all about curiosity but we also need to let the professionals take care of ?the truth?. AND the solutions to such curiosities DO NOT come from a message board on the internet.
