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| US tourist slain on Caribbean island of Grenada | US tourist slain on Caribbean island of Grenada |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| ST. GEORGE’S, Grenada — A machete-wielding man attacked a U.S. tourist couple as they walked along an isolated beach on Grenada, killing the woman, police on the Caribbean island said Tuesday. | |
| Jessica Lewis Colker, 39, of Atlanta, was found dead after her husband ran to get help following the attack, which occurred around noon Sunday on a remote stretch of coast along the island’s southeast, said Sylvan McIntyre, an assistant superintendent with the Royal Grenada Police Force. | Jessica Lewis Colker, 39, of Atlanta, was found dead after her husband ran to get help following the attack, which occurred around noon Sunday on a remote stretch of coast along the island’s southeast, said Sylvan McIntyre, an assistant superintendent with the Royal Grenada Police Force. |
| A suspect was in custody but has not been identified. | A suspect was in custody but has not been identified. |
| Colker and her husband, Brian Van Melito, had arrived on Grenada a day before the assault and were staying at a hotel near where the attack occurred in an area of beach and mangrove in St. David Parish, McIntrye said. | |
| They had walked from the more popular La Sagesse beach at the time to a more remote spot. “It is an area where you can go off for a moment of privacy and seclusion,” he said. | |
| The motive for the attack was unknown. The husband told the police that he fought with the man, managed to get away and call for help. Police and residents of the area launched a search and found Colker’s body about an hour later in the woods. An autopsy found she died of extensive skull fracture and asphyxia. | |
| La Sagesse Hotel, where the couple had been staying, is secluded. A comment on the travel website TripAdvisor from March 10, 2015, warns of robbers on the beach: “We were robbed of all our cash today by a man wearing a mask and wielding a machete” in the daytime. | |
| McIntyre said the suspect was cooperating with investigation but he declined to provide any information about the man, who can’t be identified under local laws unless he is formally charged. | McIntyre said the suspect was cooperating with investigation but he declined to provide any information about the man, who can’t be identified under local laws unless he is formally charged. |
| Colker worked as a physician’s assistant at a children’s hospital in metro Atlanta. Van Melito is a physician. The couple, who met at a dance workshop in Costa Rica, married in November 2014, according to an online wedding album. | |
| “Jessica was a valued member of our Children’s team,” Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta said in a statement. “We are deeply saddened by this horrific news. Our thoughts and prayers go out to her family during this very difficult time.” | “Jessica was a valued member of our Children’s team,” Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta said in a statement. “We are deeply saddened by this horrific news. Our thoughts and prayers go out to her family during this very difficult time.” |
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| Associated Press writers Ben Fox in Miami and Jeff Martin in Atlanta contributed to this report. | |
| Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. | Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |