Remains found in Mexico identified as those of missing American | GTAMotorcycle.com

Remains found in Mexico identified as those of missing American

clutch

clutch

Well-known member
Forum Sponsor
"I've never ridden a motorcycle," he wrote. "Mostly, naturally, because I don't know how. So tomorrow I'm going to go to the DMV, get my motorcycle permit, buy a bike and hopefully figure out how to ride it home without crashing. Which I'm sure will be an adventure in itself."

He added, "Then in the next 2 or 3 weeks I'm going to drive it across America, through Central America, down to Brazil for the World Cup, and eventually south to Ushuaia, which as far as I can tell from a map is about as far south as one can get on the continent."

He purchased a green 2002 Kawasaki. Ann Devert said her son took a safety course and spent hours studying YouTube videos on how to survive falls from bikes.
Click to expand...

http://www.cnn.com/2014/07/18/world/americas/missing-american-mexico/
 
Knowing what I know of Mexico and South America (i'm from Venezuela) and having had the experience of having a situation that involves your life completely out of your control, I would never go on a trip like that.. which sucks!
 
Very very sad.

Human remains found in two plastic bags near a beach in southwestern Mexico have been identified as those of Harry Devert, a New Yorker who left his job as a trader in finance for a transcontinental motorcycle journey from the United States to Latin America, Mexican authorities said.Devert, 32, vanished six months ago after sending his girlfriend an ominous text message from a troubled region in Mexico, describing how he was being escorted from "an area too dangerous for me to be."
Mexican authorities, acting on tips, last week located his green Kawasaki motorcycle in a shallow grave in the state of Guerrero, along with the badly decomposed remains of a man in two bags.

On Thursday, DNA tests confirmed the remains were those of Devert, a representative of the Guerrero state attorney general's office not authorized to speak to the media told CNN.
The investigation was turned over to federal prosecutor because of the nature of the crime and the fact that it involved an American tourist, he said.
Mother has been looking for information
Devert's mother, Ann, traveled to Mexico last weekend after identifying the vehicle identification number on the motorcycle found in the shallow grave. A day earlier she provided a DNA sample to police in New York to match against the remains, said Darren Del Sardo, an attorney for Devert's mother.
Del Sardo said Mexican authorities informed Ann Devert of the findings late Thursday. She is considering having a private lab conduct DNA tests, he said.
"This is horrible," he said. "The major component now is to try to find out who is responsible for this and hope that the Mexican authorities bring them to justice as soon as possible."
The discovery of the remains and the motorcycle was made nearly 300 miles southwest of where Devert was last heard from in January.
Del Sardo said Ann Devert spent time in Mexico after her son's disappearance, meeting local authorities and residents in the western Mexican state of Michoacan in an attempt to find him. There was hope with unconfirmed tips that he was being held at a ranch. Last week, she learned of the remains and the bike in the shallow grave.
Mexican authorities said the motorcycle was found along a road leading to La Majahua beach in Guerrero. The statement said "10 packages of what appeared to be narcotics (marijuana and cocaine)" were found near the motorbike and body.
Del Sardo said Ann Devert was told that the remains may have been moved to the shallow grave.
Devert, 32, had not been in touch with his mother or girlfriend in New York since January 25. That day he sent girlfriend Sarah Ashley Schiear a text message via the WhatsApp messenger app.
"Just got an hour and a half long escort out of some area it was too dangerous for me to be," the message said. "Stopping for lunch and ... voila Internet. ... Gonna get back on the road soon. Apparently there's another military escort waiting for me in some other town... I'm running way late because of the crazy military stuff...hopefully get a chance to talk to you tonight when I (hopefully) finally arrive."
He had checked out of a bed and breakfast in Michoacan and planned to travel to a beach in Zihuatanejo, on the Pacific Ocean, that was in the final scene of the film "The Shawshank Redemption," according to friends and family.
Friends had hoped Harry Devert would surface
Ann Devert last heard from her son January 23. The phone connection was poor. He told her he'd be out of cell phone and Internet range for a few days.
She told CNN earlier this year that he would call every January 29, his late father's birthday, "and when he didn't, I felt a misgiving but I thought maybe it would take a couple of days," she said. "He didn't call."
Then, Ann Devert heard from a friend who recently returned from Michoacan, where vigilante self-defense groups in numerous communities have engaged in deadly confrontations with the Knights Templar drug cartel.
After vigilantes threatened to descend on a key cartel area last month, the Mexican government sent in thousands of troops and police to try to keep the peace. The government has even joined forces with the vigilantes as the Knights Templar become further entrenched in the agricultural state.
Ann Devert had been in touch with both the American and French embassies in Mexico. Her son, born in France, has dual citizenship.
Devert's friends and family were hopeful that his disappearance was only temporary, another story to recount from his wild travels around the world -- from Pamplona, Spain, to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and beyond.
"I've been chased with a gun in Colombia, chipped my tooth on a gun that was shoved in my mouth in Venezuela and shot everything from a bazooka to a machine gun, an M16 to a Colt .45," Devert wrote in his travel blog, A New Yorker Travels. "I've been in some of the poorest and some of the most dangerous parts of the world and to many of the finest, and I still can't tell which I liked more. I think that life is a pilgrimage."
In an October 19 post, Devert described his latest journey on a type of vehicle he had no experience using.
"I've never ridden a motorcycle," he wrote. "Mostly, naturally, because I don't know how. So tomorrow I'm going to go to the DMV, get my motorcycle permit, buy a bike and hopefully figure out how to ride it home without crashing. Which I'm sure will be an adventure in itself."
He added, "Then in the next 2 or 3 weeks I'm going to drive it across America, through Central America, down to Brazil for the World Cup, and eventually south to Ushuaia, which as far as I can tell from a map is about as far south as one can get on the continent."
He purchased a green 2002 Kawasaki. Ann Devert said her son took a safety course and spent hours studying YouTube videos on how to survive falls from bikes.
But the fact that he had never driven a motorcycle concerned her, she said. He promised not to travel faster than 55 mph, yet he took a nasty spill while speeding in Florida, Ann Devert said. He emerged unscathed.
Click to expand...



24751772_SA.jpg


Harry-Devert.jpg
 
ZX600 said:
Knowing what I know of Mexico and South America (i'm from Venezuela) and having had the experience of having a situation that involves your life completely out of your control, I would never go on a trip like that.. which sucks!
Click to expand...

100% - it's no joke.

[video=youtube;3pcu-7KiaQo]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pcu-7KiaQo[/video]
 
ZX600 said:
Knowing what I know of Mexico and South America (i'm from Venezuela) and having had the experience of having a situation that involves your life completely out of your control, I would never go on a trip like that.. which sucks!
Click to expand...
Story time?
 
Traveller was unlucky to run into bad guys, but also naive and unprepared.
 
Schneller said:
Traveller was unlucky to run into bad guys, but also naive and unprepared.
Click to expand...

"The statement said "10 packages of what appeared to be narcotics (marijuana and cocaine)" were found near the motorbike and body."


Given the region of Mexico he was in (and the timing of the drug war), I'd venture a guess that he was forced into being a transporter and fell into the wrong hands.

Unfortunate news none the less. Can't imagine what his family and girlfriend are going through; but atleast they now have some closure.
 
Dresden said:
100% - it's no joke.

[video=youtube;3pcu-7KiaQo]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pcu-7KiaQo[/video]
Click to expand...

I must admit, riding down to South America is on my bucket list. Some of the safety tips I've come across is to travel during the day and stick to the major toll roads. This does not look like a major toll road.
 
Sad end to what should have been a cool story.
There are parts of Mexico even the well armed Mexican army and police don't want to go.
 
crankcall said:
Sad end to what should have been a cool story.
There are parts of Mexico even the well armed Mexican army and police don't want to go.
Click to expand...

No kidding. A few years ago, a guy travelled to Mexico to find his ex-wife, a grad student studying marine biology, who went missing near a certain beach.
Local police and Federales assured him a massive manhunt was underway -in 24 hours he found dead bodies, but not his wife's, there were literally bodies buried everywhere near that beach.

Mexican officials have no idea how many people are killed down there, and they lie at the highest levels to keep the idiot tourists coming. They don't even have manpower to process the dead bodies, and coroners are killed for just identifying people.

Conservative guess is 26,000 missing (i.e. dead) since 2006. Small wonder the largest anti-drug lobby is from within Mexico's cartels. Legal drugs would ruin the cartels.

How do people not know this?

Other tips: cancel that trip across Afghanistan.
 
I'm very trained in military weaponry and I wouldn't ride through Mexico like that even with heavy firepower. Why not just ride through Iraq and Syria?
 
The majority of people that travel through Mexico remain unharmed. There's a huge thread on advrider about the whole region.
 
vrus said:
The majority of people that travel through Mexico remain unharmed. There's a huge thread on advrider about the whole region.
Click to expand...

http://travel.gc.ca/destinations/mexico

[h=2]Advisories[/h] [h=3]MEXICO - Exercise a high degree of caution[/h]There is no nationwide advisory in effect for Mexico. However, you should exercise a high degree of caution violence, especially in those parts of the country experiencing a deteriorating security situation. Most major tourist areas have not been affected by the extreme levels of violence in the northern region.

The Yucatan Peninsula, which includes the tourist destinations of Cancun, Cozumel, Riviera Maya, Merida and Progreso, has not been significantly affected by violence or insecurity.

We strongly recommend travel to Mexico by air in order to avoid land border crossings through potentially dangerous regions. High levels of criminal activity, as well as occasional illegal roadblocks, demonstrations and protests remain a concern throughout the country. For these reasons, you are strongly advised to sign up with the Registration of Canadians Abroad (ROCA) service if travelling to or residing in Mexico.

Due to high levels of organized crime in rural areas, including on major highways, you should exercise extreme caution in the states of Baja California (North), Morelos, Nayarit, Jalisco, San Luis Potosi, Veracruz, and Zacatecas.

The coastal areas of Jalisco (from Puerto Vallarta to Barra de Navidad) and southern Nayarit (from Nuevo Vallarta to La Peñita de Jaltemba), popular destinations among Canadians, remain relatively safe, as do the Lake Chapala area and the cities of Tepoztlan, Guadalajara, San Luis Potosi, Xalapa, Veracruz, and Zacatecas. When travelling in these regions, exercise extreme caution when venturing outside urban areas.

[h=3]Regional Advisory for the Northern states[/h]Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada advises against non-essential travel to the northern states of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Durango, Nuevo León (except the city of Monterrey), Sinaloa (with the exception of Mazatlán), Sonora (except the cities of Hermosillo and Guaymas/San Carlos), and Tamaulipas due to continuously high levels of violence linked to organized crime. Consult the Security tab for more information.


[h=3]Regional Advisory for the South-Western states[/h]Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada also advises against non-essential travel to the south western states of Michoacán (excluding the city of Morelia) and Guerrero (excluding the cities of Ixtapa, Taxco and Zihuatanejo, as well as the tourist zone of Acapulco) due to the high levels of violence and organized crime. Exercise a high degree of caution in the excluded areas. Consult the Security tab for more information.
 
vrus said:
The majority of people that travel through Mexico remain unharmed. There's a huge thread on advrider about the whole region.
Click to expand...

I don't disagree, but this unfortunate instance serves as a reminder that it's not as peachy as it seems.

This is Harry's blog - http://www.anewyorkertravels.com/

He's been in dodgy situations before.. must have picked up some skills along the way, still didn't turn out too well for him.
"I've been chased with a gun in Colombia, chipped my tooth on a gun that was shoved in my mouth in Venezuela"
 
clutch said:
I must admit, riding down to South America is on my bucket list. Some of the safety tips I've come across is to travel during the day and stick to the major toll roads. This does not look like a major toll road.
Click to expand...

Broad day light and on a bicycle tour - people all around. Buenos Aires (Argentina)

[video=youtube;Iudb0amH0sY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iudb0amH0sY[/video]
 
I only went to Mexico once, in the Cancun region. I realized back then that the tourist area is surrounded by a restricted zone that is enforced by government soldiers (with big guns), so Mexicans cannot enter the zone without papers.
I was stopped in that zone, at semi-auto gunpoint, and repeatedly asked "what is your class?" I had no idea they where referring to social class. I GTFO the next day early.
 
Roomie said:
No mexico for me. This story is about my friends sister which at the time made headlines all over the world. She was 20 and not doing anything wrong or being somewhere she shouldn't have been. They finally got the goon responsible but after knowing her and the details of what happened I won't go there

http://www.mexicovacationawareness.com/news/kristendeyell.pdf
Click to expand...

Rotten thing to happen but let's be realistic. This type of thing happens in Toronto probably at a similar frequency.
Forum Sponsor
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top Bottom