Westchester Couple Mysteriously Disappears On Vacation In Dominican Republic
April 9, 2019, 1:28 p.m.
Orlando Moore and Portia Ravenelle checked out of their hotel, but never made it onto their flight back to Newark.
Samana, in the Dominican Republic, where two New York tourists reportedly went missing.
A New York couple disappeared during their vacation in the Dominican Republic last month, missing their flight home and going conspicuously dark on social media after posting throughout their trip.
On March 23rd, 43-year-old Orlando Moore and 32-year-old Portia Ravenelle of Mount Vernon flew to the Dominican Republic for a four-day trip. They reportedly checked out of their hotel—the Grand Bahia Principe Cayacoa—in Samana on the 27th, but never made it onto their flight back to the U.S., or returned their rental car. Their phones have been turned off, their personal vehicle remains parked at Newark Airport, and their friends and family have endured radio silence for nearly two weeks.
"I am hoping that somewhere they'e being held against their will and they're alive," an anonymous relative told the NY Post. "But as time goes by, we start thinking that something strange has happened."
Moore reportedly works as a postal worker and has two kids, while Ravenelle has three children. Speaking to the Post, a neighbor—John Hollis—described Ravenelle as "very responsible," adding that he talked with Moore on the 27th. "He said in a video call he'd be returning that same day," Hollis said. "I haven't heard from him since."
According to CNN, police in the Dominican Republic have not confirmed Moore and Ravenelle's disappearance, but met Monday night to decide what information they would make publicly available. In a statement to Gothamist, the U.S. State Department said it was "aware of reports regarding a U.S. couple missing" in the Caribbean nation.
"When a U.S. citizen is missing, we work closely with local authorities as they carry out their search efforts and share information with families however we can," a spokesperson said. "Due to privacy considerations, we have no further information to offer at this time."
A spokesperson for U.S. Customs and Border Protection also cited privacy concerns in declining to discuss the "individual cases of international travelers."
Although Moore and Ravenelle have proven unreachable, a Canadian tourist they met in the DR shed some light on how they spent their last day. Cheryl Freeman also stayed at the Grand Bahia Principe Cayacoa, and told CNN that she met Moore and Ravenelle on the way to the breakfast buffet on March 25th. They ate together and exchanged contact information, Freeman said, spending time by the pool the next day. Freeman and her boyfriend, Carter Warrington, then joined the Westchester couple for a horseback-riding excursion to a nearby waterfall, on the recommendation of a resort bartender Moore and Ravenelle had befriended.
During the outing, Moore and Ravenelle reportedly mentioned that they'd be driving to the airport for a 2 a.m. flight on the 27th, and expressed concerns about making the roughly 100-mile trip at night. According to Freeman, Ravenelle—whom Freeman described as "very cautious"—said the car rental company had warned her not to stop or roll down the windows on their white Kia, out of concerns about mugging.
Freeman and Warrington met the couple again later on that evening, she told CNN, splitting a bottle of rum at a disco in Samana, where they also ran into the hotel bartender. The group returned to the Grand Bahia between 9:30 and 10:00 so Moore and Ravenelle, who reportedly seemed nervous, could pack and get on the road.
"They invited us to come see them in New York and we invited them to Nova Scotia for later in summer," Freeman said. Warrington reportedly emailed Moore to wish the couple safe travels, but never received a response. Freeman told CNN she only learned they'd disappeared upon reading emails from Ravenelle's family on March 31st, when she returned to Halifax.
"I'm scared. I don't know what's going on," Moore's sister, Lashay Turner, told NBC 4 New York. Her brother, she added, wouldn't "just run off on a hiatus ... he's gonna let someone know where he is."
"My family is saddened by this," Turner added, "and we just want me brother to return safe and alive."
