INDEPTH: MEXICO KILLINGS
A timeline of the case
CBC News Online | July 26, 2006
Dominic Ianiero, 59, and his wife Nancy, 55, of Woodbridge, Ont., near Toronto, were found in their room a five-star resort near Playa del Carmen on Feb. 20, 2006, with their throats slashed. The couple and more than a dozen other family members were in Mexico for their daughter's wedding.
Mexican authorities have been criticized for their handling of the case and for the bizarre twists in their statements to the media.
July 26:
A former Mexican soldier is wanted for questioning, according to a published report. Local authorities say the suspect worked at the resort for six months, but disappeared Feb. 21, one day after the Ianieros were found slain. Blas Ismael Delgado, 36, is being sought, according to the Mexican news service Noticaribe.
May 19:
The Ianiero's lawyer, Edward Greenspan, blasts the Mexican attorney general, who is investigating the slaying. Greenspan described Bello Melchor Rodriguez as "arrogant, pompous and downright rude" during a meeting the night before. Rodriguez met with Greenspan and the couple's only son, Anthony Ianiero. Greenspan said when they asked questions about the investigation, Rodriquez responded: "We're not here to answer specific questions."
May 15:
Four senior Mexican police investigators, including Bello Melchor Rodriguez, the attorney general for the state of Quintana Roo, meet with Canadian police in Ottawa to discuss the Ianiero killings.
April 3:
A Mexican newspaper reports it received an anonymous tip from Ontario suggesting the killers are Canadian. Novedades Quintana Roo reports that the letter was sent from Hamilton shortly after the murders. The letter suggests that police should investigate three people who flew from Cuba to Cancun the week of the murders. The letter describes two as Canadian, and one as Latino, "possibly Mexican."
March 31:
Lawyer Edward Greenspan blasts Mexican President Vicente Fox for speaking about the case. Greenspan, representing the Ianiero's son, Anthony Ianiero, accuses Fox of interfering in the investigation.
A knife handed over to Thunder Bay police is sent to Toronto for forensic testing. The knife was found in a backpack at another resort near where the Ianieros were killed. The knife was turned over by a Minnesota police officer, whose daughter found it while they were on vacation.
March 29:
Mexican president Vicente Fox says he believes evidence in the murders points to Canadian suspects and Mexican police continue to investigate that possibility. He tells the Globe and Mail the killings did not appear to be random and took place in the Ianieros' hotel room. Two Canadian women who were earlier named as possible suspects say they want Prime Minister Stephen Harper to raise the issue of the Ianiero murders with Fox at a summit in Cancun this week.
March 14:
The RCMP sends two forensic experts to Mexico to help investigate the Ianiero murders. The two RCMP observers who travelled to Quintana Roo last week return to Canada. Mexican state prosecutor Bello Melchor Rodriguez tells reporters that most of the work on evidence in the case is being done in Canada, and the officers' role in Mexico is to have "an exchange of theories" with Mexican counterparts.
March 9:
Bello Melchor Rodriguez, attorney general for the state of Quintana Roo, tells CBC News two Thunder Bay women were never suspects in the Ianiero murders, only potential witnesses. Rodriguez also denies reports that four hotel employees are now the prime suspects in the case. He denies that the two hotel rooms where the bodies were found were not protected as crime scenes, and says the adjoining rooms are still sealed off with only authorities allowed in.
Lawyer Lee Baig, who represents Kimberley Kim and Cheryl Everall, says his clients are relieved to hear Rodriguez's statement, but they want Canadian police to reassure them they are no longer suspects.
Gabriela Rodriguez, tourism secretary for Quintana Roo state, tells CBC News the analysis of hair traces
found on Nancy Ianiero's hand should be completed "very soon."
March 6:
Friends and families of Dominic and Nancy Ianiero gather for their funeral in Woodbridge, Ont. York Regional Police maintain a strong presence at the funeral, attended by as many as 1,000 people.
A newspaper in Quintana Roo reports that police now consider four employees at the Barcelo Maya Beach Resort as suspects because they haven't shown up for work since Feb. 20, the day the Ianieros were found dead.
March 3:
Luis Ernesto Derbez, Mexico's foreign affairs secretary, says his government has acted on a request by Prime Minister Stephen Harper and invited Canadian law enforcement officials to join Mexican police in the investigation.
March 2:
RCMP Assistant Commissioner Raf Souccar says the force has "full confidence" in the Mexican police investigation of the Ianiero murders.
Bello Melchor Rodriguez, attorney general for the state of Quintana Roo, says the method of the murder indicates the killers had medical knowledge. The deputy attorney general, Manuel Sarmiento Silva, says all employees at the luxury resort near Cancun have been cleared of suspicion.
March 1:
Family members of Domenico and Annunziata Ianiero - murdered last week in Mexico - call on Canadian officials to get involved in the investigations of the stabbing deaths. Their son, Anthony Ianiero, says their deaths have been "devastating for our family."
Feb. 28:
Two women from Thunder Bay, Ont. -- Kimberley Kim, a psychology student who works part time at a hospice, and Cheryl Everall, a medical student -- hold a news conference to say they had nothing to do with the deaths the Ianieros in Mexico. The two women in their 30s are suspects in the murder.
Feb. 27:
The bodies of Domenico and Annunziata Ianiero are returned to Canada. Toronto's regional coroner, Dr. David Evans, says key evidence may have been lost during the autopsy and embalming in Mexico.
Feb. 26:
Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day appears on CTV's Question Period and questions the competence of the Mexican investigation "Almost by the hour their story changes," he says.
For the second day in a row, Mexican authorities cancel a news conference on the case. They were expected to release names and pictures of the suspects.
Feb. 25:
Bello Melchor Rodriguez y Carrillo, attorney general for Quintana Roo, which includes the resort, backtracks on previous statements, saying there's no evidence of organized crime in the Ianiero murders.
Mexican police confirm that three Canadian women are key suspects in the killings, saying they now have photos and names for all three. However, the state attorney general's office denies that any photos exist.
The RCMP in Canada say Mexican authorities asked them, through Interpol, to join the murder investigation.
Feb. 24:
Mexican police say they have photos and names of two Canadian suspects, and media reports suggest they are searching for a third, although they don't have a name or photo of that suspect. Rodriguez y Carrillo refuses to explain where the photos came from.
Felipe Duran, a spokesman for the state attorney general, says media attention is hampering the murder investigation
Feb. 22:
A police statement reiterates the suspected Canadian connection to the murders, saying the Ianieros had enemies in Canada who wanted them dead. It is reported that bloody footprints were found leading from the couple's room down the hall to the one where the two suspects were staying. Mexican police release the suspects' last names, although because of shoddy record keeping at the hotel, it's not clear whether they are men or women. A media report, based on interviews with the hotel's room service staff, suggests the two suspects are women.
Later, two women from Thunder Bay, Ont., report to police in Canada. The women were in Cancun at the time of the killings and their last names are similar to the suspects' names released by Mexican authorities. The women are both mothers in their 30s working in the health-care field. The RCMP check their backgrounds and find nothing suspicious.
Feb. 21:
The story of the murder appears on the front pages of Mexican newspapers. According to the reports, the Ianieros were still wearing their jewelry.
Feb. 20:
The bodies of Domenico and Annunziata Ianiero are found at about 8:30 a.m. in their hotel room at a resort in Cancun. Their throats were slashed, police say.
At some time, before police arrived to the scene, blood is mopped up from the corridor outside the couple's apartment.
Later that day, Rodriguez y Carillo says the suspects are two Canadians tourists who had already returned to Canada.
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