Body of missing NY woman identified in Dominican Republic; body believed to be boyfriend's found in ocean
NEW YORK _ A New York tourist who vanished along with her boyfriend while on vacation in the Dominican Republic was identified Wednesday as a woman who died in a hospital on the Caribbean island last week, authorities said.
Portia Ravenelle, 32, was found unconscious March 27 on a road that leads to the international airport in Santo Domingo, police said.
The Mount Vernon woman was rushed to a local hospital, where she died April 4, Dominican National Police spokesman Frank Felix Duran Mejia told Diario Libre.
The body of a man was found in the ocean March 31 _ about 20 miles from where Ravenelle was found. Authorities believe it is her boyfriend Orlando Moore.
Because the corpse was water damaged and decomposed, fingerprints can't be used to identify the body, Duran Mejia said.
Instead, photos of tattoos on the man are being sent to Moore's brother for identification, police said. Moore sported a "MILANO" tattoo on his arm.
Authorities believe the couple crashed and went off the road into the ocean as they headed back to the airport just before 2 a.m. on March 27 to fly home. Their rental car, cops said, is in the sea.
The couple's neighbors in Mount Vernon reacted with shock Wednesday.
"I had no idea they were going on vacation. I had some things going on in the house and I needed Orlando's assistance. He told me he was out of the country," said John Hollis, 52, Moore's neighbor.
They last spoke early on March 26, and Moore said he was coming home.
Hollis said he and Ravenelle _ who had two daughters and a son _ were good friends.
_New York Daily News
