Crime

African-American Couple Found Dead in Dominican Republic Hotel

THE AFRO — A Black couple from Maryland was found dead in their resort room in the Dominican Republic, the U.S. State Department has announced. Cynthia Day, 49, and Nathaniel Holmes, 63, were due to leave Bahía Príncipe Playa Nueva Romana on May 25. When they didn’t check out, a hotel employee went to their rooms and found them dead, reportedly with “no signs of violence.” A bottle of heart medication was found nearby.

Published

6 years ago

June 9, 2019

Oakland Post

By Afro Staff

A Black couple from Maryland was found dead in their resort room in the Dominican Republic, the U.S. State Department has announced.

Cynthia Day, 49, and Nathaniel Holmes, 63, were due to leave Bahía Príncipe Playa Nueva Romana on May 25. When they didn’t check out, a hotel employee went to their rooms and found them dead, reportedly with “no signs of violence.” A bottle of heart medication was found nearby.

Local newspaper Diario Libre <https://www.diariolibre.com/actualidad/sucesos/uno-de-los-estadounidenses-hallados-muertos-en-hotel-de-la-romana-notifico-que-se-sentia-mal-de-salud-BL12917071> reported that Holmes had called down to the front desk the same morning, saying he felt ill. However, the couple reportedly declined treatment.

Friends and family of the engaged couple said they were enjoying their vacation and looking forward to their future as a married couple. Facebook posts by Holmes suggest the same. Several photos depict Day and Holmes kissing, hugging, interacting with local wildlife and the like. Holmes even said in one post, “Can somebody please loan me $250,000 bcuz I don’t want to come home!!!!!”

The couple’s demise come months after another African-American couple died under questionable circumstances in the tourist spot and after another American vacationer claimed she was attacked by a hotel employee.

In April the State Department even issued an advisory <https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/traveladvisories/traveladvisories/dominican-republic-travel-advisory.html> urging Americans to “exercise increased caution” when traveling to the country “due to crime.”

This article originally appeared in The Afro.

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Oakland Post: Week of June 4 – 10, 2025

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of June 4-10, 2025

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June 7, 2025

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Remembering George Floyd

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — Minnesota State Attorney General Keith Ellison acknowledges that the Floyd case five years ago involved a situation in which due process was denied, and five years later, the president is currently dismissing “due process. “The Minnesota Atty General also says, “Trump is trying to attack constitutional rule, attacking congressional authority and judicial decision-making.” George Floyd was an African American man killed by police who knocked on his neck and on his back, preventing him from breathing.

Published

1 week ago

June 2, 2025

Oakland Post

Mural showing the portrait of George Floyd in Mauerpark in Berlin. To the left of the portrait the lettering "I can't Breathe" was added, on the right side the three hashtags #GeorgeFloyd, #Icantbreathe and #Sayhisname. The mural was completed by Eme Street Art (facebook name) / Eme Free Thinker (signature) on 29 May 2020. (Wikimedia Commons)

By April Ryan
BlackPressUSA Newswire

“The president’s been very clear he has no intentions of pardoning Derek Chauvin, and it’s not a request that we’re looking at,” confirms a senior staffer at the Trump White House. That White House response results from public hope, including from a close Trump ally, Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene. The timing of Greene’s hopes coincides with the Justice Department’s recent decision to end oversight of local police accused of abuse. It also falls on the fifth anniversary of the police-involved death of George Floyd on May 25th. The death sparked national and worldwide outrage and became a transitional moment politically and culturally, although the outcry for laws on police accountability failed.

The death forced then-Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden to focus on deadly police force and accountability. His efforts while president to pass the George Floyd Justice in policing act failed. The death of George Floyd also put a spotlight on the Black community, forcing then-candidate Biden to choose a Black woman running mate. Kamala Harris ultimately became vice president of the United States alongside Joe Biden. Minnesota State Attorney General Keith Ellison prosecuted the cases against the officers involved in the death of Floyd. He remembers,” Trump was in office when George Floyd was killed, and I would blame Trump for creating a negative environment for police-community relations. Remember, it was him who said when the looting starts, the shooting starts, it was him who got rid of all the consent decrees that were in place by the Obama administration.”

In 2025, Police-involved civilian deaths are up by “about 100 to about 11 hundred,” according to Ellison. Ellison acknowledges that the Floyd case five years ago involved a situation in which due process was denied, and five years later, the president is currently dismissing “due process. “The Minnesota Atty General also says, “Trump is trying to attack constitutional rule, attacking congressional authority and judicial decision-making.” George Floyd was an African-American man killed by police who knocked on his neck and on his back, preventing him from breathing. During those minutes on the ground, Floyd cried out for his late mother several times. Police subdued Floyd for an alleged counterfeit $20 bill.