The wife and children of an Arlington firefighter are suing a local travel agency and a Mexican hotel for allegedly contributing to his death last July at a resort in Cancun.
The lawsuit, filed in Tarrant County, accuses local Mansfield-based travel agency Let’s Go On Vacay LLC, RCM Hotel, Blue Diamond Hotels and Resorts Inc., and Sunwing Travel Group of negligence, alleging they withheld critical travel safety information about Cancun, Mexico, per the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
Additionally, the plaintiffs accused the resort where firefighter Elijah Snow died of over-serving alcohol to guests and having inadequate security measures. They are seeking $1 million in monetary relief.
The litigation stems from a 10-year wedding anniversary trip taken in July 2021 by Elijah Snow and his wife, Jamie Lynn Snow.
The couple employed Let’s Go on Vacay, which arranged an all-inclusive stay at the Royalton Chic Cancun, owned by Blue Diamond Hotels and Resorts Inc. and Sunwing Travel Group.
Upon their arrival at the resort, hotel employees plied the couple with complimentary, “unlimited” alcoholic beverages, according to the lawsuit. They drank all day and into the evening.
When Snow’s wife decided to call it a night, he told her he would join her after he finished his drink. She retired to their room.
Elijah Snow’s body was discovered the following morning in an “open-air theater space immediately adjacent and only feet away from the Royalton Chic Cancun at another hotel named The Sunset Royal Hotel,” according to the lawsuit, per the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
Security cameras captured footage of Snow trying to catch an elevator. When elevator doors did not immediately open, he made his way toward a circular staircase.
The lawsuit stated:
“This is the last video surveillance in which Elijah is seen alive. Incredibly, even with all of the surveillance cameras positioned throughout the hotel, no other video of Elijah was located or provided to the Cancun Police Department, the Mexican Attorney General’s Office, the United State Consulate’s Office or, most importantly, to his now widow, Jamie. No video has ever been provided showing Elijah leaving the property or walking through the lobby areas of the hotel.”
Local police told Jamie Lynn Snow her husband had fallen through a window. Later, after she paid hundreds of dollars to police for pictures of her husband’s corpse, they told her he died due to “murder without suspect.”
The pictures Jamie Lynn Snow stated she obtained showed her husband had sustained multiple injuries to his head, back, and legs, including scratches and bruises to his face, hands, and arms. She further claimed that her husband’s wallet was missing hundreds of dollars when he was found. She and her family believe he was robbed and murdered, then deposited at the open-air theater.
At issue in the litigation is whether the travel agency and resort had a duty to inform Elijah and Jamie Lynn about the relative safety of Cancun, Mexico.
The lawsuit claims the couple was told the city was safer than places like Paris and Las Vegas.
Cancun recently joined seven U.S. cities on a list of the top 50 most dangerous cities in the world, compiled by the Citizen Council For Public Security and Criminal Justice.
This is one of the reasons I no longer travel. You have no rights when you go out of the country. I think that the Mexican police will not admit that he was robbed and murdered.