Tonight police say they are just about ready to wrap up their investigations
into Saturday's now deadly Placencia dive trip. For the 3 survivors, life is
slowly returning to normal. The oldest in the group, 50 year old John Bain checked
out of the hospital late yesterday and flew out today. 34-year-old Japanese
National Yutaka Mayeda and American 38 year old Nancy Masters checked out of
the hospital this morning and are leaving the country tomorrow.
Meanwhile the family of 28-year-old medical student Abigale Brinkman arrived
in the country today to claim the body. According to the police forensic officer,
the string of what looked like bruise marks around 28 year old Abigale Brinkman's
neck was just a water mark, made when she was left floating in the water. The
cause of death has been ruled to be immersion asphyxia.
We should note that while she may not have been wearing a dive suit on Saturday,
Abigale was an experienced scuba diver. In fact this was her second trip to
Belize. She reportedly came to Belize to work with the underprivileged in the
south. Abigale's body will lie in state at Myers-Reed Dignity Memorial Chapel
in Columbus Ohio on Monday. A memorial service is planned for Tuesday November
first.
As for the police investigation, once it's completed the file will be sent
to the Director of Public Prosecutions. We are told that investigators have
just about ruled out any possibility of homicide.