WLS-TV Reports News Staffer Murdered In Belize

Anne Swaney

WLS-TV ABC7 Chicago is reporting one of its colleagues was found murdered Friday while traveling in Belize, according to police in the Central American nation and the U.S. State Department.

Anne Swaney was executive producer of online operations at abc7chicago.com. She was 39. Autopsy results determined that she was strangled.

Anne was an avid world traveler and on a vacation in the Cayo District of western Belize, a popular destination for American adventure travelers and horse enthusiasts. She was staying at the Nabitunich Farm near a tiny town called San Jose Succotz. Hotel owner Santiago Juan tells the I-Team she was killed on "public land" near the hotel. Juan reported her missing Thursday afternoon.

On Thursday morning, Anne was supposed to go on a group horseback trip through the woods, but there were more riders than horses, so she stayed back. She came down to a wooden deck on the river to do yoga and never returned.

"A horse riding tour returned in the afternoon and found her personal effects on the deck. This looked suspicious so they went to her cabin and she wasn't there. They told the owner who called the police. The police came with their canine unit and the scent led them along the river but due to the darkness the search was called off for the night before finding her," Supt. Arzu told WLS-TV.

Police teams resumed searching Friday morning, when her body was found face down in the river. Police said there were obvious signs someone had killed her.