Update: Murder of American Woman in Tortola
Maggie
Murder in Paradise
The death of an American 'eccentric'
By Joseph Contreras
Newsweek, March 27, 2000
Lois McMillen liked to party. a 1998 snapshot shows her wearing a shocking-pink
wig and clutching a peacock-feather fan as she cavorts with pal Caren LeBlanc
at a party in the British Virgin Islands. McMillen's boyfriend at the time, an
Italian architect named Luigi Lungarini, remembers the abstract painter from
Middlebury, Connecticut, as an "eccentric person" who loved to dress up and be
the center of attention. Everyone who spent any time with McMillen during her
regular vacations to the island of Tortola echoes that view. "She had a very
flamboyant personality," says LeBlanc, a 25-year-old ex-model from the eastern
Caribbean island of Dominica. "She always stood out wherever she went."
Nowhere did she leave a starker impression than in her final resting place. On
the morning of Saturday, Jan. 15, a passerby discovered McMillen's bruised body
lying in shallow water along a highway on Tortola's southwest shore. An autopsy
identified drowning as the cause of death, but the battered condition of the
corpse suggested a struggle with her killer or killers. There were no signs of
rape or robbery. By late Saturday afternoon, the Royal Virgin Islands Police
Force (RVIPF) arrested four American men for the murder of Lois McMillen, 34.
All four codefendants have maintained their innocence. None of the suspects has
an obvious motive for the slaying, and two of them were good friends of the
victim's. A preliminary hearing scheduled for early next week will determine
whether there is sufficient evidence to put the men on trial for murder. But
regardless of the outcome of that hearing, the case has already raised doubts
about the safety of tourists vacationing on the British Virgin
Islandsóespecially Tortola, which is favored by well-heeled holidaymakers for
its exquisite beaches and upscale restaurants and bars. That's where McMillen
spent a large portion of her final days. A failed actress with striking looks,
McMillen had flown to Tortola on Dec. 30 to see in the new millennium with her
parents, Russell and Josephine McMillen, at their two-bedroom condominium. On
the evening of Wednesday, Jan. 12, Lois went to a local bar, where she ran into
an old friend, Michael Spicer, a 36-year-old law student whose family owned a
villa nearby. With Spicer was his companion, 22-year-old Evan George, and a
former boyfriend of McMillen named Alexander Benedetto, who was a houseguest of
the Spicers. According to the defendants' sworn affidavits to the police, the
four stayed out drinking until early Thursday morning, when Lois drove the men
back to the Spicer house.
Later that same day, the men say in their statements, Lois went out on a pub
crawl with Spicer, George and another houseguest named William Labrador.
(Benedetto chose to stay home.) After cocktails and chicken wings at a
restaurant on the island's west end, Labrador called it a night. According to
the affidavitsówhich are filed as part of the public record at the local
magistrate's registrar officeóSpicer, George and McMillen went on to the
capital of Road Town for another round. A little before midnight, McMillen
drove the two men back to the Spicer residence. None of the four ever saw
McMillen again. The following night, Friday, Lois left her parents' home at
around 9:30 and arrived alone at the bar of the Jolly Roger Inn. She is
believed to have left the hotel bar before midnight and was last seen alive at
around one in the morning in the company of three unidentified white men.
Police interviewed Spicer, George, Benedetto and Labrador after McMillen's
parents phoned in a missing person's report on the morning of Jan. 15.
Authorities say that contradictions in the four men's accounts aroused a chief
inspector's suspicions; police obtained a warrant to search the Spicer villa
and took them into custody. Relatives and friends of the codefendants say they
are being made scapegoats by an undermanned police force that is under fire for
a rising crime rate. In particular, they fault RVIPF detectives for failing to
investigate other possible suspects, including a balding white man in his 40s
or early 50s who was spotted with Lois on two separate occasions in January.
Repeated attempts by Newsweek to contact senior RVIPF officials failed to
obtain any comment on the case.
The fates of the four codefendants may hinge on the results of forensic-lab
tests. Police recovered two pieces of allegedly bloodstained clothing that
belonged to Spicer. One is a boat shoe that, according to Spicer, contains
blood from an open blister on his foot. The other is a tee shirt spotted with
what Spicer claims is barbecue sauce. If lab tests show that the blood matches
McMillen's, Spicerótogether with the ex-houseguests who backed his storyócould
be facing an extended stay in the British Virgins: a murder conviction carries
a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
Maggie
"The real tragedy for Elian Gonzales is that he washed up on the shores of a
swing state in an election year."--Margaret Carlson
PattyC4303
Do you have thoughts on who the "right" guys are? I guess it seems odd to
imagine that these guys did the killing, when they have no background to
suggest it, and a couple were noted to be her friends. Nonetheless, they were
last with her, and it would seem they were very likely all drunk. The fact
that all had been drinking leads me to think that even sometimes "good guys"
might end up doing "bad" stuff (as in, with gang rape mentality). While I know
it says no evidence of sexual assault, I am thinking about how someone mouthy
drunk woman might piss off a group of drunk men.... leading to who knows what.
It would be nice if there were evidence that either cleared them or nailed them
in the long run.
But really, what DO you think happened?
PattyC
In article <20000402115244...@ng-cb1.aol.com>,
Maggie
>Maggie,
>
>Do you have thoughts on who the "right" guys are? I guess it seems odd
>to
>imagine that these guys did the killing, when they have no background to
>suggest it, and a couple were noted to be her friends. Nonetheless, they
>were
>last with her, and it would seem they were very likely all drunk.
***That's not true (the being with her, anyway). The guys were with her the
two nights* before* she disappeared (the 12th and 13th of January), but on the
last night (the 14th), they were together (the guys) at a bar 30 minutes away
from the bar where she was.
pattyc said:
The fact
>that all had been drinking leads me to think that even sometimes "good guys"
>might end up doing "bad" stuff (as in, with gang rape mentality). While
>I know
>it says no evidence of sexual assault, I am thinking about how someone mouthy
>drunk woman might piss off a group of drunk men.... leading to who knows
>what.
***But no one has placed those men with that woman that night.
>
>It would be nice if there were evidence that either cleared them or nailed
>them
>in the long run.
***I'm thinking that the so-called blood evidence didn't support the
prosecution case or they wouldn't have asked for this latest delay.
>
>But really, what DO you think happened?
****I know there's a lot of pressure in resort-type places for horrible crimes
to be solved very quickly, with extra points given if the crime can be shown to
be anything other than a native-killing-tourist thing. I can see the local
cops slobbering all over themselves at the thought of nailing a bunch of
Americans who already knew this woman.
Anyway--my guess is that it's a native-killing-tourist thing. Maybe someone
she already knew/had a relationship with.
Jim Morris
Maggie <maggi...@aol.comSPAMBLOC> wrote in message
news:20000402115244...@ng-cb1.aol.com...
> Personally, I think they got the wrong guys. From Newsweek:
> Murder in Paradise
>
> The death of an American 'eccentric'
>
> By Joseph Contreras
> Newsweek, March 27, 2000
Maggie,
What is your basis for coming to such a hasty "conclusion" as you obviously
haven't read the following article which appeared in the "Newsday" newspaper
on March 26th, 2000 (btw, the "Newsweek" article is linked via the following
Web site as I broke the story to the "Newsweek" correspondent):
http://www.b-v-i.com/newslinks/
>A Tropical Mystery / Southampton man, three others held in Tortola killing
>
>By Michael Luo "NEWSDAY" (STAFF CORRESPONDENT)
>TORTOLA, BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS
>On the last night of Lois McMillen's life, she left a desperate trail
>strewn
>along the edge of paradise.
>
>A hair clip...a shoe...a necklace. The detritus of struggle stretched west
>along a coastal road that winds its way past aquamarine waters and lush
>islands
> in the distance, leading to where her bruised body lay drowned in the
surf
>on
>the morning of Jan. 15.
>
>"When I heard about it, it hit me like a ton of bricks," said Quito Rhymer,
>a
>local musician who also owns a popular north-coast bar and restaurant that
>McMillen frequented, where his band plays. "That ain't BVI, man."
>
>In a preliminary hearing tomorrow, prosecutors will begin to lay out a case
>of
>murder against four American friends who have been held for more than two
>months in a mountaintop jail with ocean views.
>
>They are an unusual collection of suspects: William Labrador, 36, of
>Southampton, the owner of a Manhattan public relations and model management
>firm; Alex Benedetto, 34, a Manhattan book publisher and childhood friend
>of
>Labrador's; Michael Spicer, 36, a trust fund beneficiary from Washington,
>D.C.;
> and Evan George, 23, Spicer's lover, also from Washington.
>
>They have steadfastly maintained their innocence.
>
>Tortola authorities have been tight-lipped about the evidence in the case,
>following British rules on pretrial publicity. But they say they will
>unveil
>their evidence at tomorrow's hearing.
>
>News of McMillen's murder spread quickly, shocking residents of this chummy
>vacation retreat east of Puerto Rico. Here, the expression "just limin',"
>or
>kicking back, describes a life philosophy. Steady trade winds, warm waters
>and
>bright sun draw more than 250,000 visitors, especially boaters, to the
>British
>territory every year. Violence seldom intrudes.
>
>Since 1996, there have been just six homicides, and until McMillen, none of
>them were visitors. There is no crime laboratory here, forcing police to
>send
>evidence to Barbados, and no local pathologist to conduct autopsies.
>
>McMillen, 34, the beautiful and flamboyant daughter of a wealthy
>Connecticut
>business executive and his wife, had been a familiar figure on Tortola ever
>since her parents bought a villa there 21 years ago.
>
>At the time of her death, McMillen had been living with her parents in
>Waterbury, Conn., and Tortola while pursuing a career as a painter.
>
>She had spent several years in Los Angeles after dropping out of Boston
>University in the late 1980s trying to make it as an actress and model. She
>returned to New York in the mid-1990s to complete a degree at the Parsons
>School of Design.
>
>She loved to paint on Tortola, her parents said, especially on the deck of
>their villa with a view of the palm-fringed beach in the distance. Leaning
>against a wall in the villa's living room is the last painting McMillen
>completed here, dated 1998. The canvas depicts red flames rising up, with
>several eyes with tears flowing from them, as well as a dagger going
>through a
>woman's breast. It was an expression of McMillen's outrage at violence
>against
>women, her parents said.
>
>The title: "The World is Killing Women."
>
>The McMillens' vacation began inauspiciously after their arrival on Dec.
>30.
>
>The weather was rainy, and Lois was fighting the flu, said her mother,
>Josephine McMillen, 75.
>
>In years past, Lois McMillen had become a regular at the island's popular
>waterfront nightspots.
>
>A photo taped above a window at Bomba's Surfside Shack, a ramshackle local
>bar
>built of driftwood and haphazard parts and decorated by women's panties
>that
>are exchanged for free drinks, shows McMillen next to the bar's owner,
>wearing
>a tight-fitting purple sequined cocktail dress and holding a tambourine.
>
>This time McMillen ventured out hardly at all during the first week of her
>visit.
>
>But on Wednesday, Jan. 12, two nights before she was killed, McMillen went
>to
>Bomba's alone for a barbecue, her parents said. Lois bumped into Spicer,
>George
> and Benedetto.
>
>The trio, along with Labrador, had been staying at Spicer's villa, Zebra
>House.
>
>She had known Spicer since his family built the vacation home near the
>McMillens' villa in 1981.
>
>Friends describe Spicer as an intelligent, larger-than-life figure who
>enjoyed
>the fruits of a trust fund set up by his lawyer father by traveling the
>world.
>
>A Georgetown University Law School graduate, he bragged about how many
>times
>he'd failed the bar exam, and spent his time managing his assets.
>
>"He was a life-of-the-party kind of guy," said Justin Cohen of San
>Francisco,
>Spicer's best friend.
>
>McMillen also knew Benedetto, a former Navy Seal, dating him for a few
>months
>after they met in Tortola in 1997.
>
>Benedetto, a New York University graduate fluent in French, German and
>Spanish,
> was being groomed to take over the family book publishing business,
Camex,
>his
> father, Victor, said.
>
>George said in court papers that he'd never met McMillen before. He told
>police
> he had been Spicer's boyfriend for about 21/2 years after they had been
>introduced by Cohen. Spicer, in a letter to a Virginia newspaper, said
>George
>is a recovering heroin addict, and that George planned to pursue a career
>as a
>landscaper.
>
>After meeting at Bomba's, according to an affidavit from Benedetto, the
>group
>spoke for about an hour before McMillen drove the trio to Zebra House.
>
>The next day Spicer called McMillen, asking if she'd like to get together
>with
>him and his friends, Josephine McMillen said. When she said it was
>inconvenient
> to come for a swim and drink at Zebra House, he called later and
persuaded
>her
> to go out to Pusser's, an upscale pub on Tortola's West End.
>
>"As far as I could see, she was with a very safe group of men," Josephine
>McMillen said.
>
>Labrador joined McMillen, Spicer and George at Pusser's and another pub,
>but
>Benedetto decided not to go along.
>
>Labrador had met McMillen briefly on a 1997 trip to Tortola, according to
>an
>affidavit he gave authorities. A graduate of Southampton High and Old
>Dominion
>University in Virginia, Labrador runs his public relations and model
>management
> firm from a suite of offices he shares with Benedetto's company, said his
>mother, Barbara Labrador, a member of the Southampton Town Zoning Board of
>Appeals for two decades.
>
>William Labrador has known Benedetto since the two met as boys at the
>Southampton Bath and Tennis Club during lazy East End summers.
>
>The next night, McMillen's last alive, three of the four men said they went
>to
>Quito's Gazebo, a popular north-coast night spot on Cane Garden Bay.
>Labrador
>told police he stayed home and watched television, listing in detail what
>he
>saw, including an NFL highlight show on ESPN and a program on Area 51 on
>the
>Learning Channel.
>
>The men had spent the day on a hiking trip, and Labrador said he was too
>tired
>to "go out partying."
>
>After having dinner with her parents, McMillen, wearing a new Versace
>blouse
>with a golden swirl on the front and white pants, began the evening by
>heading
>to the south-coast Jolly Roger Inn, more than a half hour's drive from
>Quito's.
>
>She told her parents when she left just before 10 p.m. she would only go
>for
>about an hour or so.
>
>The Jolly Roger was crowded as usual that night, witnesses said. A
>two-person
>band played Caribbean music as couples danced in close quarters in the soft
>ocean breeze, but McMillen sat alone.
>
>She seemed not quite melancholy but introspective, content to simply listen
>to
>the music, some later said.
>
>"When the band was on a break, I saw her get up and walk to her car alone,"
>said Remy Companys, a former Bronx resident who now spends most of her time
>on
>Tortola. It was between 11 and 11:30 p.m.
>
>Christopher Crawford, a boat surveyor from Martha's Vineyard, talked
>briefly
>with McMillen.
>
>He mentioned he and his friends were heading to Bomba's, he said. McMillen,
>sounding dismissive, said she was going to Quito's instead, both Companys
>and
>Crawford said.
>
>Employees at Quito's, however, swear that they never saw McMillen that
>evening.
>
>"The way she moved, the way she dressed, if she had walked in that door, I
>would have noticed," said Japheth Destouche, 29, a waiter. "She definitely
>was
>not here that night."
>
>But Quito's had as many as 150 people crowding its small dance floor in
>front
>of a bar area, decorated by autographed guitars hanging from the ceiling.
>Other
> patrons overflowed onto the beach on Cane Garden Bay, which is dotted
with
>other waterfront bars.
>
>A local resident named Octave William, better known by his nickname, Wally
>Moon, said McMillen was there sometime after 11 p.m. In fact, he said,
>she'd
>asked him to dance.
>
>About an hour later, William, 47, said he was standing at the bar's balcony
>when he spotted McMillen walking west along the beach. Trailing about 10
>feet
>behind, he said, were three men. One was tall, about 6-foot-3, and the
>others
>were progressively shorter.
>
>But he didn't see their faces and when police showed him photos of the
>suspects
> he could not identify them, he said.
>
>"I wasn't really observing," he said.
>
>Spicer, Benedetto and George said they left Quito's around 2:30 a.m., and
>got
>home to Zebra House about 30 minutes later.
>
>Back at Belmont Grove Villa No. 4, McMillen's parents were becoming
>increasingly alarmed. When they awoke in the morning, they found Lois had
>not
>returned.
>
>"What we thought had happened was she'd been in an auto accident," said
>Josephine McMillen.
>
>After calling Zebra House several times to see if the men might have seen
>their
> daughter and getting no answer, her 81-year-old father, Russell, called
>the
>police to report his daughter missing. A desk officer took the call and
>promised someone would get back to them.
>
>Five minutes later, the McMillens' phone rang: "We'll be right over," a
>police
>officer said.
>
>By then, police had already begun to congregate at the location off of Sir
>Francis Drake Highway where McMillen's body was found at 8:30 a.m. by a
>woman
>walking to work. Chief Insp. Jacob George, who took charge of the
>investigation, noted McMillen was fully clothed and her body had "marks of
>violence" on it, according to a court affidavit. She was not sexually
>assaulted, and she was not robbed, police said. McMillen's rental car was
>discovered about a half-mile down the road parked at a ferry dock.
>
>After talking to McMillen's parents, officers went to Zebra House just
>after
>noon. All the men except Benedetto were there. Spicer, George and Labrador
>were
> asked to come to the station for questioning. Soon after, police returned
>to
>the villa with Spicer to conduct a search and found Benedetto had returned.
>During the search, officers seized clothing and "three pairs of wet and
>very
>sandy tennis shoes" the men said were worn the previous night, according to
>an
>affidavit. An apparently blood-stained shirt that Spicer admitted he was
>wearing the night before was also taken. What also appeared to be blood was
>found on one of the pairs of shoes.
>
>Forensic test results, including analysis of a shoe print photographed in
>McMillen's car, had not yet arrived from Barbados as of last week. All four
>men
> have volunteered to take polygraph examinations and to submit blood and
>tissue
> samples.
>
>The police insist their inquiry has been thorough and exhaustive, but some
>residents and supporters of the accused questioned their preparedness for
>such
>a complicated crime.
>
>"If nothing else, it was the height of the tourist season," said Cohen,
>Spicer's friend. "The police have to do something. They can't have a
>situation
>where people think there's a murderer loose."
>
>Spicer's sister, Chris Matthews, of Watertown, N.Y., said her brother
>actually
>brought the bloody shoe to the attention of the police. The blood came from
>a
>blister suffered during the long hike the day before, she said.
>
>As for the shirt, when the police came in the morning, her brother simply
>grabbed the shirt he had been wearing the previous night, put it on and
>went to
> greet the police. "Probably not what you would be doing if you had the
>victim's blood on it," she said.
>
>But Josephine McMillen said police told her that they also have phone
>records
>that show someone from the Spicer house called David (Sallo) Blivens, who
>they
>said was their cab driver for the entire night when McMillen was killed, 21
>times that morning.
>
>"Why would you be calling that many times?" she said. "To work out your
>stories."
>
>The McMillens flew their only child's body home to be buried Feb. 4 next to
>her
> maternal grandmother in Nassau Knolls Cemetery in Port Washington. Eight
>days
>later, 250 people attended a memorial service in Connecticut where they
>remembered Lois McMillen as a free spirit who cared about feminist causes
>that
>ranged from a battered women's shelter to the plight of women in Bosnia.
>
>Last week, Josephine McMillen had taken over Lois' old bedroom in their
>villa
>to pen thank-you notes to the mourners who attended the memorial service.
>Recently, they went to take a photo of a simple white cross and flowers a
>friend had planted along the road near where the body was found.
>
>The McMillens try to carry on with daily tasks but with limited success.
>Reminders of Lois are everywhere: their home, the art on their walls, the
>island itself. Even though they have hired a lawyer to keep them abreast of
>the
> criminal proceedings, they felt they had to come back to Tortola for
>tomorrow's hearing.
>
>"I want to see these characters who I believe killed my daughter," Russell
>McMillen said.
> > Subject: Most Recent Articles Appearing Last Week in the Richmond
> >Times
> > Dispatch
> >
> > The following is an article that appeared in the Richmond Times
> >Dispatch
> > newspaper on March 27th, 2000:
> > > Area/State
> > > IS IT BLOOD OR BARBECUE SAUCE? ISLAND MYSTERY HINGES ON DNA
> > > Carlos Santos ; Call Carlos Santos at (804) 295-9542 or e-mail
> him
> > at\
> > >csa...@timesdispatch.com
> > >
> > > 03/27/2000
> > > Richmond Times-Dispatch
> > > CITY
> > > Page A-1
> > >
> > > A white cross ringed with blood-red lilies marks the shore on
> the
> > west
> > >end of the Caribbean island of Tortola
> > > where Lois McMillen was found slain in January.
> > >
> > > On a steep mountaintop at the east end of the island - in a
> remote
> > area
> > >known as Balsam Ghut - is Her Majesty's
> > > Prison, holding four Americans, including one Virginian,
accused
> in
> > >McMillen 's death.
> > >
> > > The tale connecting the victim and the accused men is a
> complicated
> > one,
> > >underpinned by the affluent and
> > > eccentric lives of those involved, twisted by rumor and set in
a
> > exotic
> > >mountain island of palm trees and banana
> > > groves.
> > >
> > > The motive behind her death remains a mystery.
> > >
> > > McMillen was found in a small inlet by the shore of the
> Caribbean
> > Sea,
> > >apparently draped over boulders, fully
> > > clothed in long white pants and a white short-sleeved blouse
> with a
> > gold
> > >design on its front.
> > >
> > > Her long blond hair was tangled. The front of her blouse was
> covered
> > with
> > >sand. Blood oozed from an ear. She
> > > had been beaten about the head and face. McMillen 's personal
> > effects,
> > >including a heart pendant, purse and a
> > > hair band, were scattered in a trail leading from the road over
> a
> >low
> > >stone wall to her body, suggesting she had
> > > put up a struggle.
> > >
> > > McMillen , a striking, diminutive women, died from drowning
> either
> > late
> > >Friday, Jan. 14, or in the early-morning
> > > hours of Jan. 15, according to Patrick Harewood of the Royal
> Virgin
> > >Islands Police Force. She was not
> > > sexually assaulted or robbed.
> > >
> > > McMillen , 34, was an artist from Middlebury, Conn., who had
> tried
> > >acting. Just before her death, she had
> > > become interested in sailing.
> > >
> > > "She was a beautiful girl. She was tough," said Jim Morris, a
> former
> > >boyfriend. "I just want to get to the bottom
> > > of this."
> > >
> > > By the evening of Jan. 15, the four Americans, two of whom had
> been
> > >McMillen 's friends, were arrested. The
> > > events sent a ripple of anxiety through the island of 16,000
> plus a
> > few
> > >hundred longtime winter residents from
> > > the States known as "belongers."
> > >
> > > Charged in connection with the murder were Michael G. Spicer,
> 36, of
> > >Albemarle County, Va., and a graduate
> > > of Georgetown University Law School; William Labrador, 36, of
> > >Southampton, N.Y., who attended Old
> > > Dominion University in Norfolk, Va., for four years and who had
> just
> > >started a public-relations business in New
> > > York City; Alexander Benedetto, 34, of New York City, who
worked
> >with
> > >Labrador; and Evan George, a
> > > construction worker who lived with Spicer in his Washington
> studio
> > >apartment. All four deny any involvement
> > > in the killing.
> > >
> > > Spicer, who had lived just outside Charlottesville, Va., for
the
> >past
> > >eight years while taking care of his mother,
> > > was arrested after police searched his family's villa in
Tortola
> and
> > >seized a shirt that authorities said was spotted
> > > with blood. His sister said the garment was stained with
> barbecue
> > sauce,
> > >an assertion she has repeated in other
> > > interviews.
> > >
> > > "Michael Spicer admitted to having been wearing a blood-stained
> > shirt,"
> > >Chief Inspector Jacob George wrote in
> > > an affidavit filed in the Virgin Islands High Court of Justice.
> "He
> > was
> > >not able to account for the blood."
> > >
> > > Chris Matthews, Spicer's sister from Watertown, N.Y., where he
> grew
> > up,
> > >was incredulous at the accusation.
> > > "The `blood' was barbecue sauce," she said. She expects the
> charges
> > >against the four to be dropped.
> > >
> > > "I think the police force just wanted to bring somebody in."
> > >
> > > A preliminary hearing scheduled for today will determine
whether
> the
> > >prosecutor, called the senior crown
> > > counsel, has enough evidence to put the men on trial on the
> murder
> > >charges. The four could face life in prison if
> > > convicted.
> > >
> > > Relatives of the accused said they expect DNA analysis of
> Spicer's
> > shirt
> > >to be presented at the hearing. Officials
> > > confirmed that forensic evidence is being analyzed.
> > >
> > > Tortola, about 60 miles east of Puerto Rico, is the most
> populated
> >of
> > the
> > >dozens of islands and keys that make
> > > up the British Virgin Islands. Just 11 miles long, Tortola is
> >visited
> > by
> > >about 250,000 tourists a year, though it is
> > > just beginning to become commercialized.
> > >
> > > The island has no stoplights or fast-food restaurants. Chickens
> and
> > goats
> > >wander the rutted and narrow roads,
> > > and islanders occasionally can be seen prodding donkeys up the
> steep
> > >hills. Rusted cars and debris are
> > > scattered on the rocky shores. Avocado and fig trees and scrub
> cover
> > the
> > >slopes of the mountains, which run
> > > almost to the sea.
> > >
> > > The bays are dotted with yachts and sailboats. Huge cruise
ships
> >drop
> > off
> > >thousands of tourists almost daily
> > > into Road Town, the island's capital.
> > >
> > > The rich and the restless come for the island's stunning
beauty.
> >It's
> > >also a party island for the mostly American
> > > and British tourists who like to go pub crawling.
> > >
> > > But many of Tortola's residents are poor, making for dramatic
> > contrasts.
> > >
> > > At a seaside bar blasting calypso music, a Briton decked out in
> the
> > >colors of his flag can admire a $30 million
> > > yacht in the harbor, complain about the bad weather last month
> in
> >New
> > >Delhi, India, raise a Carib beer to his
> > > friends and call out cheers.
> > >
> > > A few streets back from the bars, at the tiny Adina Donovan
Home
> for
> > the
> > >Elderly, the sound of the residents
> > > singing a hymn a cappella in a sad British lilt can be heard in
> the
> > >narrow lanes.
> > >
> > > McMillen , by all accounts, was restless. She had been visiting
> > Tortola
> > >for years, staying at her parents' home
> > > at Belmont Estates, an enclave of expensive homes at the
extreme
> > western
> > >tip of the island.
> > >
> > > She was interested in groups that helped battered women and was
> a
> > member
> > >of Women in Black, a New York
> > > City group that demonstrated against the treatment of women
> during
> > the
> > >war in Bosnia.
> > >
> > > Her eccentricities were well-known to belongers and islanders.
> > McMillen
> > >dressed exotically, wearing angel
> > > wings and a tiara one day and a wig - one of red tinsel, for
> example
> > -
> > >the next.
> > >
> > > "She always wanted people to look at her," said a friend who
> knew
> > >McMillen well but requested anonymity. "It
> > > was always, `look at me.' The world was her stage. She was a
> nice
> > person
> > >and she didn't deserve it. But she
> > > was a spoiled rich kid. She was always alone."
> > >
> > > Charles "Bomba" Callwood, who owns a rustic seaside bar
> seemingly
> > >fashioned with driftwood, tin and
> > > two-by-fours, said McMillen frequented his place, which is
> popular
> > with
> > >residents and tourists. Callwood
> > > offers female tourists a free beer for their underwear, which
> hang
> >by
> > the
> > >dozens from overhead beams.
> > >
> > > "She was a good girl," he said. "She was a women's libber, a
> >fighter.
> > She
> > >wasn't interested in coming here for
> > > sex. . . . Some guys come here, they act like they never saw a
> woman
> > >before. I protected her."
> > >
> > > He has two photos of her pinned above the bar. She is wearing a
> > bright
> > >red, sequined dress and holding a
> > > tambourine.
> > >
> > > Spicer was well-known on the downtown mall in Charlottesville
> where
> > he
> > >frequented the nightspots and
> > > restaurants. Though he graduated from law school, he had not
> passed
> > the
> > >bar examination, his sister said.
> > > Spicer kept an apartment in Washington, but he lived with his
> mother
> > in
> > >their $570,000 Albemarle County home.
> > >
> > > "He was an interesting guy to talk to. Well read," said Gabriel
> > Strnic, a
> > >friend of Spicer's from Afton, Va. "He
> > > was a good-looking guy. People warmed up to him. . . . He was
> not
> > >violent. I don't see him being part of
> > > something so brutish and ugly. It's a shock to me."
> > >
> > > Spicer also has an eccentric side. In July 1997, he was charged
> with
> > >grand larceny for walking out of an
> > > Albemarle County furniture store with a $900 chair. He
> eventually
> >was
> > >convicted of a misdemeanor in the case,
> > > according to court records.
> > >
> > > "That was the crazy side of him," Strnic said. "He probably did
> it
> > for
> > >the humor of it."
> > >
> > > Strnic also remembered Spicer chasing two friends across
> Albemarle
> > >County's Farmington Country Club golf
> > > course in his BMW in 1997. "It was one of those nights," Strnic
> >said.
> > "He
> > >did it half in humor, half in
> > > frustration."
> > >
> > > "I like the guy," said another of Spicer's friends, who asked
> for
> > >anonymity. "He was a very wealthy, educated,
> > > socially finished man with that New England lockjaw accent. . .
> . He
> > was
> > >a crazy guy with a booming voice. He
> > > was funny. He was a perfect caricature of bored wealth."
> > >
> > > Labrador and Benedetto were friends from childhood, said
> Labrador's
> > >mother, Barbara, who lives in
> > > Southampton, N.Y. Her son and Benedetto had spent summers in
the
> > >exclusive Hamptons on New York's Long
> > > Island since they were 12.
> > >
> > > William Labrador started a public-relations firm to manage
> fashion
> > models
> > >last year in New York City.
> > > Benedetto joined him in the business, she said. In court
papers,
> > William
> > >Labrador listed his occupation as
> > > investment banker. Benedetto listed his occupation as book
> >publisher.
> > >
> > > Barbara Labrador says her son is innocent. "There has been no
> > evidence up
> > >to this hour presented by the
> > > police," she said. "Not even an autopsy report. . . . This is a
> > Tortolian
> > >twist on the British system of law.
> > > There's no motive. No reason. . . . He met the girl twice in
his
> > life."
> > >
> > > Tim Lee Sr., of Virginia Beach, Va., was in Labrador's
> fraternity at
> > ODU
> > >in the early 1980s and recalled a
> > > "clean-cut, good looking guy. . . . He always seemed to have
> money.
> > He
> > >was always traveling. He had no
> > > inclinations to violence."
> > >
> > > As for Benedetto, Barbara Labrador described him as "good, good
> >boy."
> > >
> > > George, the chief inspector, said in court papers that McMillen
> 's
> > >parents, who also were vacationing in
> > > Tortola at the time of the slaying, had not seen their daughter
> >since
> > >9:30 p.m. that Friday night. The next day,
> > > when she did not come home, they frantically called the police.
> By
> > then,
> > >officers were at the scene of the killing.
> > >
> > > George learned that Saturday that McMillen "had earlier been
> seen on
> > >different occasions in the company" of
> > > the four accused men.
> > >
> > > George went to the Spicer villa, known as the Zebra House,
where
> he
> > "made
> > >certain observations and obtained
> > > certain responses from [the men], which, to my mind, raised
> >questions
> > >about their involvement in the deceased's
> > > death that merited further inquiry."
> > >
> > > George obtained a search warrant and seized clothing and
> footwear
> > from
> > >the house. The men "identified these
> > > articles as having been worn by them on the previous night,"
> > including
> > >the allegedly blood- stained shirt.
> > >
> > > Also seized were other allegedly "blood-stained articles" and
> "three
> > >pairs of wet and very sandy tennis shoes. . .
> > > . There was blood on one pair of these shoes," George said in
> the
> > >affidavit.
> > >
> > > "My suspicions were being intensified by the nature of certain
> > answers
> > >given by the various [men] earlier, at that
> > > time and also later about these items, their movements in the
> > previous
> > >hours and other matters," George stated
> > > in court papers.
> > >
> > > McMillen 's rental car was found in a ferry parking lot about a
> mile
> > from
> > >where her body was discovered.
> > > There were signs of struggle in the car.
> > >
> > > The four Americans were charged five days after they were
> arrested.
> > On
> > >Jan. 25, they filed civil affidavits
> > > requesting their release. A judge denied the requests.
> > >
> > > Spicer, in his affidavit seeking release, said he had been
> coming to
> > the
> > >family's villa on Tortola since he was a
> > > child and had known McMillen for 10 years. Her family owns a
> house
> > just
> > >down the hill from the Spicers' villa.
> > > Spicer said Labrador, Benedetto and George were his house
guests
> on
> > >Tortola.
> > >
> > > Benedetto, in his affidavit, said he first met McMillen in 1997
> in
> > >Tortola and that the two "had a relationship"
> > > that ended amicably after three months. Labrador and George had
> met
> > >McMillen only shortly before her death.
> > >
> > > Spicer said that he and his house guests joined McMillen on
> > Wednesday,
> > >Jan. 12, at Bomba's Shack. The next
> > > night the four men and McMillen again went out to bars and
> > restaurants.
> > >Labrador left the group early that
> > > night, about 7:30, to return to Zebra House, while the others
> stayed
> > out
> > >late again. They said that was the last
> > > time they saw McMillen .
> > >
> > > Spicer and his house guests went out together again Friday
night
> > after
> > >some friends visited at Zebra House
> > > about 8 p.m. The four took a taxi about 11 p.m. to Quito's, a
> >popular
> > >restaurant and bar. Labrador, however,
> > > changed his mind on the way, got out of the taxi and walked
back
> to
> > >Spicer's house.
> > >
> > > Labrador said he heard Spicer, Benedetto and George return to
> Zebra
> > House
> > >between 2:30 and 3 a.m. Spicer
> > > said they then watched the movie "Vertigo."
> > >
> > > McMillen was seen late Friday night at the Jolly Roger Inn,
> about 20
> > >minutes from Quito's, one source said.
> > > But there also were reports that she was seen at Quito's much
> later,
> > into
> > >the early hours of Saturday.
> > >
> > > A dock worker told the Hartford (Conn.) Courant that three men,
> >whose
> > >faces he did not see, followed
> > > McMillen along the beach at Cane Garden Bay near Quito's about
> 1:30
> > a.m.
> > >Quito's is a 20-minute drive from
> > > where McMillen 's body was found.
> > >
> > > McMillen was buried Feb. 4 on Long Island, N.Y. She was praised
> at a
> > >memorial service as a deeply spiritual
> > > woman.
> > >
> > > "She was genuinely a good person," said Morris, her
> ex-boyfriend.
> > "It's
> > >ironic. She viewed that place as a
> > > paradise. A safe haven."
> > >
> > >Area/State
> > > A COMPLICATED TALE OF AMERICAN'S DEATH
> > >
> > > 03/26/2000
> > > Richmond Times-Dispatch
> > > City
> > > Page C-1
> > > (Copyright 2000)
> > >
> > > Lois McMillen , with striking looks, eccentric manners and a
> wealthy
> > >family retreat, was well-known among the
> > > pub-crawling crowd on the Caribbean island of Tortola. On Jan.
> 15,
> > the
> > >body of the 34- year-old American was
> > > found in a small inlet. She had been severely beaten and then
> > drowned.
> > >
> > > By nightfall, four Americans, including a Virginian, had been
> > arrested in
> > >her death. Michael G. Spicer, 36 and a
> > > graduate of Georgetown Law School, has lived just outside
> > Charlottesville
> > >for eight years, taking care of his
> > > mother. He was arrested after police searched his family's
villa
> in
> > >Tortola and seized a shirt allegedly spotted
> > > with blood.
> > >
> > > The tale connecting the victim and the accused men is a
> complicated
> > one,
> > >underpinned by the affluent lives of
> > > those involved, twisted by rumor and set in a exotic mountain
> island
> > of
> > >palm trees and banana groves.
> > >
> > > Staff writer Carlos Santos visited Tortola last week in advance
> of a
> > >court hearing on the case. His report will be
> > > in tomorrow's Times- Dispatch.
> > >
> > >rea/State
> > > A COMPLICATED TALE OF AMERICAN'S DEATH
> > >
> > > 03/26/2000
> > > Richmond Times-Dispatch
> > > City
> > > Page C-1
> > > (Copyright 2000)
> > >
> > > Lois McMillen , with striking looks, eccentric manners and a
> wealthy
> > >family retreat, was well-known among the
> > > pub-crawling crowd on the Caribbean island of Tortola. On Jan.
> 15,
> > the
> > >body of the 34- year-old American was
> > > found in a small inlet. She had been severely beaten and then
> > drowned.
> > >
> > > By nightfall, four Americans, including a Virginian, had been
> > arrested in
> > >her death. Michael G. Spicer, 36 and a
> > > graduate of Georgetown Law School, has lived just outside
> > Charlottesville
> > >for eight years, taking care of his
> > > mother. He was arrested after police searched his family's
villa
> in
> > >Tortola and seized a shirt allegedly spotted
> > > with blood.
> > >
> > > The tale connecting the victim and the accused men is a
> complicated
> > one,
> > >underpinned by the affluent lives of
> > > those involved, twisted by rumor and set in a exotic mountain
> island
> > of
> > >palm trees and banana groves.
> > >
> > > Staff writer Carlos Santos visited Tortola last week in advance
> of a
> > >court hearing on the case. His report will be
> > > in tomorrow's Times- Dispatch.
Jim Morris
PattyC4303 <patty...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20000402191908...@nso-fo.aol.com...
> Maggie,
>
> Do you have thoughts on who the "right" guys are? I guess it seems odd to
> imagine that these guys did the killing, when they have no background to
> suggest it, and a couple were noted to be her friends. Nonetheless, they
were
fact
> that all had been drinking leads me to think that even sometimes "good
guys"
> might end up doing "bad" stuff (as in, with gang rape mentality). While I
know
> it says no evidence of sexual assault, I am thinking about how someone
mouthy
> drunk woman might piss off a group of drunk men.... leading to who knows
what.
>
them
> in the long run.
>
>
Hi Patty,
Hopefully the forensics will tell the truth as to what happened to Lois that
night... Also, I don't know everything about the case yet, but the article
(which appeared in the "Newsday" newspaper from Long Island, New York)
included below is informative.
I have heard (to be corroborated) that an allibi being used is that they
went to an ATM machine at 11:30 PM (or close to that time) and then took a
cab ride home at 2:30 PM. What kind of allibi is this (if such is the full
extent of the allibi)?! The following article mentions that there were 21
telephone calls placed to the cab driver on the morning that Lois' body was
found. Were these calls placed before the police came to their door or
before? Also, why didn't Spicer tell the cops that the alleged blood on his
clothing was "barbeque sauce" when his clothing was first seized from him by
the Tortola Police? The most recent Richmond Times Dispatch articles are
included at the following Web site (along with the "Newsweek" article):
http://www.b-v-i.com/newslinks/
>A Tropical Mystery / Southampton man, three others held in Tortola killing
>
>By Michael Luo "NEWSDAY" (STAFF CORRESPONDENT)
>TORTOLA, BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS
>On the last night of Lois McMillen's life, she left a desperate trail
>strewn
>along the edge of paradise.
>
>A hair clip...a shoe...a necklace. The detritus of struggle stretched west
>along a coastal road that winds its way past aquamarine waters and lush
>islands
> in the distance, leading to where her bruised body lay drowned in the
surf
>on
>the morning of Jan. 15.
>
> > > hours of Jan. 15, according to Patrick Harewood of the Royal
> Virgin
Jim Morris
telephone calls made to the cab driver BEFORE the Tortola police came to
their door or AFTER?
Also, why didn't Spicer tell the cops that the alleged blood on his
clothing was "barbeque sauce" when his clothing was first seized from him by
the Tortola Police? The most recent Richmond Times Dispatch articles are
included at the following Web site (along with the "Newsweek" article):