Scarlett Keeling, 15 years and eight months at the time of her death, UK national
Died on February 17-18, 2008
Crime place – Anjuna beach
In the infamous case, the police had initially dubbed it as death due to drowning and drug overdose. The case was initially registered as drowning death that was vehemently challenged by her mother Fiona Mackeown who demanded second autopsy and murder probe. The second autopsy indicated homicide after which the FIR was modified. Over 100 days of the incident, the case was transferred to the CBI against after the mother alleged goof up by the then Anjuna police. The local police had charge sheeted Samson D’Souza and Placido Carvalho under sections of rape, homicide, drugging the child and destroying evidences, but following 16 months of investigation, the CBI was scaled down to culpable homicide not amounting to murder, outraging modesty, causing hurt by means of drugs, destruction of evidence and other sections of the IPC. Not only she was laid to rest four years after the death, the Mackeown family were shattered when in September 2016 the Children’s Court acquitted the two locals for want of evidence. Fiona, backed by her counsel Vikram Varma who has been assisting her in the case since 2008, then approached the PMO seeking justice. It was five months after this judgment that the CBI moved the High Court of Bombay at Goa appealing against the order. One year down the line, the case has not been heard unfortunately.
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Felix Dahl, 22 years, Finnish national
Died January 28, 2015
Crime place – Patnem, Canacona
Yet another goofed up probe alleged by the family of the young Finnish national. While the Canacona police’s primary investigation said he had died due to an accidental fall, a second autopsy done by the family in Finland revealed fatal injuries to his skull from a high impact weapon causing death. The family has now approached the High Court of Bombay at Goa demanding a CBI probe.
Denyse Sweeney, 34 years, UK national
Died on April 16, 2010
Crime place – Vagator
Six years after the UK national was found dead near Anjuna beach, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in September 2016 filed a closure report in the court as no evidence of assault or homicide was found. Sweeney, a charity worker, was found unconscious at a nightclub at Vagator and died during the treatment at a private hospital on April 16, 2010. The medical reports had stated that she had most likely died due to drug overdose. Police had said the negative report perhaps could be due to delay in the chemical test of the viscera.
Danielle McLaughlin, 28 years, Irish national and lived in Liverpool for several years
Died on March 14, 2017
Crime place – near Palolem beach
The Irish backpacker has flown from her hometown to Goa on February 23, 2017 on British passport. She was allegedly strangled to death and raped. The body of McLaughlin, 28, from Donegal in Ireland, was discovered nude in a field near the Palolem beach hours after she celebrated the Holi festival at a resort. The case is presently under trial in the local court.
James (Jimmy) Durkin, 34 years, UK national
Missing since February 15, 2015, found dead on March 8
Place of crime – Canacona.
This foreign national’s family also awaits justice. Mystery surrounds Jimmy’s death who disappeared and was later found dead. The news came as a shocker to his family as the backpackers had flown to India to scatter his mother’s ashes. The badly decomposed body of was washed up on the Canacona beach on March 8, 2015, three weeks after he vanished. His body, missing parts of his arms and legs, was spotted by locals at Dawalkhajan beach.
Kyle Arndt, 25 years, Canadian national
Died December 25, 2013,
Place of crime – Arambol
According to family members, Kyle was an adventurous and sporty young man who had visited 32 countries when he came to Goa and Arambol to attend a music festival. He shared a room with an European friend. They came back to the hotel after the festival and went to bed. In the morning Kyle was dead and his friend showed signs of serious poisoning.
Kyle’s family didn’t obtain any autopsy documents and does not know if any toxicological samples were analyzed or even taken. They suspect that Kyle’s and his friend’s room was treated with an overdose of insecticides or their drinks spiked.
Martin Neighbour, 39 years, UK national
Died March 18, 2010
Place of crime – Arambol.
Martin Neighbour was found dead on Arambol beach in February 2008 in a case that was classified as a drowning. His sister told in an inquest in London that her brother “looked like he had been beaten up”. Before his death, he had won about 800 pounds in a card game with the locals, and was found dead in the sea with a bump in his head and only half of his clothes on, including shoes. Family demanded re-opening the case and to probe the death as murder in a dispute over the winning amount and informed the police that the large sum of money he won was never found.
Caitanya Holt, 30 years, USA national
Died January 12, 2016
Place of crime – Khorgao-Pernem.
He was a former soldier in US Air force and a devotee of Lord Krishna. Family claims that he was attacked during his holiday in Goa. Ohio-born Holt died reportedly choking on mud in the paddy field as he was chased by the villagers and police after being mistaken for a thief. He made frantic attempts to escape but in vain. The then Goa Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar had termed the incident as unfortunate, but his family demanded justice.
Michael Harvey, 34 years, UK national
Died March 1, 2010
Place of crime – Ashwem.
Michael Harvey was an amateur photographer who was found dead in a beach guesthouse in Ashwem Beach. In an autopsy it was found out that he died of fluid retention in his brain and lungs but the cause of his death was not identified. His family struggled for five years to get the results from the toxicological tests from Goa, and when it was finally received, the report was inconclusive. Like in many other cases, this foreign national’s family too expressed their unhappiness over the police probe and demanded proper investigation.
Jonathan Ray Burbank, 27 years, USA national
Died May 28, 2005
Place of crime – Anjuna
Jonathan Ray Burbank was a young yoga teacher who was last seen with a Pakistani female friend at a night club where he collapsed. He was taken to his hotel room and medical help was sought, but he succumbed. The reason of the death was reported to be heart failure leading to pulmonary oedema, both possibly just a consequence of death and it did not say anything about the cause of the death.
The family members claimed that when his body arrived to USA, it showed signs of struggle as if he had been beaten before his death. They also made shocking revelation that all his internal organs were removed, which made it difficult to conduct another autopsy. His family was certain that he was murdered by poisoning at the restaurant, which was investigated by the Goa police.
