After going missing for three days, Lebanese-Canadian Antoinette Traboulsi was found dead, buried a meter under the sand on a beach in Cuba.
According to CTV News, Global Affairs Canada has confirmed her death was a murder. Absolutely devastated, her family is now searching for answers.
The 52-year-old mother of four was a hospital worker at Sacre-Coeur Hospital in Montreal, where she worked tirelessly on the front line of the pandemic.
After months of hard work, she decided to take a well-deserved break, a 2-week vacation to Cuba, which she loved. According to her family, she often traveled to the island and considered it her second home.
Traboulsi, who was known by the nickname Angie, traveled on November 13th but was last heard from on November 14th around noon. That was the same day she was presumed to have gone missing.
Her cousin, Sami Soussa, told the Canadian media that, a day after arrival, she went to the beach, and uploaded photos and videos to social media. “Saturday morning. she spoke to her mother by Facebook messenger and posted a video to her social media on the beach around 11:20 a.m.,” Soussa said. It would be the last time the family had contact with her.
That day, she was supposed to meet up with a friend. When she did not show up, her friend immediately informed authorities, but it wasn’t until November 17th that her body was found buried on a beach near her rented apartment in Varadero.
Her cousin, Sami Soussa, told CityNews Montreal that her body was found only after a 15-year-old boy walking on the beach spotted a hand or a foot sticking out of the sand.
Authorities told her family that her face was badly beaten and she had bite marks on her chest. An autopsy report also indicated that she had multiple injuries to her face and skull, as well as foaming of the mouth.
Shockingly, her family was never even contacted by Cuban authorities, Soussa told The961. Her family is now attempting to retrieve her body, which Cuban authorities have not agreed to hand over just yet.
According to Canadian media, Cuban authorities have no comment about details of the investigation at the time being.
Traboulsi leaves behind three daughters and a son who are utterly devastated. Her friends and colleagues are organizing a fundraiser to collect money for her youngest daughter, “who lost her mother too early,” Soussa said.
According to her family, she was a fun and vibrant soul who loved life, dancing, and lit up a room with her energy. Soussa called her the “dynamite” of the family.
Her passing is a tragic loss and more than an untimely death of a wonderful soul. It is a brutal murder that leaves her family restlessly seeking answers, justice, and closure.