#2158: Suspect rearrested in Haiti tourist murders (fwd)

[Robert Corbett <bcorbett@netcom.com>]

From:nozier@tradewind.net

WIRE:02/03/2000 13:26:00 ET
 Suspect rearrested in Haiti tourist murders
                                              
                                                                    
PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) - A principal suspect in the  killing of two  
French tourists and their Haitian companion was  arrested for a second
time by police after being illegally released, police said Thursday.  
Pierre Jean-Francois, a mechanic, was originally detained  for the Jan.
12 killings of Fernand Mullier, 53, his daughter  Celine,17, and their
Haitian friend Aubin Aspil, after police discovered the victims'
bloodstained rental car at Jean-Francois' house. Papers, passports and
plane tickets  belonging to the victims were found in the
car.             
A local police commissioner gave the order to release Jean-Francois for
reasons that were never explained, and he was  arrested again Wednesday,
police said.  Mullier, his wife and daughter were visiting Haiti from  
their home in northern France. They planned to open a business  in
Jacmel and were believed to be traveling with a large sum of  money,
neighbors in Jacmel said. Six suspects have been arrested and the case
is still under  investigation, police spokesman Jean-Dady Simeon told
Reuters.  The killings horrified residents of the poor Caribbean        
nation, particularly in the quiet seaside tourist town of Jacmel.
Thousands of Jacmel residents took to the streets on  Jan. 18 with
Mullier's grief-stricken wife to protest the  killings.