Montreal expat murdered in Mexico may have blogged about killer: report

MONTREAL – A Montreal woman murdered in Mexico on Thursday may have written fondly on her blog about the man who has been arrested in her killing.

Renée Wathelet, 60, had her throat cut and was stabbed to death Thursday in her condo on the Mexican island of Isla Mujeres. Wathelet, a retired financial consultant and grandmother, had moved from Montreal to the island in Mexico last March.

Mexican police have arrested a 24-year-old boatman named Jose Joaquin Palacios Garza, and Mexican news reports quote police as saying the man went to the condo with the intention of robbing Wathelet.

In her blog, Wathelet speaks of a boatman named Jose, with whom she had enjoyed “walks on the beach and one (or several) cold beers”. The blog item, dated Sept. 7, includes a photo of a young man on the beach, from the back. The blog item does not identify the man’s family name.

Wathelet wrote of “Jose’s” kindness and humour, as he answered her numerous questions about local history, landmarks and politics. She called him a “veritable encyclopedia” and even suggested she would begin a special blog feature where she would share his stories, titled Jose Tells Me.