text: Posted: Monday, May 1, 2017. 6:45 p.m. CST. 
   
   By BBN Staff: Confirmed reports to BBN is that the bodies of Canadian national, Francesca Matus, and American national Drew Devoursney were found today by a search party. 
   
   The bodies were found in an area in Chan Chen Village in the Corozal District this evening around 5. 
   
   The couple was reported missing on Wednesday when their friend, American national Joseph Milholen, went to pick up Matus to drop her off at the Philip Goldson International Airport. 
   
   Milholen reported that he called her several times but to no avail. 
   
   Milholen also called Devoursney but received no response. 
   
   Since Wednesday, the police and volunteers had organized search parties and yesterday the white Isuzu rodeo was found abandoned in a cane field in the village of Paraiso in the Corozal district. 
   
   While it is suspected that the couple was murdered, the Belize Police Department has not yet released an official report. 
   
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   Comments ||||| The abandoned SUV of an Ontario woman missing in Belize has been found in a sugarcane field in the small Central American country, police confirmed Monday. 
   
   It's the first sign of Francesca Matus and her boyfriend, U.S. citizen Drew De Voursney, since their mysterious disappearance last Tuesday night. CBC Toronto has confirmed Matus, the mother of two adult children, is originally from Sault Ste. Marie and spends winters in Belize. 
   
   Matus's vehicle, a white Isuzu Rodeo, was discovered on Sunday afternoon near the village of Paraiso, Cpl. Herman Roberts of the Corozal Police Department said in a telephone interview. 
   
   Roberts said officers and police dogs have returned to the area to search today. 
   
   Last seen leaving bar 
   
   Friends of Matus, 52, and De Voursney, 36, say the couple was last seen leaving a bar near Matus's home in the coastal city of Corozal, about 130 kilometres north of the capital, Belmopan. 
   
   The Corozal Police Department confirmed that it found Francesca Matus's white Isuzu SUV on Sunday afternoon. (Channel 7 Belize) 
   
   Nancy Rifenbark, a close friend of Matus, said she's relieved police finally have a clue, but the abandoned SUV is also concerning. 
   
   "It's getting harder to keep positive, but I'm trying my best," Rifenbark said in an interview on Monday. 
   
   Another friend, Joe Milholen, told CBC that Matus was planning to fly to Canada last Wednesday. 
   
   Milholen was supposed to drive Matus to the airport, but he arrived at her home on Wednesday morning to find her missing along with the SUV. 
   
   Milholen added that De Voursney's motorcycle was in the driveway. ||||| Drew DeVoursney, 36, and Francesca Matus, 52, were found dead in Belize on Sunday. 
   
   A retired Marine from Georgia and his Canadian girlfriend were reportedly found dead by a search party in Belize, a week after the couple went missing. 
   
   Drew DeVoursney, 36, and Francesca Matus, 52, were last seen at a bar in the coastal town of Corozal on April 25 but the couple never made it home. Matus was slated to leave the Central American country on Friday but she failed to make her return flight to Toronto. 
   
   DeVoursney was expected back in Atlanta this week, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. 
   
   Matus’ car was found in a sugarcane field about 10 miles from the bar, the Journal-Constitution reported on Sunday. 
   
   Body believed to be Arkansas boy found after days of searching 
   
   “He’s been having a really good time down there, having a vacation,” Drew’s brother David DeVoursney told the Journal—Constitution. “He was looking forward to coming back to Georgia.” 
   
   The couple had been dating for at least two months before they vanished. 
   
   David DeVoursney declined to speak further when reached on the phone late Monday. 
   
   A family friend who set up a GoFundMe to help find DeVoursney said he enlisted after the 9/11 terrorist attacks served at least two tours in Iraq. 
   
   Woman 'fighting for her life' after losing part of leg to shark 
   
   “Drew is no longer with us. Someone had killed a United States Marine, my brother in arms, who survived Fallujah, Iraq and Afghanistan,” wrote Brandon Barfield, before quoting a variation of the Dylan Thomas poem “Do not go gentle into that good night.” 
   
   It’s unclear how the couple died and police have not stated whether foul play is suspected. 
   
   Sign up for BREAKING NEWS Emails privacy policy Thanks for subscribing! ||||| A Canadian woman and her American boyfriend who went missing in Belize last week were found dead on Monday. 
   
   Francesca Matus, 52, from Markham, Ont., was in Belize with her American boyfriend of several months Drew Devoursney, 36,when they disappeared last week. 
   
   Local media said their bodies were found in the Corozal district, in Chan Chen Village around 5 p.m. local time. 
   
   UPDATE: Deaths of Canadian woman, American boyfriend in Belize investigated as homicides 
   
   Belize police have confirmed they are investigating the deaths as homicides and Devoursney’s mother said the American embassy told her that the pair were found with duct tape wrapped around their wrists. 
   
   “Our thoughts are with the loved ones of the Canadian citizen who passed away in Belize. Consular services are being provided to the family during this difficult time,” Austin Jean, a spokesman for Global Affairs Canada, told Global News Tuesday. 
   
   “Canadian consular officials continue to liaise with local authorities to gather additional information.” 
   
   READ MORE: Francesca Matus: What we know about the Canadian found dead in Belize 
   
   Nancy Rifenbark, a friend of the couple, confirmed the discovery to Global News Monday evening. 
   
   “They were both found…They are dead,” she said via Facebook. 
   
   Rifenbark was part of the search team Monday and was the last one to see the couple alive at a bar around 11 p.m. Tuesday. 
   
   Francesca Matus' cousin/family spokesperson Ivana Pucci tells Global News "we are gutted" on the discovery of Francesca's body in Belize — Catherine McDonald (@cmcdonaldglobal) May 2, 2017 
   
   A friend of the couple was supposed to pick them up Wednesday morning, but neither the couple nor their SUV was at their house. 
   
   The SUV was found early in the afternoon Sunday, abandoned in a cane field near the village of Paraiso, north of Corozal. 
   
   The Canadian government has not issued a travel advisory for Belize, but instructed Canadians earlier this year to “exercise a high degree of caution due to a high rate of violent crime throughout the country.” 
   
   – With files from Catherine McDonald and The Canadian Press
target: – Grim news from Belize: Searchers say they have found the bodies of missing Canadian woman Francesca Matus and her American boyfriend, Drew DeVoursney. According to Breaking Belize News, the bodies were found Monday evening in Corozal District, near the border with Mexico. "They were both found ... they are dead," says Nancy Rifenbark, a friend who joined a search party, per Global News. Matus' vehicle was found abandoned in a sugarcane field on Sunday around 15 miles from where they were last seen leaving a bar last Tuesday night. It isn't clear how the couple died, though foul play is widely suspected. Matus, 52, who spent winters in the Central American country, was supposed to fly back to Canada last Wednesday, the CBC reports. DeVoursney, a 36-year-old former Marine who had been with Matus for a few months, was scheduled to return to Georgia this week. "Drew is no longer with us. Someone had killed a United States Marine, my brother in arms, who survived Fallujah, Iraq, and Afghanistan," said friend Brandon Barfield, per the New York Daily News. Barfield says DeVoursney signed up after the 9/11 attacks and served two tours in Iraq. Police have not released any official comment on the deaths.