A Canadian Blogger is slain in Mexico.

A woman who moved from Montreal to Mexico in seemingly a dream situation, to do INTERNET consulting.

(Through Google translator because my high school French vacated my brain long ago) 

March 21, 2009, 12:30, Flight AC1252 to Cancun off from Pierre Trudeau.
Although ensconced in the seat A24, I look away ... hasta luego hotel, beautiful island in the north - even if I go with one-way, and do not yet know the date of my return, I know I'll be back. In the hold of the Airbus, three suitcases containing all my worldly possessions: remember the reason for my last return to Montreal ...

(Original untranslated link here)

>Renée Wathelet was found dead this week, the victim of a particularly grisly murder. Very sad.

The person who has been arrested is named Jose Joaquin Palacios Garza. The police say he was intoxicated and mentally ill. I guess this will all play out.

The odd part is that Ms Wathelet, had written about this man on her blog, and had described him from her point of view. She  said this about him. 

responds with kindness and humor to my many questions about the island, the sea, the Maya, Yucatan, Mexico, politics local - and I forget.

(Original untranslated link here)

He told her local legends and lore, and other facts of the area.

Although I consider myself an old nerd, (I have been on the Internet since 1996, and was a BBS user and sys-op) before that, I will never get used to reading about these instances. We have read the creepy rantings of crazy people who went on to commit crimes, one who was hiding a crime, now a woman describing conversations with someone who may have gone on to kill her.

Also strange how normal things can seem sometimes, if what she wrote was accurate. She had no inkling back then that anything was amiss.

My condolences for all her family and freinds, and her virtual freinds and readers too.

Many of us develop fairly strong virtual friendships in our own networks. It's a strange online world sometimes.