Chicago Tourist Murdered on Vacation in Belize

A 39-year-old Chicago woman vacationing in Belize was found murdered Friday afternoon, her head and neck lacerated and beaten. After a search that began Thursday, Anne Swaney was found face down in a river at a vacation spot known for horse enthusiasts.

Swaney, who lived in Lincoln Square on Chicago’s North Side, was executive producer at abc7chicago.com, where she had worked for the last 16 years, and her friends and colleagues were stunned and grief-stricken upon learning of her death.

“To say that she was a pivot around which we all orbited would be an understatement,” Heather Clark, a friend, told ABC 7 Chicago.

Swaney, who traveled often and had visited Belize in the past, was staying at the Nabitunich Resort near the town of San Jose Succotz in western Belize.

ABC 7 Chicago reports:

On Thursday morning, Anne was supposed to go on a group horseback trip through the woods, but there were more riders than horses, so she stayed back. She came down to a wooden deck on the river to do yoga and never returned.

“A horse riding tour returned in the afternoon and found her personal effects on the deck. This looked suspicious so they went to her cabin and she wasn’t there. They told the owner who called the police. The police came with their canine unit and the scent led them along the river but due to the darkness the search was called off for the night before finding her,” Police Supt. Daniel Arzu told the I-Team.

Police teams resumed searching Friday morning, when her body was found face down in the river. Police said there were obvious signs someone had killed her.

“Her neck and either side of her head had laceration and that led us to believe it was a case of murder,” Supt. Arzu said.

Anne Swaney

Local police are investigating. One person is in custody and being questioned, reports the Belize News. That part of Belize, the Cayo District, is popular with tourists. The hotel and surrounding farm are near the Guatemalan border, however, and that may complicate the investigation. Armed robberies are not uncommon near the border area. The nation, in general, is plagued with violence.

Swaney, who grew up in Missouri, was remembered as an innovator by her colleagues. She graduated from Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism.

“She was a trailblazer in the digital news space and was one of our first website employees. Anne helped us evolve our business and our newsroom, but most importantly, she was a kind person who was always had a smile and a positive attitude,” said John H. Idler, president and general manager of ABC 7 Chicago.

Retired ABC reporter Paul Meincke remembers her as “wonderful, and wonderfully talented ... Now we are just numb.”

“She loved horses and bike rides. She had a quick wit and a great laugh. She was whip smart and, as a journalist, she didn’t believe in short cuts,” he wrote on Facebook.