American Dakarai Earl Cobb, 47, had been missing in Medellín for two days.
On Monday night, worried, the owners of the room where he was staying in the Santa Lucía neighborhood, in the west of the city, opened the door to the room.
He was dead.
In the hours that followed, authorities reported that several of his belongings were missing, such as his passport, his cell phone, and his credit cards.
They are waiting for Legal Medicine to perform the autopsy to establish the causes.
Cobb's is the third death of an American to be recorded in Medellín in the last four days.
Violent deaths of foreign citizens in the city increased by 29% in the last quarter of 2023 compared to the same period of the previous year, according to data provided by the Tourism Observatory of the Medellín District Personery and that does not include Venezuelans.
It seems they haven't come down yet.
The American had been in that home, located on 47F Street and 89A Highway, for at least a month, according to the owner.
“We rented it because they asked us for a favor, because they were coming to stay for about a month only,” he told a local media outlet.
Santa Lucía is a middle-class, residential neighborhood.
It is half an hour's walk from the Laureles commune, one of the most touristic spots in the capital of Antioquia, where a large part of the foreigners who visit it stay.
Laureles, precisely, was where hotel workers found the lifeless body of American Anthony López, 29, this Sunday.
According to the Police report, hours before his death he had entered a room with one or two women in the establishment, located on Circular 4 and Carrera 70. His companions came out, but he did not.
When night came, seeing that he did not respond, the workers decided to enter.
They found him dead.
Authorities have not yet determined the causes of López's death.
His body was transferred to the Forensic Medicine facilities in the Caribe neighborhood, where the autopsy will be performed.
So far, it is known that no signs of violence were found on him.
A day earlier, on Saturday, another American citizen died mysteriously in Medellín.
Manley Mark Conley, 37, died after falling from the balcony of an Airbnb on the 17th floor of the Lugo building, located on Calle 6 Sur with Carrera 43A, in the El Poblado commune – another of the most touristic areas.
Conley had rented the apartment since late December.
The building's security cameras did not record that any other person had entered the house with him before the fall, which occurred during the early hours of the morning, according to authorities.
“Apparently, the victim was alone in the property.
The causes of its launch are unknown,” they noted.
With these three deaths, there are now four foreigners who have died in Medellín so far this year.
The first occurred on January 19, when Tomás Gedrimas, a 41-year-old Lithuanian, committed suicide by jumping from the 12th floor of a hotel in Laureles where he was staying with his mother.
Last year 31 tourists died in the city.
Tourism, drugs and prostitution
For years, tourists in the capital of Antioquia have been the target of crime.
Once one of the most dangerous cities in the world, Medellín has become a desired location for travelers from around the world in recent years.
This has brought positive and negative consequences.
In the city, known for its parties and easy access to prostitution, robbing tourists - often violently - has also become popular.
The city's new security secretary, Manuel Villa, addressed this type of crime in a recent interview with the Medellin newspaper
El Colombiano
,
in which he confirmed that there are gangs “that have specialized in committing crimes against some tourists.”
“We have asked Police Intelligence and Investigation to prioritize the structures, the coordinators and those who work for those structures.
We have to be able as a city to have a strategy so that there is also security in the city for tourists, but security in those points that are tourist attractions,” he declared.
Foreign tourists walk with two women in the El Poblado neighborhood, in Medellín, on July 29, 2022. Santiago Mesa
However, he emphasized that foreigners traveling to Medellín are also responsible for their own activities and safety.
“We are in the task of developing a campaign so that from the moment the foreigner arrives at the José María Córdova airport he understands that he is welcome, but not to this drug tourism and not to come to sexually and commercially exploit our boys and girls.
Regarding foreigners who lend themselves to illegal activities, they will also face the full weight of the law,” he said.
Local authorities are not the only ones concerned about the safety of tourists.
In early January, the United States Embassy warned its citizens not to use several dating applications in Medellín - among the best known are Tinder, Bumble and Grindr - after eight American men lost their lives there in the two months previous ones in diverse and strange circumstances.
There was no evidence of a link between the cases, but there was one factor that was repeated: several of them had dated people they met through dating apps in the last hours of their lives.
“Numerous US citizens have been drugged, robbed and even murdered by their Colombian dates,” the alert reads.
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