Dennis Levy

[LatinIntro]

I heard Dennis Levy got mugged and may have been seriously or fatally injured in Medellin this morning from an unreliable source. Can anyone confirm or hopefully rectify this terrible news?

[fathertime]

Wow.  that is absolutely awful, if true.  Hopefully he was only injured.  Keep us posted on what the hell has happened to dennislevy...by his accounts he had finally settled into a more secure lifestyle, so this is tragic, if it is accurate.     I feel real bad for dennislevy. 


Fathertime! 

[Fuzzyone]

I heard Dennis Levy got mugged and may have been seriously or fatally injured in Medellin this morning from an unreliable source. Can anyone confirm or hopefully rectify this terrible news?

  That would really suck the guy has traveled all over S.A. and finally settled down to have this happen to him? I don't believe it I think it is all B.S.!

[fathertime]

I heard Dennis Levy got mugged and may have been seriously or fatally injured in Medellin this morning from an unreliable source. Can anyone confirm or hopefully rectify this terrible news?

Well I'd be curious to know more about who has originated this information, because I just read on another site that dennislevy was dead, that was coming from a guy who claims to be 'btb', of all people.  the circumstances seemed rather suspicious though, and I have a hard time believing it would go down the way that source claims it did.   I don't know though, I'm not seeing anybody step forward here and say they have spoke or contacted Dennislevy today, and he has quite a few friends, so that is a troubling sign.     


Fathertime! 

[LatinIntro]

Unfortunately, it seems this terrible news is true. I received a call early this morning from a lady member asking if I had contact information for Dennis' family in the states. She informed me that Dennis had been shot in a mugging. I just received another call from a friend of Dennis confirming that Dennis was mugged at gunpoint, refused to hand over what he had, and was fatally shot.


I got to know Dennis pretty well during his initiation in Colombia. I had not spoken to him in recent years but I know he was a pillar of support and information for many people in this board and for north americans travelling to Colombia. His passing will leave a void in our  lives.


If I can be of any assistance to friends or family here in Bogota, my email is nelson@latinintro.com and my personal usa number is 305-767-4474.

[mudd]

wow that sucks!!!!!!!  i tell everybody here, medellin is a dangerous city,  but nobody listens.

[Researcher]

     Sorry to hear it. Bad news for sure.

    Researcher

[Gato4Astrid]

Dennis & I never seem to like each other, but I wouldn't want him to be killed.  I am deeply sorry for the loss of a good man who had helped many people .....

[fathertime]

wow that sucks!!!!!!!  i tell everybody here, medellin is a dangerous city,  but nobody listens.

well mudd obviously this is a terrible evidence for what you have been preaching.


now i don't know if it is a coincidence or not, but just yesterday dennislevy casually mentioned on the board that he had up to 10000pesos at times with his wife, that is a helluva lot of money in colombia, and if a bandit somehow got hold of that information i could easily see a scenario like the one latinintro said happened...but still you gotta let go of the wallet in colombia when confronted, these robbers are just vicious/heartless....


poor dennis. 
Fathertime!

[Gato4Astrid]

well mudd obviously this is a terrible evidence for what you have been preaching.


now i don't know if it is a coincidence or not, but just yesterday dennislevy casually mentioned on the board that he had up to 10000pesos at times with his wife, that is a helluva lot of money in colombia, and if a bandit somehow got hold of that information i could easily see a scenario like the one latinintro said happened...but still you gotta let go of the wallet in colombia when confronted, these robbers are just vicious/heartless....


poor dennis. 
Fathertime!

"refused to hand over what he had, and was fatally shot"   seems more than just small money in the wallet.  We cannot say why he was mugged  (was it a random?  or was they pissed off at him?) and WHERE exactly in Medellin was he mugged?  obviously not from busy road???   Walk alone at night    

[Gato4Astrid]

wow that sucks!!!!!!!  i tell everybody here, medellin is a dangerous city,  but nobody listens.

Yes but you are living there!!!  Your not listening to yourself too!!!

[mudd]

now i don't know if it is a coincidence or not, but just yesterday dennislevy casually mentioned on the board that he had up to 10000pesos at times with his wife, that is a helluva lot of money in colombia, and if a bandit somehow got hold of that information i could easily see a scenario like the one latinintro said happened...but still you gotta let go of the wallet in colombia when confronted, these robbers are just vicious/heartless...

most likely, and im just speculating from past muggings/ robberies in medellin. somebody was probably watching him, either for 30 min, or a week.  you can be in  a mall, at the store buying something and somebody is watching you and your a walking target when you leave, or somebody talked/ blabbed or bragged about $$$ and somebody targeted him.  i doubt he was dumb enough to be wearing fancy clothes or jewelry living there.

Yes but you are living there!!!  Your not listening to yourself too!!!

havent lived there in quite a while, with good reason, just too unpredictable and too many robberies for my liking.

[Micky]

So typical of some here on P-L.  You do not have enough home training,  let me help you.  Say something nice or STFU!
 
Micky

[Fuzzyone]

So typical of some here on P-L.  You do not have enough home training,  let me help you.  Say something nice or STFU!
 
Micky

   I for one am hoping this is all B.S., I enjoyed tweeking him but never in a million years wanting something like this to happen. Dennis himself admitted he just went to the other side "He got married" Dennis never deserved this and this just plain sucks. I hope they get the F*ck who did this!

[fathertime]

most likely, and im just speculating from past muggings/ robberies in medellin. somebody was probably watching him, either for 30 min, or a week.  you can be in  a mall, at the store buying something and somebody is watching you and your a walking target when you leave, or somebody talked/ blabbed or bragged about $$$ and somebody targeted him.  i doubt he was dumb enough to be wearing fancy clothes or jewelry living there.

well I imagine dennislevy would be an obvious non-native and with that comes quite a bit of extra risk.  it seems pretty clear that keeping an extra low profile in colombia is how you play it safe.  this event certainly gives me second thoughts about returning.


Fathertime!

[Researcher]

So typical of some here on P-L.  You do not have enough home training,  let me help you.  Say something nice or STFU!
 
Micky

 Hey Micky have you heard anything?

     Researcher

[Micky]

If and when I find something of the truth,  I will post it.  A very rare commodity here and I will not repeat hearsay and speculation.  He did call me last week and we had cafe two weeks ago.  I do not know Gloria's number,  just her approx location in the barrio where her family lives.  I will walk the area tomorrow to see if I can find her and see if there is anything I can do.  I have doubts about what was posted here earlier and also doubts about the post over on GT,  and have valid reasons.  Nothing huge,  but a few things that I do not believe to be correct.
 
Micky

[AndyLee]

I am very sorry to hear this news. I had not talked to Dennis for several months but he did send me a notice of his marriage to Gloria in Medellin. He told me he knew Gloria for 2 years and was very pleased with his decision to marry her.
Today at 3 pm I received an email notice of his death, then I saw LatinIntro's post on P-L confirming the death, and now at 8:20 I have received a letter through Facebook from Gloria notifying all Dennis' friends that it is indeed true that Dennis has died.
I have searched Google, El Tiempo and El Colombiano and I watched the national news but saw no mention of it.
I am still not convinced that it is not some sort of crazy joke, but I have to think that I have three sources telling me this is true. I think if it were not true Dennis would have posted somewhere by now.
God Bless Dennis and Gloria, I feel a great sadness. I did not know Dennis very well, mostly through his posts on P-L, but I did learn a lot from his advice about traveling in Colombia and about dating Colombian women. I wish him well wherever he is.
Andy Lee

[John Q. Public]

Sorry to hear this news.
I'm a new member & Mr. Levy welcomed me over in the Introduction/Icebreaker
section last night.
JQP

[mambocowboy]

This is awful news. It sounded like he'd finally found his love after years of looking...My condolences to his wife and son...May he rest in peace...

[singlefather no more]

 
I agree with Micky. This sounds like a sick joke. Someone emailed me the thread. I just read this and I am trying to contact Dennis right now. I cannot believe this. He was always talking about his wife and how she was always waiting for him and how much she loved him. People like to make fun of him but all he ever wanted was to be in love and to be happy.


I read another site and Btb is posting a lot of details of what happened at the scene that I am not going to repeat. How does he know all these details when nobody can confirm this. Btb why do you not post it here ? If Btb talked to Gloria why does he not post that. Has anyone talked to or contacted the US Embassy ?

[JaxPaul24]

It's hit the news now.  Very sad to hear.... RIP Dennis.

http://www.elcolombiano.com/BancoConocimiento/A/asesinado_turista_en_un_hostal_de_el_poblado/asesinado_turista_en_un_hostal_de_el_poblado.asp?CodSeccion=211

Tourist killed in a hostel of The Town

A U.S. citizen identified as Denis Ian Levy, 49 years old, was killed on Wednesday morning in a hostel in the district the village.   The tourist was hit by a bullet in the chest and was found in the room he was staying.  Officials said three people who stayed at the place from Tuesday night are the alleged perpetrators of the murder.

The Metropolitan Police Commander, General Yesid Vázquez Prada said that the perpetrators entered the room of New York and after a struggle was dealt the killing.

Levy, who was two months in the city, was taken to the village of Medellín Clinic, but died before being seen.

[Gato4Astrid]

It's hit the news now.  Very sad to hear.... RIP Dennis.

http://www.elcolombiano.com/BancoConocimiento/A/asesinado_turista_en_un_hostal_de_el_poblado/asesinado_turista_en_un_hostal_de_el_poblado.asp?CodSeccion=211

Tourist killed in a hostel of The Town

A U.S. citizen identified as Denis Ian Levy, 49 years old, was killed on Wednesday morning in a hostel in the district the village.   The tourist was hit by a bullet in the chest and was found in the room he was staying.  Officials said three people who stayed at the place from Tuesday night are the alleged perpetrators of the murder.

The Metropolitan Police Commander, General Yesid Vázquez Prada said that the perpetrators entered the room of New York and after a struggle was dealt the killing.

Levy, who was two months in the city, was taken to the village of Medellín Clinic, but died before being seen.

  Are they sure it is the right Denis Levy???

[thekfc]

I was hoping that this wasn't true but it looks like it may be. Here is another news report.


http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/23696-us-tourist-killed-in-medellin-colombia-.html


A U.S. tourist was killed Wednesday in a robbery in a hostel in Colombia's second largest city, Medellin.

Colombian newspaper El Colombiano said 49-year-old Denis Ian Levy died in a hostel in Medellin's El Poblado district, after receiving a gunshot wound to the chest.

The report said the murder occurred after two women and one man entered a hostel located near the corner of Calle 7 and Carrera 35 - which corresponds with Medellin's famous Casa Kiwi hostel - and registered as guests shortly after midnight.

Medellin Police Commander Yesid Vasquez told the paper, "they searched the tourist's room [...] they asked him to open a box in which they found 20,000 pesos ($11.36) and that's when the problem started."

A struggle followed during which Levy was fatal shot and the suspects fled with Levy's valuables.

An anonymous source told Colombia Reports that the assailants did not register with the hostel and that the hostel's receptionist went upstairs to look for more money because the hostel only had 20,000 pesos in it's lock box.

According to the source, Levy was using a computer in the reception area when the assailants asked for his wristwatch. He resisted, began to scream, and was fatally shot twice.

Director of El Pobaldo's bar district told El Colombiano, "We need more control and police presence because [El Pobaldo] is the highlight of Medellin and what happens here affects the city on an international level."


Hope that Micky or someone down there can fill us in/confirm.

[John Q. Public]

Where was Dennis' wife during the altercation?
JQP