TARRANT COUNTY, Texas — Almost a year ago, Arlington firefighter Elijah Snow and his wife Jamie Snow traveled to a Cancun resort to celebrate their 10th wedding anniversary.
Unbeknownst to Jamie Snow at the time, it would be the last time she spent with her husband alive before he mysteriously died at the resort.
With little answered since then, Snow has filed a civil suit against the resort, Blue Diamond Hotels and Resorts, as well as RCM Hotel, Sunwing Travel Group and the travel agency Let's Go On Vacay.
The suit alleges multiple charges, including negligence and wrongful death in regards to the mysterious death of her husband, who was found dead at a theater close to the resort.
Authorities with the Quintana Roo State Attorney General's Office, who investigated Snow's death, said in a statement at the time that Snow died of mechanical asphyxia due to thoracic-abdominal compression.
The statement said Snow was trapped in a window when trying to enter a bathroom and could not support his feet on the ground, giving him no support point to release himself from the window.
Quintana Roo authorities said Snow's death appeared to be an accident but were still investigating what happened. The lawsuit filed now alleges the death to be more than just an accident.
The suit states the Snows traveled to the Royalton Chic Cancun Resort & Spa on July 18, 2021. Elijah Snow was without his phone, having forgotten it in his car at DFW Airport.
After a long day of drinking at the resort, Jamie Snow left the hotel bar for her room to go to sleep while Elijah Snow stayed behind to finish his drink. This would be the last time Jamie Snow saw her husband alive.
After waking up to find her husband missing, the suit states Jamie Snow went searching around the resort looking for her husband and asking for help from the hotel, asking them to call the police.
"Even more perplexing is that even though the hotel invested in RFID bracelets to charge alcoholic beverages to patrons and limit access to their hotel rooms, they failed to use that same technology to locate a missing and possibly dying person," the suit reads. "Even more shocking is that during the delay, it is likely that Elijah was only yards away from Jamie gasping his last breath."
She was eventually taken to the Cancun Police Department, the suit states, where she was told her husband was dead. When asked if she could see the body, the suit states she was told unequivocally she couldn't, and they later allegedly charged her to see pictures of her husband's body, at $100 per picture.
The investigator had told Jamie Snow her husband's death was a "murder without suspect," the suit details. While interviewing her, officers allowed several different funeral directors to solicit her for their business.
Later, through an attorney, the suit states, Jamie Snow had to give $300 in cash to officers for witness statements and crime scene photos, but was told no surveillance footage existed. Many of the numerous security cameras located around the resort were not working, the suit added.
Injuries to Elijah Snow included bruising on both sides of his head, several injuries to his back and legs and bruises and scratches on his face, hands and arms.
"The injuries she saw did not appear to be consistent with someone who had accidentally become lodged in a window only two feet off the ground," the suit reads. "Further, crime scene photos provided after his death showed Elijah's face to be covered with dirt and mud as if he had been dragged."
Additionally, the lawsuit states several of Elijah's personal items were missing, including several hundred dollars from his wallet.
Since returning to the U.S., Jamie Snow has still gotten only limited information from police and the hotel in response to her repeated requests for information about her husband's death, the suit details.
"That information has conflicted with what officers initially told Jamie as well as with clear physical evidence documented at the scene of Elijah’s death," the suit reads. "Reports received to date have failed to address key facts surrounding Elijah’s death and have left more questions than answers. In this regard, Jamie has been unable to verbalize an answer to her family, friends, and even children a most basic question: Who killed Elijah and why?"
The lawsuit is asking for more than $1 million in general, punitive and exemplary damages for the wrongful death of Elijah Snow.
Charges behind this include negligence on the part of the travel agency and hotel for failing to warn the Snows of the dangers of Cancun, and negligence by overserving beverages and failing to maintain secure areas of the hotel from outsiders, as well as failing to notify police in a timely manner.