April 10 (UPI) -- The New York couple that went missing last month in the Dominican Republic may have died in a car crash, authorities in that country said.
National Police spokesman Frank Felix Duran said that fishermen found a man's body in the water off San Souci on March 31. Authorities believe it's Orlando Moore. A car, believed to be the couple's rental car, is underwater nearby but divers have been unable to recover it because of the weather.
The body of a woman was found near where a car crash occurred on March 27, the day the couple was scheduled to return to the United States. She had multiple trauma injuries and was taken via ambulance to the hospital where she died on April 4. It's now believed the woman was Moore's girlfriend, Portia Ravenelle.
Duran said investigators believe the couple was involved in a fatal car crash as they headed to the airport to fly home from the four-day vacation. Dominican police have been communicating with the U.S. embassy and sent fingerprints from both bodies for identification.
Neither body had identification when they were found.
"When a U.S. citizen is missing, we work closely with local authorities as they carry out their search efforts and share information with families however we can," the U.S. State Department said in a statement.
Relatives in the United States said it was out of character for Moore and Ravenelle to go missing with no communication. They continue posting photos online hoping someone will recognize them.
