FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — On July 3, 20-year-old South African national Paige Bell was found murdered inside the engine room of a luxury yacht while it was docked near Harbour Island in the Bahamas.
According to the Royal Bahamas Police Force, Bell, of Johannesburg, was working as a stewardess on the boat and went missing for a short time.
5 p.m. report:
She was found dead with visible injuries on her body, and a man was next to her with self-inflicted wounds.
The man, according to police, is a 40-year-old Mexican national.
According to a friend of Bell’s, he was a crew member on the boat; he was arrested and taken to jail.
The boat was docked at a marina in Fort Lauderdale on Tuesday.
Her best friend Jenna Loveless says Bell was full of life.
“Paige wanted the whole princess fairy tale of, get married, have kids, and she spoke to me recently. Her boyfriend, they spoke about getting married,” she said. “She was surely the most amazing person I’ve ever met.”
Former crew members set up a GoFundMe to help Bell’s family with travel expenses to retrieve her body; she was weeks shy of turning 21.
Many questions remain over how this happened.
Yachts typically have several cameras onboard, which may have captured what led up to this.
A motive is under investigation. Local 10 News has asked police in the Bahamas to provide more information on this.
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