Maryland
Maryland man visiting Mexico for a wedding mysteriously found dead
The search for answers is underway after a Maryland man visiting Mexico for a destination wedding was mysteriously found dead at a popular resort in Cancun.
A week after the death, the family of Chez Johnson, 31, said his body still has not been sent to the United States.
Yulanda Williams, Johnson’s mother, told WJZ on Wednesday the last time she spoke with her son was before he left on Jan. 15 for a co-worker’s destination wedding.
The next day, she said she received a call from a family friend stating that he had been found dead.
“I got a call around 12-1 o’clock that Chez had died, that he had fallen off a balcony in Mexico,” Yulanda Williams said.
Williams describes her son as a “character” who loved fashion, traveling, and his family. He was looking to further his education after graduating from Baltimore City Community College (BCCC) two years ago.
“He was my partner in crime,” Williams said. “He went to every function I ever wanted to go to. He was pescatarian. We always seemed to be eating seafood.”
Now, Williams is demanding for the official police and autopsy report from Mexican authorities and wants answers as to how her son died less than a month after his 31st birthday.
“They just would not talk to me”
Williams shared Johnson’s last known location with WJZ. He was at the all-inclusive Riu Caribe hotel in Cancun, Mexico, for his co-worker’s wedding.
The only way Willaims got any information regarding her son’s death was by FaceTiming a family friend who was also on the trip.
“The young lady Tierra, who is my uncle’s daughter, had confirmed it,” Williams said. “So I needed her to call me, so she FaceTimed me, and I wanted to see Chez’s body. But they wouldn’t let me see. So, she had to confirm that it was him.”
Williams said, “Tierra was telling them, ‘This is his mom. You know, this is his mom. Y’all have to talk to her,’ and they just would not talk to me.”
“He is a gay male so it’s no telling how they treat people over there,” said Shantia Smith, Johnson’s sister-in-law.
“Who was the last person to see him?”
Nearly a week after the incident, Williams says no local law enforcement agency in Mexico has yet to reach out to her directly about the circumstances surrounding her son’s death. She only knows what friends on the trip have been told.
The only video and pictures she had received are of the now empty stairwell and balcony the alleged incident happened.
“They said he had no defensive wounds on him, his body was the impact on his body from the fall,” Williams said. “He told me it wasn’t from him falling down the steps. It was from him falling from a height. They first told me that his leg was broken. Then they told the young lady, Tierra, told me that his ankle was broken. So, like, what is it? So that’s why I was like, ‘I need to get the police report, because it’s conflicting stories.’”
Williams said, “She said they were like big boulders about ‘this big,’ like eight of them when they showed her. And she said when she went back, everything was gone and everything was cleaned up.”
Williams continued, “Cameras didn’t point into the stairwell. They pointed outside. When she asked about the camera, I asked ‘Well, do they have audio? No audio.’”
“We called the police station, we were on hold, they hung up,” Smith said. “We called again and said they do not speak English and they hung up. The hotel has not answered the phone.”
Smith and Williams also expressed difficulty working with a funeral director in Cancun.
“They changed the price twice, because at first it was like 174,000 pesos,” Smith said. “Then we had our funeral home here contact them. She said that she would discount it to like $7,000. But then, when she found out that we had an insurance policy that can cover some of the expenses, she took the price back up.”
Smith added, “Y’all dangling him in front of us, like, ‘hey, look, you can have this property when you pay the money, we’ll send the property.’ It’s the same thing.”
“I am in mommy mode trying to get things done, I am on the phone all day, trying to, you know, try to maneuver some things,” Williams said. “So, it’s heartbreaking. And my family is really suffering because Chez was loved by my family and so many people.”
WJZ reached out to the U.S. Consulate General Merida and received an automated voicemail and email.
Riu Resorts has yet to respond to our inquiries.
“Maybe somebody can investigate this place, I know it is all inclusive but you have, it has to, it has to be a limit,” Williams said. “He was my youngest, my youngest son. I just needed confirmation. I don’t want them there, I really want him home. So that I can put him in his resting place. That’s what I want.”
Johnson’s sister-in-law said as of Thursday morning, the family has set up an online fundraiser and they are working with the Mexican embassy on a potential investigation. But still a lot of questions remain, including how they’re going to get his body home.
Other recent reports of deaths in Cancun
In 2024, a 12-year-old boy was killed after gunmen on jet skis opened fire at a beach in Cancun, authorities said, marking another incident of deadly violence at a Mexican resort in recent years.
Mexican prosecutors said in a statement, that the gunmen were targeting a rival drug dealer on the beach and fled after the barrage of bullets.
The boy, a local resident, was apparently lying on a lounge chair on the beach with his family when he was hit by stray bullets. The boy was taken to a local hospital where he later died, according to authorities.
In February 2024, three people were shot dead by gunmen – one who arrived and fled aboard a boat – in Acapulco.
In 2022, two Canadians were killed in Playa del Carmen, south of Cancun, apparently because of debts between international drug and weapons trafficking gangs.
In 2021, further south in Tulum, two tourists — one a California travel blogger born in India and a German national — were killed when they apparently were caught in the crossfire of a gunfight between rival drug dea.
The U.S. State Department has issued a Level 2 travel alert in Quintana Roo, the state where Cancun is located. The alert warns travelers to “exercise increased caution” in Mexico due to terrorism, crime, and kidnapping.
Online, the advisory summary notifies tourists of the violent crimes that can take place, and can include homicide, kidnapping, carjacking, and robbery.
The state said the five recently traveled together to “a location in the U.S. experiencing an active measles outbreak.”
Maryland health officials confirmed five more measles cases, all in Carroll County.
“These individuals recently traveled together to a location in the U.S. experiencing an active measles outbreak,” the state Department of Health said in a release.
The agency said others may have been exposed on the afternoon of July 13 in the emergency department waiting room at Carroll Hospital Center in Westminster.
Another measles case recently prompted warnings from health officials in Maryland, Virginia and the District. On June 17, a Maryland resident traveled through Dulles International Airport and visited a D.C. urgent care clinic.
Measles is highly contagious. It can spread through the air through coughs, breathing, and sneezes. Early symptoms can include fevers of over 101 degrees, coughs, runny noses, watery eyes and face or body rashes.
It can take up to 21 days after exposure for the first symptoms to appear, and those who are not fully vaccinated or otherwise immune to measles are especially vulnerable.
The five new measles cases in Maryland bring the state’s year-to-date total to nine. The state health department confirmed three cases in 2025, and one in each of the previous two years.
“All Marylanders should review potential exposure times, watch for symptoms, and confirm they are up to date on their measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccinations,” the health department said.
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Baltimore may be under an extreme heat alert, but residents can dream about autumn, as tickets are now on sale for the Maryland Fall Home & Garden + Craft Show returning to the Maryland State Fairgrounds in October.
This three-day celebration of home and garden takes place from Friday, Oct. 16 through Sunday, Oct. 18 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. each day. Expect hundreds of exhibitors, local makers, home improvement experts, family-friendly experiences and celebrity guests. The show offers everyone the chance to explore the very latest in home improvement, landscaping, outdoor living and decor, the chance to take part in hands-on experiences, and do some holiday shopping all under one roof.
This year’s show will have more than 300 exhibitors, including more than 100 crafters from around Maryland in the Makers Market. There will be unique exhibits, stage presentations and a special appearance by Chase Morrill, Ashley Morrill-Eldridge and Ryan Eldridge from Magnolia Network’s hit series “Maine Cabin Masters.” The three will have two Main Stage appearances, one on Friday, Oct. 16 at 4 p.m. and the second on Saturday, Oct. 17 at 12 p.m.
“As temperatures start to drop and the holiday season comes into view, the Maryland Fall Home & Garden + Craft Show is a place to gather ideas, meet local experts and get inspired before the busy season begins,” said Dave Paul, show manager, in a statement. “Whether attendees are planning a home project, looking for outdoor living ideas or getting a head start on holiday shopping, the show brings together resources and experiences for every kind of homeowner, maker and DIY enthusiast.”
In addition to the Makers Market and stars of “Maine Cabin Masters”, the Maryland Fall Home & Garden + Craft Show will have a petting zoo, a Kids Market where attendees can shop from local children, and much more.
Tickets are available online and at the door. Prices are as follows:
Online:
- Adults: $8
- Senior Citizens (60+): $6
- Children (ages 6-12): $4
- 4-Pack Online: $30 for four tickets, valid for one admission each and one day only
At the door:
- Adults: $10
- Senior Citizens (60+): $8
- Children (ages 6-12): $4
- Friday & Saturday: $4 after 4 p.m. at the door only
Special Offers:
- Active and retired military personnel, veterans, firefighters and police officers receive free admission all weekend, along with one guest, with valid ID at the box office.
- Attendees who show a CharmPass app, Light RailLink ticket or eligible transit pass at the box office receive free admission any day of the show. One admission is available per pass.
The Maryland State Fairgrounds is located at 2200 York Road in Lutherville-Timonium.
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Maryland
Maryland police arrest alleged bank robber wielding stolen cat: ‘Tried to use her as an accessory’
Law enforcement agencies are accustomed to dealing with cat burglars – but now a Maryland police department is saying it grappled with a cat-wielding bank robber.
The Prince George’s county police department said its officers arrested a man suspected of stealing a cat and then taking the animal with him to a PNC bank branch in the local community of Beltsville to rob the establishment on Monday morning.
“The cat was returned” after the suspect was arrested, the police department said in a statement to the Guardian on Tuesday. The agency said no injuries were reported, and it declined to name the suspect or release additional details, saying the case – bound for a spot in the annals of bizarre reported US crimes – remained under investigation.
Nonetheless, a social media post from rescue shelter Beltsville Community Cats provided more information.
A Beltsville Community Cats Facebook page post on Monday identified the cat at the center of the alleged botched caper as Magnolia, a three-and-a-half-month-old tuxedo kitten. The shelter recounted how the suspect first snatched Magnolia from her “adoption habitat” at Beltsville’s Pet Supplies Plus store, took her across the parking lot to a PNC branch, and “tried to use her as an accessory in [an] attempted robbery”.
“He asked the bank manager to hold the kitten while he wrote a note, then handed the note to a teller demanding all the cash,” the post continued. “Thankfully, the robbery was unsuccessful, the suspect was arrested, and Magnolia was found safe and sound in the bank manager’s office, where the two had bonded over their shared ordeal.”
Pet Supplies Plus store employees told the NBC affiliate in nearby Washington DC that Magnolia’s cat napper had come in daily for about two weeks and focused on the kitten each time.
Finally, on Monday, he managed to use a key to open a cat adoption area and whisked Magnolia away, store employees said to the outlet, WRC.
Store manager Aaron Kurkowski told WRC that Magnolia’s thief “came in and saw none of my team was nearby the front – and he just went right to her and ran right on out”.
According to WRC, Stephanie Stullich of Beltsville Community Cats then received a call from a pet store employee who alerted her to Magnolia’s plight.
That prompted Stullich to run over to the store, where she said to WRC that she “immediately saw all of these police cars and … thought, ‘Wow, that’s a heck of a response for a stolen cat’.”
“But then I realized they all were going down to the bank,” Stullich recalled to WRC. “They came back out a few minutes later and said, ‘Yes, there is a cat inside the bank.’”
Two days before her catnapping, Magnolia was the subject of a Beltsville Community Cats Facebook post inviting people to see her at Pet Supplies Plus and consider adopting her.
Magnolia as of Monday was still waiting to be adopted, Beltsville Community Cats said in its post detailing the bank robbery.
The non-profit organization offered members of the public the opportunity to apply to adopt Magnolia by emailing rescue@beltsvillecats.net.
Beltsville Community Cats’ post also joked that Magnolia’s “brief ‘life of crime’ is behind her” – except for undoubtedly “stealing” hearts, treats, toys and cuddles wherever her forever home may be.
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