In November of 2005 68 year old American national John Dresp (Drest) arrived in Belize on Norwegian's Dream Cruise but it quickly became a nightmare for his family when he went missing while snorkeling on a tour with Discovery Divers in Shark Ray Alley. There were intense search efforts for five days but there was no sign of Dresp. It is now 13 months later and his body has still not been recovered and he is still classified by police as "missing." This morning a coroner's inquest began in front of Magistrate Roberto Ordonez but it has been adjourned until January because some witnesses weren't properly summoned. The main witnesses who did testify were John's brother Donald and Donald's wife Winifred Dresp who flew in from New Mexico. We first met the distressed couple last year and 13 months later we met them disturbed. Here's why.
Donald Dresp, Brother of Missing Snorkeler
"We are not rich, we do not have a lot of money. We came back here with a sacrifice to find out that there are only people that testified, the two of
us. The people from the catamaran company will be testifying on January 9th."
Winifred Dresp, Sister-in-law of Missing
"We came back to bring some closure because we have lived with this grief for the past year."
Donald Dresp,
"We're just devastated that we have spent all this money for today and to have no one else testify."
Keith Swift,
There has been some rumors swirling around out there that this is an insurance scam. They have never found your brother's body and that he is living happily somewhere in Europe with the insurance money that you guys collected and you guys are sending to him.
Donald Dresp,
'I would give anything to know who started or who would spread such a horrible vicious malicious rumor because they ought to go to hell because it is the most horrible thing on earth. My brother was a great man. If you had been at his funeral in Omaha Nebraska at the cathedral church there, everyone was there for the funeral and whoever started this, they should burn in hell."
Winifred Dresp,
"We are not here to sue, we just want to bring closure for ourselves and our family. John was his only brother and they grew up very close all their lives and ultimately we would like closure and a death certificate for his daughters so they can close his affairs. He was a car salesman, he was not a wealthy person, he had no insurance, but he was greatly loved by many people."
The inquest resumes on January 9th. The Dresps say they cannot afford to fly back to Belize then. The family plans to lobby the U.S. Congress to pass stricter measures on cruise lines. For more on their plight you can visit InternationalCruiseVictims.org.
