Two Slaying Victims Believed To Be U.S. Tourists

Two women shot to death at a lakeside resort in Guatemala’s countryside were apparently American tourists, a U.S. Embassy spokesman said Monday.

Police in Panajachel, west of Guatemala City, said the women were shot in the head Sunday night. “It wasn’t robbery, because they both had money and jewelry,” said Panajachel police Chief Adan Castillo.

Death certificates identified the two as Lucinda Bousquet, 45, and Ann Ahern, 40.

U.S. Embassy spokesman John Roney was unable to confirm the women were American citizens, though he said it appeared they were. Embassy officials were investigating whether Bousquet was the same woman by that name who worked at a real estate agency in Anchorage, Alaska.

The second victim carried a credit card in the name of Ann J. Ahern that was issued in Alaska.

A woman named Cindy Bousquet had planned to visit Guatemala with a woman named Ann Ahern, according to a faxed itinerary she sent to the Anchorage real estate office where she works, said Jackie Dahl of Dynamic Properties.

Panajachel is on Lake Atitlan, a popular tourist destination about 40 miles west of Guatemala City.