Joseph Dunsavage disappeared one day in 2009 when he went sailing for a solo day-trip off the island or Roatan, Honduras. Dunsavage boarded the small catamaran and set off for his brief trip alone. He was visiting from New Jersey.
He left his wallet, keys, passport and luggage at the hotel where he was staying.
Sadly, there’s not much more to the story. That’s it. He just vanished.
After his family searched, they came up with no answers to his disappearance. His brother was confronted with the impossible task of trying to get support from the Honduran government and the United States government.
His brother, Jeff Dunsavage, wrote numerous articles about the disappearance during his search. Jeff also visited the island of Roatan and contracted local search crews for finding his brother.
He expressed his frustration for the poor investigation process and lack of help he received from the local government. This story is all too common for families that experience the disappearance of a family member in a underdeveloped second and third-world countries.
Finding a trustworthy lawyer in Honduras is very difficult, if not impossible altogether. Honduras has a considerable amount of corruption in government and on the police force.
Developing countries often lack necessary resources to locate missing individuals. The search and investigation is often left to the families themselves, which is particularly challenging with present dangers and language differences.
My heart goes out to the Dunsavage family.
I’m also very sorry to hear. I live in New Jersey myself. Where about a was your brother from?
I have also traveled much across South America and Europe and the Mid East. I just learned of the Froon/Kremers case last month! November 2020! I had taken a 6 month trip to Brazil and Peru alone in 2015. Had I known of all these cases it would have surely altered my trip. I’m certainly not oblivious to missing persons cases, in fact if you haven’t heard of David Paulides’s compilations of bizarre disappearances in state parks and jungles, etc, I do recommend to take a look.
He has been a state ranger and former cop and his research and documentations make him profound. I recommend people to check out his factual accounts because they are all and in every bit bizarre followed by baffling circumstances in each case. It really makes you think..
Thanks, Chris. I appreciate your interest and attention. I’m always looking for folks in Central America to collaborate with, so please feel free to drop me a note if you’d like to discuss.
Best,
Jeff
Hi, Chris. Thanks for the post. Curious what prompted it in February of this year, so long after the fact.
Best,
Jeff Dunsavage
Hi Jeff, Thank you for your message.
I live in Central America and recently I’ve been researching and writing about disappearances in Central America. In February I came across the story of your brother. It struck home for me because I had so many past experiences where I went out for a brief adventure on a whim, without thinking that something like this could happen.
It’s perplexing that your brother just vanished without a trace. It’s difficult for me to wrap my head around that. I can’t imagine what you went through.
I try to generate awareness about cases because I have a small hope that someday someone will find something that can give us more answers. I’m convinced that answers exist out there somewhere.
If there’s any information you’d like me to add or remove, please let me know. My condolences for the loss of your brother.
Chris