American, 23, on vacation with his parents in Bahamas leaves dinner to get a jacket, found dead

A weekend getaway turned into tragedy overnight in The Bahamas leaving a mother “traumatized” at the death of her adult son and begging for answers.

“I need justice for my baby. I need justice.”

(Video Credit: Fox 5)

Friday, 23-year-old Dinari McAlmont had traveled with his parents from his home in Bowie, Maryland to The Reef at Atlantis resort on Paradise Island off The Bahamas’ capital city of Nassau. After departing dinner to get a jacket and explore the grounds, concerns that he had gone missing escalated to the horror of learning he’d been found dead on the shore.

“They beat my son down in the sand,” the young man’s mother, Michelle McAlmont had told Eyewitness News Bahamas through her grief having been “traumatized” at the experience of identifying her child’s remains. “I need justice for my baby. I need justice.”

Speaking with Fox 5 Washington DC, the mother fleshed out the timeline some as she indicated that staff members had come asking the parents where their son was only for them to discover that his smart phone’s location-sharing was not turned on. Unable to reach him, a missing person’s flier was put together before police told McAlmont they were looking into allegations her son had spat on a staff member at a restaurant.

When the young man was discovered early Saturday morning, McAlmont described his appearance as that of someone beaten to death.

Addressing the press, Royal Bahamas Police Force Commissioner Shanta Knowles indicated that they were awaiting the results of their investigation before giving comment, stating, “We are waiting for the autopsy to be completed for us to determine the cause of death. We won’t be able to speak further on that incident until we understand exactly what it is that we’re looking at.

What was known was that, only days earlier, the State Department had issued a Level 2 Travel Advisory for The Bahamas calling for travelers to exercise increased caution out of concern for crime.

“Violent crime–like armed robberies, burglaries, and sexual assaults–can occur anywhere in The Bahamas. Most crime occurs in Nassau and Freeport on New Providence and Grand Bahama islands. Stay alert in the ‘Over the Hill’ area in Nassau, south of Shirley Street, where gangs have killed residents. Stay alert in vacation rental properties, especially where private security is not present,” read the statement as similar advisories had been issued over the past year regarding the Turks and Caicos Islands, Cuba and the Dominican Republic.

At Level 3 travelers were asked to reconsider their plans while Level 4 advisories encouraged they be canceled.

In their own statement on the death, the resort expressed, “We are deeply saddened by the passing of one of our guests,” and added, “Our thoughts are with his family during this difficult time. We are fully cooperating with the authorities as they conduct their investigation.”

Staff Writer

Native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and truth seeker, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and their dog and, when he isn’t researching current events and their impacts, you’ll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel.

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