Kevin and Amy Sharp informed their family members in Iowa that they had arrived safely at their vacation condominium in Tulum, Mexico. That was on March 15.
So when their family didn’t hear from them on Thursday — a day after they were to have arrived in St. Louis — they became worried.
“If you have any information (last contacted, resources, or ANYTHING!) contact the family ASAP!” said Ashli Peterson, a relative of the Sharps, in a Facebook post late Thursday night that was shared hundreds of thousands of times.
On Friday afternoon, Peterson posted an update.
“Please respect the family at this time as they go through the grieving process,” she wrote. “Thank you for all the posts, shares, and kind words.”
Kevin Wayne Sharp, 41, his wife, Amy Marie Sharp, 38, and their children Sterling Wayne Sharp, 12, and Adrianna Marie Sharp, 7, were found dead in the Tulum condominium where they had been vacationing, police confirmed Friday. The family had been reported missing by their immediate family members early Friday morning to police in Creston, Iowa, which is located about 70 miles southwest of Des Moines.
The Sharps had planned to return home Wednesday, family members said.
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Police quickly made contact with the U.S. State Department, Creston police said in a statement. A welfare check at the condominium where the family was believed to be staying led to the discovery of the four bodies.
It is not immediately clear what led to the Sharp family’s deaths, but Creston police chief Paul Ver Meer told KCCI that there were no signs of trauma.
This was the Sharp family’s second trip to Mexico. They left the United States for Cancun on March 14, then rented a car and drove to Tulum, where they were renting a condo, according to Amy Sharp’s sister Renee Hoyt, who spoke with the Creston News Advertiser.
UPDATE: The Sharps have been located. They were found last night in their condo deceased. There was no foul play! At…
Posted by Ashli Peterson on Thursday, March 22, 2018
The family had planned to meet up with some friends at a water park, Amy Sharp’s cousin, Jana Weland, told ABC News.
But “they never showed up at that water park to meet them,” Weland said.
In fact, the Sharps’ family members hadn’t heard anything from Kevin or Amy since the day they arrived to Mexico.
It was also unusual for the family not to post photos of their vacation to social media, because “last year they shared pictures about every day,” Weland said.
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About a week later, on Thursday night, the family had a sinking feeling that something wasn’t right. The Sharps were supposed to return to the United States about 2:45 p.m. Wednesday from Cancun and arrive in St. Louis at about 6 p.m., family members said.
The Sharps’ family members decided to wait for the last flight from Cancun to St. Louis to arrive on Thursday in case the Sharps had just planned to stay an extra day, Weland told ABC News.
“I guess we were all kind of hoping for the best,” she said.
Then, the family tracked Kevin Sharp’s phone using Apple’s Find my iPhone app. It pinged in Mexico, Hoyt told the Creston News Advertiser. The phone had not moved from its location since Thursday morning.
The family’s mysterious deaths come amid increased travel warnings to Quintana Roo state, which is home to Tulum — a popular destination for those looking to explore Mayan ruins or snorkel in limestone sinkholes. The State Department issued a Level 2 advisory to those traveling to Quintana Roo on March 16, meaning visitors should be cautious because of increased crime there. Department officials cited a spike in Quintana Roo’s homicide rate since 2016.
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Last month, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel published an investigation that identified more than 150 reports from travelers who said they blacked out or became violently ill after having just one or two drinks at dozens of Mexican resorts in Cancun, Playa del Carmen, Puerta Vallarta and Los Cabos. It’s unclear whether those tourists were deliberately drugged or became random victims of tainted alcohol, according to the investigation.
Autopsies on the Sharps are being performed in Mexico. Local Mexican authorities have taken over the investigation, according to the State Department. The Mexican Tourism Board said in a statement obtained by CBS that “preliminary reports from local officials conclude that there were no signs of violence or struggle.”
Kevin Sharp was an avid stock car racer known as “the Sharpshooter” in the local racing scene, and he often competed in events in his neighboring county, Cliff Baldwin, his friend and fellow racer, told the Des Moines Register. He said he knew Sharp and his family his entire life and that he and Kevin shared a love for the University of Iowa and the Kansas City Chiefs.
“He was a great personal friend,” Baldwin told the Des Moines Register. “It’s hard to talk about. The more I think about him and the family, the harder it is.”
“Creston is close-knit like all small towns in Iowa,” he added. “He’s a big part of that community there.”
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