Turks & Caicos makes New York nightly news for a murder investigation going nowhere; Club Med named in $10M Lawsuit

By Deandrea Hamilton

Editor

#TurksandCaicos, June 6, 2022 – The Family of Marie Kuhnla believes a Coroner’s Inquest has been called to change the record on the way the Long Island attorney died; the Medical Examiner in 2018 listed the cause of death as manual strangulation.  If however that is altered to accidental, then, says the friend of Kuhnla who was on that ill-fated trip nearly four years ago, it would mean everyone who is culpable gets off and gets away with the brutal killing of Marie.

These loved ones have vowed they will not let that happen.

It is yet another murder investigation by the Royal TCI Police which is being publically slammed for the sheer insensitivity of how the case is being managed.  From a lack of communication, to accusations that the murderer was allowed to walk away and leave the country without being charged and that the family’s devastation at the shocking news was frustrated by extreme delays and stone walling by the local police department.

Her son and the NBC New York news team travelled to the Turks and Caicos to attend the inquest in person and have been reporting on the matter.  Viewers are repeatedly hearing the heartbreaking details and the suspect handling of the murder investigation.

Kuhnla’s son says he thinks everyone is unconcerned about the family and only concerned about the tourism reputation of the Turks and Caicos.

Over years and even in recent weeks, the Royal TCI Police has suffered scathing reviews coming from devastated loved ones who publically criticize the Force for a nonchalant approach to their heartbreaking losses.  While the cases are all different, happening on different islands, to different people, at different times – the way police and tactics are described is unflattering, nearly identical in each case.

The inquest, says the NBC report, comes in the middle of a $10 Million dollar wrongful death lawsuit against Club Med, allegedly for colluding with others to as the family has said, cover up the facts of the crime.  Where Kuhnla’s body was found and how she died and naturally, who killed her have all been questioned.

A Long Island man, who was a guest at the time of the killing, who was also an ex-employee at Club Med was reported for sexual harassment by one of Kuhnla’s friends, who was on that trip.  Helma Hermans, also an attorney, tells the news team, she believes Yucallo had something to do with the brutal murder where Kuhnla was beaten and then strangled.  Fractured rib, dirt in her lungs, abrasions to the neck, were all outlined in various reports from authorities.

It took the family three years and a private investigator to see those reports.  It took them two years to get Marie Kuhnla’s body; it was horribly decomposed.  It devastated her husband.

Still no arrest and the suspect, Frank Yucallo was interviewed, named as a person of interest but eventually all charges were dropped.  Someone paid his bail and he is now residing back in NY, says the media report.  The loved ones of Kuhnla worry that the way she died could be changed as a result of the inquest.

Helma Herman says “the world is watching.  The world is watching.  If they’re afraid of bad publicity for their island it can’t get much worse than this.”