Washington woman found dead in Cancun, family wants body sent home

Sativa Transue was found dead at a Cancun hotel on Saturday, according to family members and local Mexican media reports.

Transue, 26, graduated from Eastern Washington and was living in Milton with her boyfriend when the two went to Cancun for the Thanksgiving holiday.

Mykayla Bolieu, 21, said she learned of her sister’s death from a U.S. Consulate official on Saturday morning.

Bolieu said the two had a fight on Friday evening. Afterwards they were separated, with Sativa staying on the fourth floor and her boyfriend moved to the first floor, according to Bolieu in an interview on Wednesday.

“In the morning, hotel workers found her beaten to death.”

On Saturday, according to Mexican media reports, local police reported Sativa was found beaten in her fourth-floor hotel.

The boyfriend was arrested on Saturday.

Bolieu said the boyfriend, while detained, has hired a lawyer, and they are keeping the body in Mexico for at least four days.

Bolieu has now started a GoFundMe account to send Sativa’s remains back to Washington.

“It’s so hard to get closure, and I don’t think we’ll ever have it, because we’ll never know what happened,” said Bolieu, 21, living in Spokane.

Bolieu said the two had been dating for roughly three years. Bolieu said she had begged her sister to leave the boyfriend after repeated issues within the relationship.

She hopes that Sativa’s death might inspire someone to get out of a problematic partnership.

“Just get out of the relationship. If anything, Sativa would want this to help people.”

Bolieu said there is a Celebration of Life planned outside Spokane on Dec. 11. It is open to the public.

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