California Man Slain in Dominican Republic
A California landowner and philanthropist has been strangled to death by three young men in the Dominican Republic, police said Saturday.
The body of the dead man, identified as Edward Sykes of Mill Valley, was found in a sugar cane field near the small village of Consuelo, about 35 miles east of Santo Domingo, the capital.
Authorities said he was killed on Dec. 22 but details about the murder were not made available until Saturday, when it was announced that two suspects had been charged with the slaying.
Sykes, in his mid-50s, was described by police as a tourist. But others said he had spent at least six to eight months in this Caribbean republic and had distributed food and clothing to the poor.
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