EAGLE POINT, Ore. – Five years ago, two Eagle Point men died during what was meant to be a vacation trip on the Caribbean island of Anguilla. Now, family and friends of the victims say there is more to that night than meets the eye.
“We have had some people come forward with new information and we need more people to come forward.”
Debanee MacPherson is the older sister of Casey MacPherson-Pomeroy, one of two local men who who died unexpectedly while on vacation in Anguilla.
Still living in Eagle Point with her family, Debanee says it’s hard to walk around town without being reminded of her brother’s death.
“It’s hard when you drive down the road or you go to the post office and even these people’s family have not treated my family with respect.”
Casey and his best friend Caleb Guillory grew up together in the small town of Eagle Point.
Caleb, his wife, and two other friends from Southern Oregon were visiting Casey and his wife Barbara in Anguilla – where Casey was attending medical school – when the tragic events took place.
“Caleb’s family has now buried two sons,” Casey’s friend and talent agent Christopher Montgomery told NBC5. “Caleb’s older brother was also killed, and that family has now had to endure the loss of not only one child but two children.”
According to the Royal Anguilla Police Force, one of the friends, Alisha Gros, called police on December 30, 2018 saying her friend was not breathing.
When police arrived, Caleb was found dead on the living room floor. According to the report “his right eye was swollen and was blue black in color.”
That same night, Casey had a seizure and was rushed to a local hospital where he died.
The coroner says Casey’s preliminary cause of death was “pulmonary edema, cardiac toxicity, cardia ischemia, hypothermia, seizures.” We previously reported medical professionals told the family Casey’s death goes along the lines he was poisoned.
It lists Caleb’s cause of death as “asphyxiation, ligature and manual strangulation, multiple blunt force traumas, seizures.”
Former FBI Special Agent Bobby Chacon said “it would be out of the realm of possibility that either of these deaths was an accident.”
Chacon worked for many years as an investigator in the Caribbean. He specialized in Caribbean drug cartels, though told us he has investigated many types of cases in his time. He believes, like Casey’s family, that there is more to his death than can be seen on the surface.
Chacon says certain facts don’t line up with either Casey or Caleb’s deaths.
“I think that someone would have to spike that drink fairly significantly because that person would have to ingest a fairly significant amount for that to cause the death,” Chacon said.
Casey’s life insurance company hired an agency to investigate his death.
The investigation from Diligence International Group says he appeared to have passed away from drug use.
Despite police reports of illegal substances in the home at the time of the men’s death, Montgomery says Casey never had a history of drug use.
“I never once saw Casey use any substance of any kind ever,” Montgomery said.
Recently, Anguillan authorities have decided to reopen the investigation into Casey and Caleb’s deaths, leading to a new sense of hope for the families of the victims.
“This newest police commissioner has been the most open to looking into our case and we’re really excited to work with him,” said Debanee.
Casey’s wife Barbara, Caleb’s wife Carly, and their friends Chuck and Andrea Gros were all subpoenaed to return to Anguilla in March of 2020.
As far as we know, they’ve never returned to the island.
Both Casey and Caleb’s bodies were cremated within days of their deaths.
“The bodies were cremated very quickly without real explanation,” Chacon said. “That’s the first thing that as an investigator I would be looking into.”
As of this report, no one has been charged with Casey or Caleb’s deaths.
Chacon says ultimately, he believes someone out there knows something that could turn the tides in this investigation.
“I think there are people out there in the local community in Oregon and elsewhere in the US that might know something,” he explained. “Might have heard something directly from the people that are suspected of being involved in this. I think that at some point it becomes incumbent upon those people to put those social ties aside and approach law enforcement and say, ‘This is what I heard. This is what they told me’.”
We have reached out to Casey and Caleb’s widows and Chuck Gros but have not heard back. We also reached out to the Royal Anguilla Police Force about an update in the case and have not heard back.
Debanee says if you have information you think would help in the investigation of Caleb and Casey’s death, call the anonymous tip line for this case at 212-561-5793.
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