2 Kentucky moms say they were drugged, raped by Bahamas resort staffers; cruise never told them about travel warning until after assault
By New York Times
Published Feb. 8, 2024
Updated Feb. 8, 2024, 10:54 a.m. ET
Two moms from Kentucky are speaking out after they were allegedly drugged and raped in the Bahamas Sunday after the US issued a travel warning for the vacation hotspot.
Longtime friends Amber Shearer and Dongayla Dobson said their first kid-free vacation ended with a traumatic, broad-daylight assault when they decided to go to the beach after the Carnival cruise ship they were on docked at the island country.
Now they’re warning other women.
The moms were relaxing on a Grand Bahama beach when a resort staffer offered them a two-for-one drink deal, they told NewsNation’s “Cuomo.”
They accepted and took photos with the tropical drinks — one in a pineapple and the other in a coconut.
But they soon felt like the drinks were much stronger than expected.
Amber Shearer (right) and Dongayla Dobson (left) said the drinks they were given by staffers were much stronger than expected. LEX 18
Even their loved ones back home grew concerned when the women sent back videos where they seemed to be highly intoxicated just 15 minutes after their first sips, Dobson told the station.
“Less than a few [sips] into the second drink, we knew something was wrong. Something was terribly wrong,” Shearer said.
They went to look for seashells to bring back to their kids when a male resort staffer offered to show them the best spot to find shells.
The two women’s loved ones back home were highly concerned when they sent videos in which they appeared to be highly intoxicated from the drinks. Amber Nicole Shearer / Instagram
But the next thing Shearer could recall was waking up while she was being assaulted by a uniformed male resort staffer.
“I came to in the process of my rape,” she told NewsNation, breaking down.
Bahamian authorities and other staffers at the resort were able to immediately identify the two men accused of the noon assault through surveillance footage.
Two men have been arrested in connection to the asssaults. Facebook / Amber Nicole Shearer
One of the attackers had only been employed by the resort for about a week, according to Shearer.
Royal Bahamas police arrested two men, a 40-year-old of South Bahamia and a 54-year-old of Eight Mile Rock, in connection to the sexual assault, the department said in a news release.
Police are continuing to investigate, but the women say their allegations weren’t properly handled and that the local cops did not administer proper rape test kits despite their pleas.
Authorities and staffers at the resort tracked down the two men accused of assaulting the women through surveillance footage. Amber Nicole Shearer / Instagram
Back on the cruise ship, the moms received the results of their toxicology tests — which showed they had a plethora of drugs in their systems, including benzodiazepines.
They also had almost no alcohol in their bodies and had bruising up and down their legs, Kentucky NBC affiliate station Lex18 reported.
“To see the things that showed up on my [toxicology] screen was just traumatizing all over again,” Dobson said.
Now back in Kentucky, the women have hired a lawyer to get justice and are receiving medical care — including $4,000 in HIV prevention medication, according to the local station.
The mothers are also angry with Carnival — which they say failed to tell them about the US State Department travel advisory for the Bahamas until after their horrific assault.
The State Department issued a level 2 advisory on Jan. 26, just over a week before the two American women were allegedly raped.
When Amber Shearer (left) and Dongayla Dobson (right) received their toxicology tests, they showed a plethora of drugs and barely any alcohol in their bodies. Christopher C. Cuomo/X
The advisory advises US travelers to “exercise increased caution” when visiting the Bahamas due to crime and gang-on-gang violence that have resulted in 18 murders in January alone.
Five days before the moms were assaulted, Bahamian Prime Minister Philip Davis insisted that the country was a “safe” destination for tourists.
“The incidents described in the January 2024 US Embassy crime alert do not reflect general safety in The Bahamas, a country of sixteen (16) tourism destinations, and many more islands,” he said.
Carnival said it is cooperating with Bahamian police in their investigation.
“While ashore in Freeport, Bahamas on an independent shore excursion, two guests on Carnival Elation reported to Bahamian police that they were sexually assaulted at a local beach,” a spokesperson for the cruise line said in a statement to The Post.
“Our onboard Care Team provided support for the two guests as they sailed back to Jacksonville. Bahamian police are investigating the matter and Carnival is providing our full cooperation.”
