Bella Thorne hosts NYE Eve bash at hotel where female worker Ana Gomez was found murdered just 3 days earlier
Bella Thorne hosted a New Year’s Eve bash at the Hard Rock Hotel in Riviera Maya, Mexico, just three days after the body of a 21-year-old female hotel worker was discovered on the premises by the authorities.
Ana Gomez, who went missing on December 18, had worked as a dishwasher at the hotel for the past six months, Michelle Cuervo, a native of Chiapas who’s been living in Quintana Roo, a Mexican state on the Yucatán Peninsula, for the last 20 years told Daily Beast. He was a regular at the hotel and has friends who work there.
“This girl, Ana, was a young woman from Chiapas who was a steward [dishwasher] at the Hard Rock Café Riviera Maya, and she got lost [on] the 18th of December,” said Cuervo. “So her father, this indigenous guy from Chiapas who barely speaks Spanish, he came to look for her. The hotel was doing nothing about it. After 10 days, they found the body on the premises of the Hard Rock. The hotel is not claiming responsibility and the father has no money, so people had to chip in [to transport the body].”
The event was being promoted by Thorne and Diplo as a year-end bash, which would be held at a “secret location”. Fans who help promote the event on Instagram would receive $50,000 and two of them would win a sweepstake, which was two nights at the luxury resort. The 'My Own Worst Enemy' actress never specified how many guests will attend the New Year’s party or whether the bash would follow social-distancing and mask-wearing protocols. Covid-19 testing would be provided, she said, although testing has not been known to be full-proof in preventing an outbreak.
One administrative staffer at the Hard Rock Hotel in Riviera Maya told the outlet that the Thorne New Year’s Eve bash was happening at their hotel Thursday night. “The death of Ana is kind of national news right now,” said Cuervo. “The party going on, there is not so much [information] as it’s supposed to be in a secret location.”
Another Hard Rock Hotel worker said: “In principle, the event is illegal because they are prohibited by the pandemic. So while ordinary people can’t have parties, inside the hotel there are. It has misleading advertising, but it’s a party with Bella Thorne.”
Feminist groups in Mexico had protested the hotel to demand more information about Gomez's disappearance, just hours before her body was found. The organizations, including Siempre Unidos and Mujeres Mayas Quintana Roo, urged the hotel to release CCTV footage of Gomez’s last known sighting. “We demand that the Hard Rock Riviera Maya hotel take responsibility for what happened,” the Quintana Roo Feminist Network told SDPNoticias. “They must provide all information that can help clarify the facts, support the victim’s family to solve this tragedy and we demand that they make the recordings available of the security cameras to carry out the corresponding investigation.”
A suspect believed to have been involved in her disappearance was arrested by the local authorities. Quintana Roo Attorney General Óscar Montes de Oca Rosales identified the man only as “Carlos G.” The suspect was believed to be a hotel employee and working as a security guard, the Euro Weekly News said.
“Here, the people are very sad about the young girl, and about the government,” said the Hard Rock worker. “The parties are prohibited, but if you are a Hollywood star, you can do it. You can not use masks or any recommendations to stay safe. So, this is the situation… While at the door of the hotel they demonstrated for the murder and rape of the young woman who worked there, inside life goes on as normal.”