Last message from Iowa family found dead in Mexico: ‘We made it to our condo’

An Iowa family of four who went missing while on vacation in Mexico has been found dead in a rental resort condo there, officials in Creston, Iowa, have confirmed.

The family — identified as Kevin, 41; Amy, 38; Sterling, 12; and Adrianna Sharp, 7 — was found dead in a tourist complex in Tulum, Mexico, reported KCCI in Des Moines on Friday.

The Sharps had reportedly only contacted two people since leaving for Mexico on March 14 and family members posted alerts to social media after the Sharps did not arrive home Wednesday as expected.

Creston police said no obvious traumatic injuries were found on the bodies, but officials are still waiting for autopsy reports. Iowa officials are working with both Mexican authorities and the U.S. State Department to determine what happened, according to KCCI.

The Yucatan Times in Mexico reported that the four bodies "were found in advanced state of decomposition" inside a condo registered to Kevin Sharp at Bahía Príncipe resort in Tulum.

The paper also noted that "local authorities declared that there was absolutely no foul play or signs of violence in the crime scene" and that "the two children were found in the living room and the adults inside one of the bedrooms."

Ashli Peterson, whose connection to the family is not known, posted a frantic plea for help in finding the Sharps on Thursday.

"EMERGENCY!!!! We are looking for 4 very important people! The faster this post circulates the quicker we as a family can get information and find our family!" she posted on Facebook.

She described how the Sharps left the United States on March 14 bound for Tulum, a seaside town on the Caribbean coastline of Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula known for its well-preserved Mayan ruins.

They were scheduled to fly back from Cancun on Wednesday, March 21, and arrive in St. Louis at 6 p.m. They had plans to attend a Southwestern Community College basketball game on Thursday in Danville, Ill., she wrote.

"There has still not been any contact from them. They have not been in contact with family or friends since LAST Thursday night after reporting that they made it to their condo safely," Peterson wrote.

"We are extremely worried and hope they are found soon or can contact their family. We have filed a missing persons report through the US Embassy in Mexico already. We have also pinged cells phones and show that they are still in Mexico with no movement on their phones. Social media is also inactive. "

Before news of the deaths was announced, police in Creston confirmed to The Des Moines Register that they had received a valid missing persons report on the family.

Peterson updated her original post hours later with the news of the family's death.

"The Sharps have been located. They were found last night in their condo deceased. There was no foul play! At this time that is all the information we have," Peterson wrote.

"Please respect the family at this time as they go through the grieving process. Thank you for all the posts, shares, and kind words."

Amy Sharp's sister confirmed to the Creston News Advertiser that the family flew into Cancun from St. Louis and planned to rent a car to drive to Tulum, where they had rented a condo.

"On Wednesday (March 14) at 7 p.m., Amy sent a text to our mom that said, 'We made it to our condo,'" Renee Hoyt told the Creston newspaper. "That is the last communication she made."

The family later discovered that Kevin Sharp had texted someone else around 5 p.m. Thursday, March 15; that person heard nothing back from him when they responded to the text.

When family members in Creston didn't hear from the family that they had arrived in St. Louis on Wednesday, they waited to see if perhaps they had caught the next non-stop flight out of Cancun before contacting police, according to the News Advertiser.

The fact that the family didn't post any vacation pictures to Facebook or have their cellphones only heightened the worry. Hoyt said her brother-in-law's phone was tracked using Apple's Find My iPhone app and it pinged in Mexico.

That's when family members started using the hashtag #TulumMexico to see if anyone had seen their loved ones.

Before the bodies were found, Hoyt tried to get a message to her sister through the Creston newspaper.

"Call somebody," she said. "Let us know you're safe."

The Sharps also apparently have visited Kansas City. A KCCI reporter posted a photo of the Sharp family at a Chiefs game.

This story was originally published March 23, 2018 at 12:59 PM with the headline "Last message from Iowa family found dead in Mexico: ‘We made it to our condo’."