Lindsay de Feliz Murder Case Heads Back to Trial as Family Pushes for Justice in Dominican Republic

A retrial is underway in the Dominican Republic in the murder of Lindsay de Feliz, a 64-year-old British expat and best-selling author killed on December 10, 2019 — and her mother is pressing for a conviction after years of legal process that has so far produced no verdict.

De Feliz was found buried in a shallow grave near her home in the Dominican Republic shortly after she was reported missing. Fox News and The Independent both reported at the time that she had been strangled. Her husband and step-son were arrested in connection with the killing within days of her body being discovered.

By February 2022, the case had advanced to trial — but, according to The Guardian, her husband and three other men denied any involvement in her murder. The family, at that point, was already appealing publicly for answers.

The case now returns to court — a retrial suggesting the original proceedings either failed to produce a conviction or were successfully appealed by the defence. The Dominican Republic's judicial system operates under a civil law framework derived from the Napoleonic code, in which retrials following acquittals or procedural deficiencies are structurally possible in ways they would not be under double jeopardy protections in common law systems like the UK's. For the family, navigating that process from abroad — across language, jurisdiction, and legal culture — is no small undertaking.

De Feliz had lived in the Dominican Republic for many years and had written extensively about her experience as a British woman building a life in the Caribbean. Her books gave her a public profile that likely explains the sustained media attention her case has attracted, unusual for an expat murder that might otherwise receive only passing notice.

The participation of multiple defendants — a husband, a step-son, and at least two other men — points to the kind of alleged conspiracy that prosecutions often find difficult to hold together through multiple court phases. Coordinating testimony, managing separate defences, and accounting for plea dynamics across several accused individuals can create the procedural complexity that leads to retrials. Whether the Dominican prosecution has had time to reinforce its evidentiary case is not yet known.

For her family, the retrial is another chapter in a six-and-a-half-year pursuit of accountability. The mother's public stance — seeking justice rather than simply closure — is a distinction that matters legally; it signals active engagement with the proceedings rather than a passive wait, which can influence how consular and advocacy resources are deployed.

The British government's formal role in such cases is limited. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) can offer consular assistance and monitor proceedings, but it cannot intervene in the sovereign judicial processes of another state. Families in this position typically work through local lawyers while maintaining pressure through media and, where applicable, parliamentary engagement.

The outcome of this retrial will be consequential in a narrow but important sense: the Dominican Republic, like many of its Caribbean neighbours, has faced ongoing scrutiny over rule-of-law concerns and the consistency of its criminal justice outcomes, particularly in cases with foreign nationals as victims or defendants. A credible conviction — or a credible acquittal — matters for more than one family.