Two Americans killed in the Philippines since July died in home invasions 52 days apart, both in Negros Oriental province. The second came one day after the State Department updated its Philippines travel advisory.
Mark Duell, 72, and his wife, Elisea, 71, were shot Sept. 2 in their rented house in Dumaguete City. Kent Carpenter, 73, was shot July 12 in his home in Sibulan, a coastal town in the same province.
What police say happened
Armed men entered the Duells' house shortly after midnight, held the couple's helper at gunpoint and demanded to know where the money was kept, provincial police said. The helper found the couple dead around 6 a.m. The robbers took an estimated ₱60,000 (about $1,000) in cash, plus gold jewelry, electronics and identification documents.
In Sibulan, three masked men forced their way into Carpenter's home and shot him in the head. Carpenter was a marine biologist who had studied Philippine fish since 1975 and planned to retire in September. Police arrested three suspects by July 16, and a fourth surrendered, AP reported.
The Duell case moves slower. Police filed a robbery-with-homicide complaint after the helper identified a suspect from police photos, but his name is being withheld pending an arrest warrant. No arrest had been publicly reported by Sept. 23.
What the Sept. 1 update changed
The State Department kept the Philippines advisory at Level 2, "exercise increased caution," and added rural and remote parts of Leyte, Mindoro, Negros and Samar. The department cites fatal clashes there between the New People's Army, a communist insurgent group, and government forces.
Neither killing fits that addition. Police have framed both as robberies in or near Dumaguete, the provincial capital. The advisory's crime section fits them better: it warns that robberies can turn violent, that victims are sometimes killed and that the embassy can't investigate crimes.
The victims were part of a resident population no agency counts cleanly. Official figures for Americans in the Philippines run from 11,519 active visa holders to a State Department estimate of up to 270,000. Close to 400 foreign nationals and former Filipinos in Dumaguete hold the Special Resident Retiree's Visa, the city government said in February 2025.
Cambodia, Peru and other Level 2 warnings
Two weeks later, the department reissued its Cambodia advisory with a blunter line: "Do not physically resist any robbery attempt." Its Cambodia guidance says armed robberies occur frequently, and US citizens are among the foreign victims. Fox News headlined the line as a warning for Americans overseas, though it appears in Cambodia's advisory and in an April 27 embassy alert for southwestern Colombia.
Peru's Sept. 4 advisory, also Level 2, warns that crime rises at night and that criminal groups sometimes set up roadblocks to rob people outside Lima. It also flags robberies in which criminals enter a taxi and force passengers to withdraw cash from ATMs.
The department has reissued at least 16 advisories since Sept. 1, per its advisory index. Four carry the crime risk indicator, which signals increased risk of violent or organized crime that local police may not be able to stop: Cambodia, the Philippines, Peru and the United Kingdom.
The department reviews Level 1 and 2 advisories every 12 months. Cambodia's previous update came July 25, 2025, and the Philippines' came May 8, 2025, so both were due.
Other recent cases
Dominican police found the body of Andy Louissaint, 47, a Haitian-born US citizen, on Sept. 14 beneath a staircase at an import business in Herrera, in the Santo Domingo area. He'd left his apartment Sept. 10 to meet a man at a shopping center, telling a relative first, and his body had been sealed in with concrete and adhesive, police said. Two men are in custody, and police haven't established a motive.
In Mexico, a US citizen identified by acquaintances as Steve, 45, was shot dead by armed men Sept. 14 near a food stand in Mazatlán, and no motive has been reported. In Colombia, the US Embassy in Bogota announced July 26 that two suspects had been captured in Peru in the March killing of an American Airlines flight attendant who was drugged in Medellín.
Low advisory levels don't rule out violent robbery. On May 17, a 25-year-old American in Barbados tried to recover a gold chain snatched from his neck and was beaten by a group; police charged nine people. Barbados holds a Level 1 advisory, the department's lowest.
The federal death count stops at June 2023
Federal law, 22 U.S.C. 2729, directs the State Department to post each non-natural death of a US citizen abroad by country, and the department says it updates the list every six months. The file linked from its death-abroad page ends in June 2023.
In the first half of 2023, the file logged 532 non-natural deaths of US citizens abroad, including 93 homicides. Mexico had 59 homicides, and the Philippines and Jamaica had four each, the next-highest counts.
The Dominican Republic logged 24 deaths overall, second only to Mexico. None of this year's killings will appear in public federal data until the department posts a newer file.
What the State Department advises
The department's current guidance for Cambodia, the Philippines and Peru includes these measures:
No resistance: Cambodia's advisory says not to physically resist any robbery attempt and warns that resisting street thieves in Phnom Penh can cause injury.
Cars after dark: The Cambodia guidance recommends travel by car, especially at night, because moto-taxis and cyclos are more vulnerable to armed robbery.
No drinks, food or rides from strangers: The Philippines page says strangers have drugged and robbed solo travelers, and Cambodia's flags drugged drinks.
Dating-app precautions: Both Southeast Asian pages say criminals use dating apps to find robbery targets. They advise meeting in public, holding a video call first and sharing location with family.
Copies, not originals: The Cambodia guidance advises carrying passport photocopies and leaving originals in a hotel safe.
A local will: The Philippines page advises Americans living there to draft a will and advance directives with a local lawyer. Without them, hospitals and the embassy rely on next of kin for medical and burial decisions.
Evacuation coverage: The US government doesn't pay medical bills abroad, and Medicare doesn't cover care in the Philippines, the department says.
Local authorities investigate crimes against Americans abroad. The Philippines advisory says the embassy can't investigate them or provide personal security.
