Police say an American tourist was murdered while walking along the beach with her husband. (Photo: Thinkstock)

A dream vacation quickly turned into a nightmare for a couple visiting the island of Grenada.

On Sunday, the body of a 39-year-old American woman was found about 12 miles outside of the island’s capital of St. George’s.

“Breaking News,” said the alert on SpiceIslander Talk Shop. “ Officers at the St. David police station confirm that a murder has been committed.”

According to reports, the woman and her husband had arrived on the island only a day earlier. They were attacked while walking along the well-known and populated La Sagesse beach.

The husband was able to escape the attack and run for help. By the time they returned to the mangrove, the woman was dead.

For other vacationers, the murder came as a shock. “Gradually we put the story together,” British journalist Sue Hardy told MailOnline. “It appears the American woman tourist - described as ‘very beautiful’ by one member of the staff I spoke to - had gone off for a stroll along the beach with her husband.”

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(Photo: MTV News Grenada/Facebook)

The murder is currently under investigation, but the site suggests the woman was murdered with a cutlass and possibly raped. The police believe that the man who committed the murder is Dave Martin Benjamin, an ex-convict who was recently released from prison.

MTV News Grenada reports that Benjamin walked into the St. David police station and turned himself in.

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