American's 'Murder in Paradise' Mystery in Court

April 2 -- Almost a year before her bloodied, battered body was found on a Caribbean beach, Lois Livingstone McMillen completed a large painting, which she titled "The World Is Killing Women."

More than a year after her killing, the disturbing acrylic painting hangs on the walls of her wealthy parents' holiday villa in Tortola, one of the main islands that comprise the British Virgin Islands, a mute testimony to the violence she endured before her death.

But nobody knows who killed McMillen. Not yet.

The death of the 34-year-old Connecticut artist-activist on Jan. 14, 2000, in Tortola has all the elements of bestseller fiction.

The victim: a beautiful, rich, blonde artist all but obsessed with violence against women. The suspects: four clean-cut, all-American men who came to Tortola for the sun and surf and the venue, a picture-perfect tropical romping ground for the sun-tanned and wealthy.

The plot goes back to the morning of Jan. 15, 2000, when McMillen's bloodied, beaten but fully clothed body was found on a boulder-strewn beach in Tortola. Four American men vacationing on the island have since been jailed on charges of murdering McMillen.

Finally, a Trial

Numerous delays have kept the defendants in jail awaiting a trial for more than a year. But the "murder in paradise" mystery is finally heading toward an end as the trial began today at the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court.

While announcing a trial date last month, British Virgin Islands' High Court Justice Kenneth Benjamin all but acknowledged an inordinately lengthy judicial process.

"I am not going to tolerate any excuses likely as to why [the trial] should not begin," Benjamin said.

Much is at stake for William Labrador, 37, Michael Spicer, 37, Evan George, 23 and Alexander Benedetto, 35 — or the "four Americans" as they are called on the island — at the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court now that their trial is under way.

Murder in the British Virgin Islands carries a maximum penalty of life in prison.