The wind and solar-powered home of Vince and Cherie Rose in Belize. The home was built in the jungle after the Roses cleared the property with machetes. Two bungalows were also on the property. A mob apparently assembled after a psychic blamed the Roses for the disappearance of two children. The mob set fire to the structures and Cherie Rose says it would take a half-million dollars to rebuild.

Cherie Chenot-Rose traveled far with the biology degree she earned from Slippery Rock University.

The Butler native moved with her husband Vince in 2004 to Belize, where they built a wind and solar-powered home, then turned their property into a sanctuary for American crocodiles.

In a bizarre turn of events this month, human predators ravaged the American Education Crocodile Sanctuary near Punta Gorda — with Vince and Cherie Rose as the targets.

According to the Roses and various news reports, the couple's home along with two rental bungalows on the 36-acre property were burned to the ground Sept. 5 by a band of angry Mayan villagers.

The mob apparently assembled after a local psychic blamed the Roses for the disappearance of two children, saying in one account the couple had fed Benjamin Rash, 11, and his sister Onelia, 9, to the crocodiles.

The children went missing Aug. 30.

Although Vince, 48, and Cherie, 44, were away on business when the fire occurred, neighbors and a sanctuary worker alerted them of trouble two days before.

"My workman called me at about 6 p.m. and said that afternoon there were Mayan villagers by the busloads all over my property with guns and machetes," Cherie recalled.The next day, a neighbor also called Cherie."She said the villagers were back again, going through all my stuff. That's when I called the police," Cherie recounted.Cherie was told police had been to the property, but the mob apparently had disbanded.But by 9 a.m. the following day, the Roses began receiving more calls and texts, alerting them the property was on fire. But according to a neighbor, the police were tardy in responding to calls, arriving nearly two hours later.When Cherie and Vince did make contact with authorities, they were told everything was gone."We said 'What about the crocodiles?'" Cherie said."They said, 'We can't get to the crocodiles. The fire's too big.'"The Roses say although many villagers from nearby San Marcos were seen at the fire, none so far have been arrested."I call and call, and I get no answers," said Cherie from a friend's house on Ambergris Caye, an island of Belize's northeast coast where she and Vince had been staying when the fire occurred."I definitely am worried about her," said Cherie's mother Judy Chenot, who works at Heasley's Gymnastics in Butler and lives in Sugarcreek Township, Armstrong County.

"They don't even have their passports."Chenot said the property was not insured due to its location in a developing country.Her voice beginning to crack, Cherie described how the couple developed the property, located several miles off the electric grid about 10 miles from Punta Gorda, a fishing town of about 6,000.Initially a jungle, the Roses cleared their land with machetes. Construction timbers were rolled in by hand along short pieces of PVC pipe.A series of canals became home to 17 crocs the Roses wrangled and relocated when sought out by authorities, who are not permitted to shoot the vulnerable species even when a threat is posed to humans.The two bungalows on the property were erected for student researchers.The Roses estimate it would cost a half-million dollars to replace the infrastructure, although they don't anticipate rebuilding on that site."It's not even the value (of the material things)," Cherie said. "It's my wedding gown, all my wedding photos. Vince had a John Denver Artist Award guitar," she trailed off, explaining how the instrument was gifted to Vince, who had worked for Denver for 25 years."It was our entire lives," she continued, "It's not like a lot of gringos who move here and have a second home: I lost seashells I collected as a kid and put in a box."Cherie describes calling countless officials, including the prime minister — but is getting no feedback on whether the fire is being investigated or whether villagers will be charged.

The Butler Eagle's attempts to get information through the Punta Gorda police, the country's ministry of foreign affairs and Belize's national commissioner of police were fruitless, ultimately leading back to Sgt. Fitzroy Yearwood, press officer for the national police department in Belize City."I sent out an official release on the situation. It's available to the public. Everything in relation to that investigation is posted on our web page," Yearwood said on the phone when asked to explain the status of the fire investigation.Although no mention of the fire appeared on the site, a report there announced the Sept. 6 arrest of 42-year-old Alvarez Selgado, who was charged with pretending to tell a fortune. She pleaded not guilty and was released on bail. It was unclear whether Selgado was the seer who accused the Roses of abducting the children.Yearwood did not respond to a subsequent e-mail, and no additional information has appeared about the children, reportedly last seen heading out of their village toward Punta Gorda to sell limes."With all of our hearts, we are wishing and praying the children are found," said Cherie, stressing she does not want her own misfortune to overshadow the case.Meanwhile, Chenot is praying for her own daughter and son-in-law."I'm glad the two of them are safe, because everything else can be replaced," she said."They can never be replaced."

Vince and Cherie Rose operated the American Crocodile Education Sanctuary in Belize. Cherie Rose is a Butler native and Slippery Rock University graduate.

Some of the damage.