Over the years, Gordo Malo loomed large in the minds of many people in the southern Caribbean. He was a harbinger of torment, blood, and death. Malo was the kind of man who most likely would slice off his own mother's face if he were to get paid to do so. Rumored to be a former Contra, and an agent for the Organismo de Investigacion Judicial (OIJ), Malo, a hit man for hire, was one of the more cold-blooded killers I've heard about. And the fact that he lived here, right here in Puerto Viejo, I found well, um, discomfiting.
Malo, whose real name was Magnum Enrique Benavides Zuniga liked to raid the refrigerators of his victims. Clients paid him $100-$20,000 for a hit. Perhaps after the pricier ones, he ordered a pizza. He was that kind of guy.
Oh, sure, he was arrested from time to time, and he was even incarcerated every now and then, but it wasn't long before he'd be back out on the streets again, looking for his next job.
According to our friend Juan, Malo survived several attempts on his life, including being beaten, shot and stabbed. He was the Ever-ready bunny of murderers, and like Rasputin, he survived each time. Until the last time.
In late October of 2009, Malo was stabbed 22 times. The final stab, to the chest, is what did him in.
As I walked to the mercado, the atmosphere in this sparkling jewel of a town seemed charged; people all up and down the main street talking about the end of Gordo Malo. No one seemed to miss him. The town breathed a collective sigh of relief.
One real bogeyman gone forever.
One bogeyman disappears, two more remain.
Enter William Dathan Holbert, and his girlfriend Michelle Reece. Holbert, aka "Wild Bill" and Reece were fleeing the U.S. after committing a variety of crimes, including selling a $200,000 house they didn't own.
He and Reece made their way to Puerto Viejo and renewed their crime spree. The couple moved into a house owned by Joseph and Sue Freconna, in nearby Playa Negra. According to Don Winner, of Panama Guide, Holbert and Reece rented a room to Jeffrey Arlan Kline, in late March 2007. Kline, a Chicago lawyer was also fleeing problems of his own.
After a painful and costly divorce, Kline was hoping for a new life. Travelling to Puerto Viejo, he carried $100,000 with him. Kline feared that if he deposited the money in the bank, investigators might seize it to pay the $70,000 he would owe for future child support. For Klein, this was a fatal mistake.
His family reported him missing in early April of 2006, and Holbert and Reece were on the run once again.
The Freconnas had a beautiful backyard filled with shrubs and trees. Returning to their house in February, 2007, they were greeted with a horrible shock.
Their beautiful yard had been covered with a concrete patio.
After recovering from the initial shock, the Freconnas decided, in November 2007 to put in a sun room, and to do that, they needed to dig up the concrete. When they did so, workmen made a gruesome discovery--a body wrapped in plastic.
In Costa Rica, the wheels of justice creak slowly, very slowly. The OIJ purportedly took fingerprints from the body in 2007 and held them for months and months, until September of 2010 when an official with the Consular section of the U.S. Embassy notified Kline's former wife that the fingerprints were those of Jeffrey Arlan Kline.
Holbert and Reece made their way to Panama and continued their killing spree, murdering at least five more people, stealing their homes, properties, and businesses. The couple would befriend people, and then shoot them in the head. Among the items confiscated from the location where the couple was living in Panama: several passports and a glass jar filled with gold filings from the teeth of their victims. What a lovely couple!
When authorities began question them, Holbert and Reece took off again, trying to cross into Nicaragua illegally via the Rio San Juan.
It is difficult to say how long Holbert and Reece will remain in jail. I have heard that the Panamanian Judiciary system is stricter than Costa Rica's Judiciary, which is known to be lenient.
As in the case of Malo, Rolando Brown, a serial rapist was released several times, only to keep raping women in Playa Chiquita and Playa Negra, both of which are within a stone's throw of Puerto Viejo. One rape, that of a 16-year-old girl, occurred in broad daylight.
One of the rapes that nearly garnered an arrest for Brown merely ended up with him receiving a slap on the wrist. Brown was only forced to sign in with the prosecutor every 15 days, according to a local tourist newspaper, the Puerto Viejo Satellite.
In January of 1997, after a string of rapes, Brown was sentenced to 13 years in prison, but was let out after only serving six years. After an attempted rape, he served an additional eight months in a preventative prison in 2003.
Brown was sentenced to 56 years in prison and will spend the rest of his life in prison, according to the article in the newspaper. Officials reported that Brown was not eligible for an early release.
It should be clear from my blog that sometimes, in Costa Rica, the wheels of justice roll slowly.
A warning for women:
Ladies, this should be clear to you by now, but if it's not, then I'm gonna yell it out: Do not walk around alone anywhere in Costa Rica after dark, except on streets that are well-lit and populated. I hate to be blunt, but walking alone anywhere in an isolated area is stupid. Plain and simple.
When you go to the beach, make certain there are several people around, and don't go off anywhere by yourself. You can enjoy yourself safely in Costa Rica, but don't throw caution to the wind. If you do, you may find yourself coming home with memories you'd rather not have.
Malo, whose real name was Magnum Enrique Benavides Zuniga liked to raid the refrigerators of his victims. Clients paid him $100-$20,000 for a hit. Perhaps after the pricier ones, he ordered a pizza. He was that kind of guy.
Oh, sure, he was arrested from time to time, and he was even incarcerated every now and then, but it wasn't long before he'd be back out on the streets again, looking for his next job.
According to our friend Juan, Malo survived several attempts on his life, including being beaten, shot and stabbed. He was the Ever-ready bunny of murderers, and like Rasputin, he survived each time. Until the last time.
In late October of 2009, Malo was stabbed 22 times. The final stab, to the chest, is what did him in.
As I walked to the mercado, the atmosphere in this sparkling jewel of a town seemed charged; people all up and down the main street talking about the end of Gordo Malo. No one seemed to miss him. The town breathed a collective sigh of relief.
One real bogeyman gone forever.
One bogeyman disappears, two more remain.
Enter William Dathan Holbert, and his girlfriend Michelle Reece. Holbert, aka "Wild Bill" and Reece were fleeing the U.S. after committing a variety of crimes, including selling a $200,000 house they didn't own.
He and Reece made their way to Puerto Viejo and renewed their crime spree. The couple moved into a house owned by Joseph and Sue Freconna, in nearby Playa Negra. According to Don Winner, of Panama Guide, Holbert and Reece rented a room to Jeffrey Arlan Kline, in late March 2007. Kline, a Chicago lawyer was also fleeing problems of his own.
After a painful and costly divorce, Kline was hoping for a new life. Travelling to Puerto Viejo, he carried $100,000 with him. Kline feared that if he deposited the money in the bank, investigators might seize it to pay the $70,000 he would owe for future child support. For Klein, this was a fatal mistake.
His family reported him missing in early April of 2006, and Holbert and Reece were on the run once again.
The Freconnas had a beautiful backyard filled with shrubs and trees. Returning to their house in February, 2007, they were greeted with a horrible shock.
Their beautiful yard had been covered with a concrete patio.
After recovering from the initial shock, the Freconnas decided, in November 2007 to put in a sun room, and to do that, they needed to dig up the concrete. When they did so, workmen made a gruesome discovery--a body wrapped in plastic.
In Costa Rica, the wheels of justice creak slowly, very slowly. The OIJ purportedly took fingerprints from the body in 2007 and held them for months and months, until September of 2010 when an official with the Consular section of the U.S. Embassy notified Kline's former wife that the fingerprints were those of Jeffrey Arlan Kline.
Holbert and Reece made their way to Panama and continued their killing spree, murdering at least five more people, stealing their homes, properties, and businesses. The couple would befriend people, and then shoot them in the head. Among the items confiscated from the location where the couple was living in Panama: several passports and a glass jar filled with gold filings from the teeth of their victims. What a lovely couple!
When authorities began question them, Holbert and Reece took off again, trying to cross into Nicaragua illegally via the Rio San Juan.
It is difficult to say how long Holbert and Reece will remain in jail. I have heard that the Panamanian Judiciary system is stricter than Costa Rica's Judiciary, which is known to be lenient.
As in the case of Malo, Rolando Brown, a serial rapist was released several times, only to keep raping women in Playa Chiquita and Playa Negra, both of which are within a stone's throw of Puerto Viejo. One rape, that of a 16-year-old girl, occurred in broad daylight.
One of the rapes that nearly garnered an arrest for Brown merely ended up with him receiving a slap on the wrist. Brown was only forced to sign in with the prosecutor every 15 days, according to a local tourist newspaper, the Puerto Viejo Satellite.
In January of 1997, after a string of rapes, Brown was sentenced to 13 years in prison, but was let out after only serving six years. After an attempted rape, he served an additional eight months in a preventative prison in 2003.
Brown was sentenced to 56 years in prison and will spend the rest of his life in prison, according to the article in the newspaper. Officials reported that Brown was not eligible for an early release.
It should be clear from my blog that sometimes, in Costa Rica, the wheels of justice roll slowly.
A warning for women:
Ladies, this should be clear to you by now, but if it's not, then I'm gonna yell it out: Do not walk around alone anywhere in Costa Rica after dark, except on streets that are well-lit and populated. I hate to be blunt, but walking alone anywhere in an isolated area is stupid. Plain and simple.
When you go to the beach, make certain there are several people around, and don't go off anywhere by yourself. You can enjoy yourself safely in Costa Rica, but don't throw caution to the wind. If you do, you may find yourself coming home with memories you'd rather not have.
