WEBVTT - 8: At Last 0:00:10.960 --> 0:00:14.600 In June twenty seventeen, an old cattle truck made its 0:00:14.600 --> 0:00:18.720 way down Highway forty seven in Costa Rica. Another car, 0:00:19.000 --> 0:00:24.279 a Hyundai SUV, was close behind. If you happened to 0:00:24.320 --> 0:00:27.480 see the two vehicles on the road, well you wouldn't 0:00:27.520 --> 0:00:31.680 think anything of it. There was nothing remarkable about them. 0:00:31.880 --> 0:00:35.279 In each vehicle there were two men, three Costa Ricans 0:00:35.360 --> 0:00:42.720 and one Mexican. They thought everything was going to plan. Eventually, 0:00:43.159 --> 0:00:46.519 the cattle truck and the suv reached the outskirts of 0:00:46.560 --> 0:00:50.440 the small town of Orotina, an hour or so away 0:00:50.520 --> 0:01:02.200 from the capital San Jose. The bust was a complete 0:01:02.320 --> 0:01:06.520 surprise and executed quickly. The men in the cattle truck 0:01:06.720 --> 0:01:11.440 and the suv had no time to react. The police 0:01:11.480 --> 0:01:16.000 and a specialized tactical unit congratulated each other. They were 0:01:16.040 --> 0:01:19.800 prepared for a shootout, but luckily it hadn't come to that. 0:01:21.319 --> 0:01:24.800 For more drug cartel stooges were now off the streets. 0:01:26.120 --> 0:01:29.440 In the back of the cattle truck, police found two 0:01:29.600 --> 0:01:33.360 hundred and thirty seven kilos of cocaine hidden in a 0:01:33.400 --> 0:01:36.840 false bottom of the trunk. It was worth close to 0:01:36.959 --> 0:01:43.040 twenty million dollars. They also found a GPS, night vision goggles, 0:01:43.360 --> 0:01:49.080 two way radios, and a gun, classic equipment for drug runners. 0:01:50.320 --> 0:01:53.080 One of the men arrested was very well known to 0:01:53.120 --> 0:01:57.520 the authorities and most Costa Ricans. He was a big catch. 0:01:58.120 --> 0:02:00.880 The police had been tracking him for a long time 0:02:01.320 --> 0:02:05.680 and their patients had now paid off. The following day, 0:02:05.800 --> 0:02:09.120 his mugshot would be on the front of every newspaper 0:02:09.160 --> 0:02:14.080 in Costa Rica. Later, he would plead guilty to providing 0:02:14.240 --> 0:02:18.800 logistical and operational support to drug gangs linked to the 0:02:18.880 --> 0:02:24.200 Mexican cartels. Costa Rica was fast becoming the drug route 0:02:24.200 --> 0:02:28.760 of choice for South American cartels the eventual destination of 0:02:28.800 --> 0:02:34.200 those drugs the US. The well known Costa Rican was 0:02:34.280 --> 0:02:39.720 sentenced to ten years in prison and publicly humiliated. But 0:02:39.880 --> 0:02:43.800 there's something else about the man captured on that hot 0:02:43.960 --> 0:02:50.960 June day. He had very close links to John and 0:02:51.120 --> 0:03:03.640 Anne Bender from Exactly Right Media and iHeart podcasts produced 0:03:03.680 --> 0:03:08.280 by Blanchard House. This is Helen Heaven. I'm Becky Milligan. 0:03:33.480 --> 0:03:37.080 Two years before that drugs bust, and Bender was in 0:03:37.280 --> 0:03:41.720 court waiting for a verdict again. It was the third 0:03:41.760 --> 0:03:45.680 time she'd been on trial for murder. She'd hardly slept 0:03:45.720 --> 0:03:49.280 a wink the night before, author Carol Vaughan. 0:03:49.720 --> 0:03:51.760 No one had any idea whether she was going to 0:03:51.800 --> 0:03:55.760 be found guilty or innocent, no idea whatsoever, and. 0:03:55.880 --> 0:03:59.160 Sat behind her lawyer. She had a clear view of 0:03:59.200 --> 0:04:03.040 the three judges who faced her from the bench. Friends 0:04:03.040 --> 0:04:07.200 and family were there to support her. At nine point fifteen, 0:04:07.760 --> 0:04:12.120 the chief judge called the court to order. At last, 0:04:12.360 --> 0:04:16.440 the verdict came on the charge of murdering her husband John, 0:04:17.520 --> 0:04:25.159 Anne Bender was acquitted. In TV footage, at the moment 0:04:25.200 --> 0:04:28.560 Anne realizes she's free, she looks completely blank for a 0:04:28.560 --> 0:04:32.240 split second, as though she can't take it in. Then 0:04:32.240 --> 0:04:36.560 she closes her eyes and squeezes them tight. Her lawyer 0:04:36.680 --> 0:04:40.600 visibly relaxes and reaches a hand behind him to grab hands. 0:04:41.360 --> 0:04:44.560 They don't speak or even look at each other, but 0:04:44.680 --> 0:04:50.279 the release of tension and relief is obvious. Cameraman Kevin 0:04:50.360 --> 0:04:51.360 Serrano was. 0:04:51.320 --> 0:04:55.159 In court Ricardo El Momento, El Clovi. 0:04:56.400 --> 0:04:59.440 She lowered her head and started to cry. She was weeping. 0:05:00.320 --> 0:05:02.679 At last, she was able to release all that tension. 0:05:03.400 --> 0:05:05.280 I'm sure it must have been a turning point for her. 0:05:05.920 --> 0:05:08.080 Anne's life could never be the same from the non 0:05:08.560 --> 0:05:11.479 because despite the harshness of all the trials and the process, 0:05:11.920 --> 0:05:14.039 nothing compares to the loss of the person she had 0:05:14.120 --> 0:05:18.120 chosen to share her life with, a comfortable life. None 0:05:18.160 --> 0:05:20.720 of that was there anymore, whether or not she had 0:05:20.760 --> 0:05:23.240 anything to do with his death. So that was the 0:05:23.240 --> 0:05:26.240 most memorable moment for me when she started to cry 0:05:26.279 --> 0:05:27.720 after hearing the verdict. 0:05:28.080 --> 0:05:30.559 Anne is led out of the courthouse into the bright 0:05:30.680 --> 0:05:34.440 light of day and freedom by her brother Ken. The 0:05:34.520 --> 0:05:37.880 media scram is pushed away by her security. A minus 0:05:37.920 --> 0:05:41.800 scuffle breaks out. Anne, who looks pale and dazed, is 0:05:41.880 --> 0:05:45.040 using a cane to help her walk and holds onto 0:05:45.040 --> 0:05:49.600 her brother's hand tightly. Her eyes are downcast. She doesn't speak. 0:05:50.160 --> 0:05:54.279 Can it really all be over? Ken speaks briefly to 0:05:54.320 --> 0:05:56.680 a gaggle of reporters outside the courthouse. 0:05:59.000 --> 0:06:04.080 Sure, noppreciate that justice was served today, and my sister 0:06:04.279 --> 0:06:07.560 did not murder her husband. She's not a murderer. There 0:06:07.680 --> 0:06:11.800 was not enough circumstantial evidence to convict her for the 0:06:11.839 --> 0:06:13.880 simple fact that there was no murder. 0:06:14.720 --> 0:06:17.560 Anne is then whisked away in a car with blacked 0:06:17.560 --> 0:06:20.760 out windows to the hotel Zimmer where she'd been staying. 0:06:21.760 --> 0:06:24.440 One thing is on her mind to get out of 0:06:24.480 --> 0:06:27.120 the country as soon as she can and return to 0:06:27.200 --> 0:06:32.840 America before the Costa Rican authorities order another retrial. Her 0:06:32.920 --> 0:06:36.760 passport had been confiscated, but the American embassy had managed 0:06:36.800 --> 0:06:40.719 to slip her a replacement before the verdict. It's in 0:06:40.800 --> 0:06:45.560 her jacket pocket. Kevin, the news cameraman, had listened closely 0:06:45.640 --> 0:06:49.040 to the legal arguments. He was fascinated by the Benders 0:06:49.360 --> 0:06:53.400 and their lavish but isolated lifestyle. It also made him 0:06:53.440 --> 0:06:59.400 think about his homeland too. Are you Antia in this voice? 0:06:59.800 --> 0:07:02.120 In a big picture, Costa Rica is seen as a 0:07:02.120 --> 0:07:05.120 place of tranquility and peace, and when all this came 0:07:05.160 --> 0:07:08.279 to light, people said, maybe it's not such a peaceful place. 0:07:08.800 --> 0:07:10.920 By the end of the trial, he'd been convinced by 0:07:10.960 --> 0:07:15.360 the prosecution's arguments that John didn't kill himself. He was 0:07:15.440 --> 0:07:18.440 sure that the trial wouldn't be the end of the story. 0:07:19.880 --> 0:07:20.320 Where is he? 0:07:20.960 --> 0:07:24.000 If the wife was found not guilty, then who killed him? 0:07:24.440 --> 0:07:26.600 It was a question which had simmed a long time 0:07:26.680 --> 0:07:30.040 in John Kolvic's head too. One of the Bender's neighbors 0:07:30.440 --> 0:07:33.520 he didn't think Anna killed John, but that didn't mean 0:07:33.600 --> 0:07:34.840 someone else happened. 0:07:35.600 --> 0:07:37.480 To this day, it still doesn't rest good with me. 0:07:38.200 --> 0:07:40.720 Someone that wealthy at that house, I don't think his 0:07:40.800 --> 0:07:42.920 wife pulled the trigger. And when they say there was 0:07:42.920 --> 0:07:45.560 no one else there, she at that place is the 0:07:45.680 --> 0:07:48.560 darkest jungle you've ever seen in your life. You have 0:07:48.640 --> 0:07:51.200 no clue. He talked about sending a ninja in to 0:07:51.320 --> 0:07:53.680 kill someone or whatever you'd like to call him. An assassin, 0:07:54.400 --> 0:07:56.160 someone who's going to pull a trigger on a millionaire 0:07:56.200 --> 0:07:59.280 with a doped up wife, Jesus Christ within the country 0:07:59.320 --> 0:08:02.080 with no friends, you know what I mean? 0:08:02.960 --> 0:08:04.760 Why not? Why not? 0:08:05.920 --> 0:08:06.280 Why not? 0:08:07.240 --> 0:08:10.040 Kevin was proved right. Even though the court case had 0:08:10.040 --> 0:08:13.640 come to an end, speculation and theories about what really 0:08:13.720 --> 0:08:17.760 happened to John Bender didn't stop and continue to this day. 0:08:18.680 --> 0:08:24.640 Carol Vaughan, there are opinions that flowed around saying that 0:08:24.800 --> 0:08:29.520 people saw individuals running away from Guarakayan that night late. 0:08:30.240 --> 0:08:33.120 They're just all kinds of things to be tidied up 0:08:33.160 --> 0:08:34.000 and tied together. 0:08:34.640 --> 0:08:38.240 Kevin, the camera operator began to mull over who else 0:08:38.440 --> 0:08:40.360 could have had a motive to kill John. 0:08:43.320 --> 0:08:48.080 Any of the security team could have. Perhaps it was 0:08:48.120 --> 0:08:50.840 someone he did business with and something went wrong. He 0:08:50.920 --> 0:08:53.720 owed someone money. I think there's still a feeling that 0:08:53.760 --> 0:08:55.280 the case has not been resolved. 0:08:56.160 --> 0:09:00.439 There was one person whose name came up again and again. 0:09:17.840 --> 0:09:21.040 We're at a prison in San Jose. We have to 0:09:21.040 --> 0:09:25.480 go through tight security. Our bags, passports and phones are 0:09:25.520 --> 0:09:30.520 put through an X ray scan. The man we are 0:09:30.520 --> 0:09:33.920 coming to visit is the same man who was captured 0:09:33.960 --> 0:09:37.199 at the start of this chapter, caught with two hundred 0:09:37.240 --> 0:09:41.199 and thirty seven kilos of cocaine by the police, arrested 0:09:41.280 --> 0:09:45.680 and jailed for ten years, very well known in Costa Rica. 0:09:49.200 --> 0:09:52.240 We're taken into a small room. A man dressed in 0:09:52.280 --> 0:09:55.320 a bright orange top is sitting at a table. He's 0:09:55.360 --> 0:09:58.640 around fifty, trimmer and healthier than he looked in the 0:09:58.679 --> 0:10:02.120 photos I've seen of the rest, but he still wears 0:10:02.120 --> 0:10:06.679 an impressive thick mustache. The person sitting in front of 0:10:06.720 --> 0:10:11.280 me is Jose Pizzarro, the Bender's head of security, the 0:10:11.360 --> 0:10:15.400 colonel whom John trusted deeply, and the man who cared 0:10:15.440 --> 0:10:19.880 for Anne after John died. Yes, what we haven't told 0:10:19.920 --> 0:10:23.559 you is that when we interviewed him, he was in prison. 0:10:24.600 --> 0:10:29.640 Jose Pizzaro, El Toro, the Bull, one time head of 0:10:29.679 --> 0:10:35.120 the Costa Rican Police, now convicted criminal. This is his 0:10:35.320 --> 0:10:40.360 first interview since Anne was acquitted in twenty fourteen. As 0:10:40.400 --> 0:10:43.880 we settled down, I remind him how well respected and 0:10:43.960 --> 0:10:49.199 trusted he'd been before his conviction, even earning an affectionate 0:10:49.320 --> 0:10:54.280 nickname that makes him smile, Toro. 0:10:54.480 --> 0:10:58.400 Where I live, everyone knows me by the name Toro Bull. 0:10:59.080 --> 0:11:01.200 Some don't even know my real name. They just call 0:11:01.280 --> 0:11:07.640 out on the street, Hey Bull, Hey Toro. 0:11:08.200 --> 0:11:11.960 The smile fades quickly. His reputation is now in shreds. 0:11:12.480 --> 0:11:16.800 He was publicly disgraced and shamed in Costa Rica. He 0:11:16.840 --> 0:11:19.319 first met John after the couple were confronted on the 0:11:19.400 --> 0:11:22.839 roadside in two thousand and one. Convinced they were going 0:11:22.880 --> 0:11:25.920 to be kidnapped or even worse, John hired the former 0:11:26.000 --> 0:11:29.599 chief of police to protect them. Jose Pisari worked for 0:11:29.640 --> 0:11:32.120 them for ten years and has nothing but good things 0:11:32.160 --> 0:11:33.280 to say about the couple. 0:11:39.559 --> 0:11:42.560 She was a very nice person. She was very sweet. 0:11:43.440 --> 0:11:47.000 She took care of her husband. He was like the 0:11:47.000 --> 0:11:50.600 apple of her eye. They really made a very nice 0:11:50.640 --> 0:11:53.200 couple and we got on from the beginning. Besides the 0:11:53.200 --> 0:11:58.520 professional relationship, to put it in another way, we became friends. 0:11:58.840 --> 0:12:02.320 They were very open, very friendly. 0:12:02.559 --> 0:12:10.040 Those he hasn't seen or spoken to Anne since she 0:12:10.120 --> 0:12:14.200 was acquitted. As we heard, Jose Pizzaro was arrested in 0:12:14.240 --> 0:12:18.560 twenty seventeen, a few years after Anne had left Costa Rica, 0:12:19.360 --> 0:12:22.240 but it's reported that the former police chief was under 0:12:22.280 --> 0:12:25.960 surveillance well before that. In fact, as early as two 0:12:26.040 --> 0:12:30.000 thousand and nine, when Pizaro was working for the Benders, 0:12:31.600 --> 0:12:34.720 a helicopter had come down in the mountainous Southern Zone 0:12:35.080 --> 0:12:38.640 with three hundred and forty seven kilos of cacaine on board. 0:12:39.360 --> 0:12:42.400 The first person at the scene of the crash, yes, 0:12:42.960 --> 0:12:47.520 it was reportedly Jose Pizzaro. Many speculate that the only 0:12:47.559 --> 0:12:49.920 way he could have been at the crash site so 0:12:50.200 --> 0:12:54.000 fast was because he was involved in the smuggling operation. 0:12:55.320 --> 0:12:59.040 So Kevin, the cameraman who covered Anne's trial, began to 0:12:59.160 --> 0:13:03.760 wonder if John rom Bender had inadvertently or not got 0:13:03.760 --> 0:13:10.959 mixed up with the drug cartels through his head of security, Josekisaro. 0:13:09.520 --> 0:13:12.319 Is Tyli Gao Conrakotraviotli. 0:13:14.080 --> 0:13:16.200 Between two thousand and seven and two thousand and eight, 0:13:16.200 --> 0:13:19.360 a helicopter loaded with drugs crashed in the mountains. The 0:13:19.400 --> 0:13:22.160 only person who managed to reach the place was Hossepi Serro. 0:13:22.640 --> 0:13:25.319 It's presumed that he already had links with Mexican cartels 0:13:25.320 --> 0:13:26.959 and that John might have been cut in the middle 0:13:27.000 --> 0:13:31.280 of all this. That reinforces my belief he didn't kill himself. 0:13:31.160 --> 0:13:34.880 But was murdered, possibly by someone who had links to 0:13:34.960 --> 0:13:38.320 the drug gangs. It's yet another theory to add to 0:13:38.320 --> 0:13:40.800 all the others and may sound a little far fetched, 0:13:41.320 --> 0:13:45.000 and there's no evidence to suggest it's true. In fact, 0:13:45.000 --> 0:13:47.640 there's no evidence at all Jose Pizarro was in any 0:13:47.640 --> 0:13:51.440 way connected to John's death. Perhaps it's just too easy 0:13:51.480 --> 0:13:54.320 to pin it all on this celebrity ex police chief 0:13:54.360 --> 0:13:58.240 turned criminal. But Kevin wasn't the only one thinking along 0:13:58.280 --> 0:13:58.960 these lines. 0:13:59.520 --> 0:14:02.360 On the Star A lout of my Lady, Do. 0:14:04.160 --> 0:14:07.600 Remember Carlos, the ambulance driver who was the first on 0:14:07.640 --> 0:14:12.040 the scene of John's death in Boracayanne. He's convinced John 0:14:12.080 --> 0:14:15.400 didn't kill himself and believes that Jose Pizzaro may have 0:14:15.440 --> 0:14:21.240 been involved in some way. Again, though it's speculation. Like 0:14:21.320 --> 0:14:25.120 with every part of this story, there are coincidences and 0:14:25.120 --> 0:14:28.760 the unexplained. What are the chances that the person the 0:14:28.800 --> 0:14:32.160 Benders hired to protect them is actually in bed with 0:14:32.280 --> 0:14:36.920 violent criminals. It certainly got people talking, and again it 0:14:37.000 --> 0:14:41.160 conveyed a certain mystique around the couple. On the other hand, 0:14:41.800 --> 0:14:45.440 it kind of also makes sense. Latin America's cartels are 0:14:45.560 --> 0:14:49.120 infamous and Pizarro was an obvious target for them because 0:14:49.120 --> 0:14:53.800 of his police connections, and those connections were also why 0:14:53.880 --> 0:14:56.880 John and Ann hired him. He was the go to 0:14:57.040 --> 0:15:01.560 guy in Costa Rica, which isn't a big place. Jose 0:15:01.680 --> 0:15:04.400 Pizarre has spent five years in prison. 0:15:06.760 --> 0:15:09.440 Which There's a lot more that I have to say, 0:15:10.160 --> 0:15:14.120 but in my current situation, there is much that I 0:15:14.240 --> 0:15:17.880 can't say. What I really want for Anne is that 0:15:17.920 --> 0:15:21.520 she finds peace and tranquility and that she can face 0:15:21.880 --> 0:15:23.120 whatever comes ahead. 0:15:23.520 --> 0:15:27.480 Jose gave evidence at all of Anne's trials. He believes 0:15:27.600 --> 0:15:31.760 she's innocent and that the evidence showed that. He says 0:15:31.760 --> 0:15:34.040 that he had nothing to do with John's death and 0:15:34.080 --> 0:15:38.920 believes that John kills himself. As to why Jose mentions 0:15:38.960 --> 0:15:41.880 the trust which John and Anne put their money into, 0:15:42.280 --> 0:15:44.520 meaning they effectively lost control of their. 0:15:44.400 --> 0:15:54.720 Fortune, well, I feel sorry about everything that happened to 0:15:54.800 --> 0:15:58.480 John and Anne. If you dig a little deeper, you'll 0:15:58.520 --> 0:16:01.520 find much more about the fraud management of the trust, 0:16:01.600 --> 0:16:06.480 which I believe led John Bender to kill himself. I 0:16:06.520 --> 0:16:09.160 hope everything's well for her, so that her family and 0:16:09.240 --> 0:16:13.240 John's family find some peace. It's a shame what they're 0:16:13.240 --> 0:16:18.320 going through tough. I know how difficult it has been 0:16:18.360 --> 0:16:23.000 for both John's and Anne's family. I have nothing to 0:16:23.040 --> 0:16:26.440 gain from this, but as a Costa Rican, I'm ashamed 0:16:26.440 --> 0:16:29.440 to see these types of things happen in this country. 0:16:32.040 --> 0:16:35.000 I asked him about being arrested and his involvement with 0:16:35.080 --> 0:16:38.160 the drug cartels personnel. 0:16:45.880 --> 0:16:49.640 I come from humble beginnings. I'm from the countryside. However 0:16:49.840 --> 0:16:52.720 I managed to rise to the highest position of the police. 0:16:54.080 --> 0:16:58.920 Then I made a mistake. No, I committed a horror. 0:17:00.680 --> 0:17:04.199 I feel ashamed for having committed such a thing. I 0:17:04.280 --> 0:17:08.360 humbly ask for forgiveness to every citizen in this country 0:17:08.560 --> 0:17:11.200 for committing a crime for which I am pain a 0:17:11.240 --> 0:17:12.439 sentence in prison. 0:17:13.760 --> 0:17:16.360 They are your indios. 0:17:32.840 --> 0:17:38.320 Okay, okay. 0:17:39.400 --> 0:17:42.760 I believe in God. I'm a human being and I failed. 0:17:43.720 --> 0:17:46.680 But I want to be clear that that doesn't justify 0:17:46.720 --> 0:17:49.800 what I did. Though I was no longer an officer 0:17:49.800 --> 0:17:52.160 of the police force of this country when I committed 0:17:52.160 --> 0:17:58.120 this crime. So as a human being, I might have failed, 0:17:59.160 --> 0:18:02.440 but as a member of the police force, I never 0:18:02.640 --> 0:18:04.520 did come on policia. 0:18:08.440 --> 0:18:11.240 As Jose spoke, the tears began to roll freely down 0:18:11.320 --> 0:18:14.199 his face. He wiped them away and then gave up 0:18:14.280 --> 0:18:17.400 because they kept coming, wetting his cheeks and his chin 0:18:17.480 --> 0:18:20.320 and his shirt. To us, they seemed to come from 0:18:20.320 --> 0:18:25.480 a very profound sorrow and regret, but it's impossible to 0:18:25.520 --> 0:18:29.000 know for sure if his tears were genuine. What did 0:18:29.080 --> 0:18:33.760 leap outed us during the interview was rather cryptically. Jose 0:18:33.920 --> 0:18:37.360 told us he had a lot more to say, but couldn't. 0:18:38.560 --> 0:18:54.399 We said goodbye. As we made our way out of 0:18:54.440 --> 0:18:57.960 the prison, Jose was led in the opposite direction. The 0:18:58.040 --> 0:19:00.920 last we saw of him was disappearing through several double doors, 0:19:00.960 --> 0:19:07.159 and they're out of sight. When Anne got back to 0:19:07.160 --> 0:19:10.359 the Zimmer hotel after the verdict, her family and friends 0:19:10.400 --> 0:19:14.080 had lunch. It wasn't a loud, celebratory one, but quiet 0:19:14.280 --> 0:19:18.240 and peaceful. After lunch, they gathered their bags and Anne 0:19:18.240 --> 0:19:21.560 said goodbye to hotel owners Santiago and Anna. 0:19:21.960 --> 0:19:25.159 We don't know where she's going to, but you know 0:19:25.280 --> 0:19:27.879 she was going to go out of the country of course, 0:19:28.440 --> 0:19:31.840 I don't ask her where. I said, by good luck, 0:19:33.040 --> 0:19:34.520 that's it. 0:19:34.560 --> 0:19:35.280 Did she smile? 0:19:35.640 --> 0:19:35.880 Yeah. 0:19:37.280 --> 0:19:40.800 Anne's brother thanked the hoteliers, saying he hoped it was 0:19:40.960 --> 0:19:51.400 finally over, except the authorities had one last surprise for her. 0:19:52.520 --> 0:19:56.359 All Anne wanted to do now was leave the country. 0:19:57.520 --> 0:19:58.960 But would she be able to. 0:19:59.480 --> 0:20:01.879 When she guid to the airport. Although she had a 0:20:01.920 --> 0:20:05.280 new passport, she appeared on a no fly list. Costa 0:20:05.359 --> 0:20:06.400 Rica had stopped her. 0:20:06.720 --> 0:20:09.960 Author Carol Vaughan, she lost it. 0:20:10.840 --> 0:20:14.200 I understand from people around her that she the poor thing. 0:20:14.280 --> 0:20:20.199 She just fell apart. Her lawyer got her off that 0:20:20.359 --> 0:20:22.919 no fly list super fast. I think it wasn't like 0:20:22.960 --> 0:20:25.040 eight days. She was off and she was out of here. 0:20:25.680 --> 0:20:30.119 She has never returned to Costa Rica. Now, all that 0:20:30.240 --> 0:20:33.240 was left to remind people about the couple was the house. 0:20:33.920 --> 0:20:37.680 Like so many people in Perizeladon, Santiago and Anna had 0:20:37.760 --> 0:20:41.800 always been curious about the huge, full story home built 0:20:41.800 --> 0:20:44.280 on a hill in the middle of the jungle. It 0:20:44.359 --> 0:20:48.760 intrigued everyone, but the hoteliers had never seen it. After 0:20:48.800 --> 0:20:52.240 the trials and Anne's departure, they decided to go and 0:20:52.280 --> 0:20:56.600 have a look for themselves. When they arrived at the house. 0:20:57.040 --> 0:21:01.200 It was empty, abandoned. Some of John and Ann's possessions 0:21:01.240 --> 0:21:05.879 remained scattered around the four floors, without gardeners or anyone 0:21:05.920 --> 0:21:10.240 to maintain the property. Nature was taking over the wallless house. 0:21:10.760 --> 0:21:12.200 Animals were moving in. 0:21:13.280 --> 0:21:17.960 It was it was glowing like a jungle because nobody 0:21:17.960 --> 0:21:20.920 does nothing to the house. And the swimming pool there 0:21:21.000 --> 0:21:26.520 was frogs and everything. Everything was down. The house in size, 0:21:26.560 --> 0:21:31.239 was dirty. Everything clothes and papers and all that kind 0:21:31.280 --> 0:21:35.480 of stuff by the floor. Nobody cleans nothing. 0:21:35.560 --> 0:21:39.240 So everything it was left as it was. Why did you. 0:21:39.240 --> 0:21:43.919 Go because we wanted to see the house. Everybody talk 0:21:44.000 --> 0:21:44.679 about the house. 0:21:45.400 --> 0:21:47.439 So were you a bit shocked at the state it 0:21:47.520 --> 0:21:47.760 was in? 0:21:48.000 --> 0:21:49.520 Yeah. 0:21:49.600 --> 0:21:52.560 They walked around the garden and decided to take one 0:21:52.560 --> 0:21:55.639 of the bender's benches, which would have been chucked away otherwise, 0:21:56.240 --> 0:21:59.240 a lover's wooden swing seat which the couple used to 0:21:59.240 --> 0:22:02.399 sit on to enjoy their paradise. Now it's in the 0:22:02.400 --> 0:22:05.760 hotel garden, a little weathered but still usable. 0:22:06.200 --> 0:22:06.639 The bench. 0:22:07.720 --> 0:22:08.560 Have you got the bench? 0:22:08.720 --> 0:22:09.919 The benches from the house. 0:22:11.280 --> 0:22:15.040 They also saw the remnants of John's beloved orchids strewn 0:22:15.080 --> 0:22:19.800 all over the place, withered and decaying. Santiago rescued some 0:22:19.920 --> 0:22:23.720 of the healthier looking ones and took them away. Now, 0:22:23.800 --> 0:22:27.480 in one corner of Santiago's hotel garden, there is a 0:22:27.560 --> 0:22:31.520 spectacular display of yellows and reds, which often catch the 0:22:31.560 --> 0:22:35.800 eye of the guests. John's beautiful and rare orchids are 0:22:35.920 --> 0:22:46.840 tall and thriving all these years after his death. A 0:22:46.840 --> 0:22:50.720 few days after Anne had left Costa Rica, a mysterious 0:22:50.800 --> 0:22:55.919 package arrived at the hotel inside Santiago, and Anna found 0:22:56.040 --> 0:23:01.280 beautiful clothes Anne's designer collection and must have arranged for 0:23:01.320 --> 0:23:05.080 them to be sent. Anna couldn't believe it. She'd had 0:23:05.200 --> 0:23:09.040 marred them so many times, and and sense of style. 0:23:10.080 --> 0:23:13.119 All these years. Anna has looked after them and even 0:23:13.160 --> 0:23:18.320 wears them. Sometimes they're a perfect fit. When Santiago says 0:23:18.440 --> 0:23:20.560 Anne pattern, that's Anne Bender. 0:23:21.240 --> 0:23:24.760 Sometimes when she used those clothes, she says, Okay, I'm 0:23:24.800 --> 0:23:28.320 gonna be Anna's today, an pattern. 0:23:28.560 --> 0:23:31.760 Really you say that? Do you walk up and down 0:23:31.760 --> 0:23:32.520 and go look at me. 0:23:32.800 --> 0:23:35.359 I'm gonna be a pattern today, That's why she said. 0:23:35.960 --> 0:23:38.040 And sure enough, one morning, when I was staying at 0:23:38.080 --> 0:23:41.159 the hotel, Anna called me over. She was wearing one 0:23:41.200 --> 0:23:44.879 of Anne's dresses long and black and elegant. This was 0:23:44.960 --> 0:23:48.520 Anne's See it's beautiful. 0:23:48.640 --> 0:23:53.040 See do you feel elegant? 0:23:53.960 --> 0:23:58.760 It's perfect, it's perfect, It fits beautifully. So it's a 0:23:58.880 --> 0:24:02.359 really sort of really quite tight fitting long black dress 0:24:02.560 --> 0:24:10.639 with a halting neck. Heakake, oh beautiful. After her acquittal, 0:24:11.000 --> 0:24:14.119 Anne left the country and settled in America to start 0:24:14.160 --> 0:24:17.639 a new life. And yet you can probably guess what 0:24:17.760 --> 0:24:22.199 happened next. The Costa Rican authorities were still determined to 0:24:22.280 --> 0:24:27.200 get her. In twenty seventeen, the Prosecutor's office ordered a 0:24:27.359 --> 0:24:31.280 fourth trial. They wanted to try her all over again, 0:24:32.040 --> 0:24:35.120 but to do that they would need to extradite an 0:24:35.280 --> 0:24:40.200 from the United States. They issued an international arrest warrant 0:24:40.200 --> 0:24:44.840 against her, effectively making it impossible for her to travel internationally. 0:24:46.720 --> 0:24:51.000 There were other battles too. She took her Costa Rican lawyer, 0:24:51.280 --> 0:24:55.919 Juan Alvarez to court for fraud in twenty twelve. He 0:24:56.080 --> 0:24:59.040 had control over part of their fortune, which had been 0:24:59.080 --> 0:25:02.000 put in that trust. The money was supposed to be 0:25:02.000 --> 0:25:06.160 set aside for John and Anne's wildlife sanctuary. Anne accused 0:25:06.200 --> 0:25:10.120 Alvarez of taking cash from the trust for his personal use, 0:25:10.760 --> 0:25:14.159 spending it on horses and paying off credit card bills. 0:25:15.000 --> 0:25:17.560 The court ruled that he should be removed from the 0:25:17.640 --> 0:25:22.520 trust's board. Alvarez denied all the accusations made against him, 0:25:22.920 --> 0:25:27.520 telling CBS they were bogus, but when his office was 0:25:27.640 --> 0:25:31.160 raided during an investigation into his management of the trust, 0:25:31.640 --> 0:25:35.919 it was discovered that forty million dollars was missing. He 0:25:35.960 --> 0:25:41.720 didn't respond to our requests for an interview. We of 0:25:41.840 --> 0:25:45.359 course also reached out to Anne. We would have loved 0:25:45.400 --> 0:25:48.959 to have talked her about everything in this podcast, about 0:25:49.000 --> 0:25:54.920 the whole story, but she didn't respond. So what about 0:25:54.960 --> 0:25:59.439 those gems, the rubies, diamonds, the opals, which the police 0:25:59.480 --> 0:26:02.480 confiscated at the time of John's death, and which they 0:26:02.520 --> 0:26:06.840 claimed were Anne's motive for murder? The Costa Rican authorities 0:26:06.960 --> 0:26:09.800 alleged that the Benders had not paid taxes on the 0:26:09.880 --> 0:26:14.760 jewels and had smuggled them in The private collection was 0:26:14.800 --> 0:26:19.879 originally valued at twenty million dollars. Anne eventually recovered some 0:26:20.000 --> 0:26:23.600 of the gems in February twenty twenty, but that part 0:26:23.640 --> 0:26:27.800 of the hoarde was apparently valued closer to four million dollars. 0:26:28.800 --> 0:26:31.880 Authorities explained some had been kept in order to pair 0:26:31.880 --> 0:26:35.400 a tax bill of about one point three million dollars. 0:26:36.280 --> 0:26:39.040 What happened to the rest of the collection is still 0:26:39.080 --> 0:26:43.760 a mystery, and all the while, the threat of having 0:26:43.800 --> 0:26:47.120 to face trial in Costa Rica for a fourth time 0:26:47.560 --> 0:26:51.240 hung over Anne. The international arrest warrant meant that she 0:26:51.320 --> 0:26:54.520 was effectively trapped in the US even as she tried 0:26:54.520 --> 0:26:59.200 to rebuild her life. She was not free until finally 0:26:59.480 --> 0:27:04.199 the law changed, enabling her defense team to challenge the retrial. 0:27:04.880 --> 0:27:07.480 The case was heard before the Human Rights Chamber of 0:27:07.560 --> 0:27:12.400 Costa Rica's Supreme Court in twenty twenty three. Her defense 0:27:12.440 --> 0:27:16.440 team argued that she was the victim of judicial persecution. 0:27:17.760 --> 0:27:22.439 Seven judges deliberated and the vote was very close, But 0:27:22.560 --> 0:27:25.720 in the end, four of the seven judges ruled in 0:27:25.920 --> 0:27:30.800 Anne's favor that Anne's two previous acquittals will now protect 0:27:30.840 --> 0:27:34.840 her from any more appeals. She can never again be 0:27:34.920 --> 0:27:39.120 prosecuted for the death of her husband. In other words, 0:27:39.520 --> 0:27:43.000 in the eyes of the law, it is finally over. 0:27:46.840 --> 0:27:50.320 But for those around the couple, it's not quite so simple. 0:27:51.280 --> 0:27:55.240 It's been fifteen years since John's death, but the repercussions 0:27:55.280 --> 0:27:59.600 are still reverberating around the mystical Dia Monte Valley and 0:27:59.760 --> 0:28:04.159 be Carol Vaughan wasn't the only one to become possessed 0:28:04.359 --> 0:28:08.320 and obsessed with the story. So what do all our 0:28:08.400 --> 0:28:11.800