Top 10 Costa Rica

Two heavily armed multiple murder suspects on the run in Costa Rica

UPDATE:   The suspects saw the news while they were in Costa Rica and tried to escape by boat to Nicaragua. The police caught them this morning.

Two multiple murder suspects on the run in Costa Rica. They are thought to be heavily armed with a pistol and an AK-47 assault rifle.

On the run are William Cortez and his wife Jane Cortez, accused of killing at least two people, and possibly as many as seven, while living in Bocas del Toro.

The real estate business is tough due to the global recession, and now one real estate speculator is on the run in Costa Rica for allegedly murdering expatriates in Panama with the motive to steal their property.

Agents got a tip Saturday that the pair, William Adolfo Cortez and Jean Seana Cortez, had rented living quarters near Turrialba.

The owners of the house who rented the fugitive couple the home say they fear for their lives after learning who their tenants are.

Costa Rican authorities have known of their whereabouts, however are stalled waiting for a judicial capture order to clear Interpol.

Prosecutor Naphtali Jaén said that two indigenous people working for Cortez are missing, as well as the family of a New Zelander, named Mike Brown, whom was the first person to have a business contact with Cortez after arriving in Panama in 2008.

Cortez allegedly told people that he had purchased property from Brown soon after his arrival, and the family had left the country. Cortez also claimed that he purchased property from American Cher Lynn Hughes, whose body was found on the land where Cortez was living. Another body believed to be that of Bo Icelar.

In each instance, Cortez claimed the victims had sold him their property and then left Panama. It now appears that Cortez never purchased the properties, instead killing the inhabitants and then taking over their land.