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|  Published Thursday, June 18, 2020
for U.S. citizen murder
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
On Wednesday, a man surnamed Mesen-Rodriguez was sentenced to 33 years in prison for the murder of William Nearhoff, a 70-year-old U.S. citizen, according to the Prosecutor of Grecia District in Alajuela Province.
According to authorities, Nearhoff is from Dallas, Texas, and had been living in the country for the past four years at a building west of the Grecia District.
Mesen-Rodriguez is the last of three suspects to get charged in the brutal murder of Nearhoff.
According to the Prosecutor's Office, in July 2018, Nearhoff was at home with a woman surnamed Jiménez-Esquivel, when two men surnamed Montoya-Acosta and Mesen-Rodriguez arrived.
The criminals tied Nearhoff's hands and feet. Beat and gagged him, causing his death by suffocation.
The motive for the crime was described as theft because after the victim died, they stole his home appliances.
The body was found due to a strong odor detected by other people who worked in the same building, according to the Red Cross members who arrived first at the site.
The woman Jiménez -Esquivel and the other man Montoya-Acosta were sentenced to 30 years in prison in 2019. The Prosecutor's Office found guilty of the murder of Nearhoff.
Another recently case of a U.S. citizen murder happened last month.
On May, a judge of the Court of Atenas Canton in
Alajuela Province ordered six months of pre-trial
prison against four people, who are suspected of
committing two homicides, a U.S. Citizen James Allen
Honer, 77-years-old and his Costa Rican
girlfriend Bianca Mena Sibaja, 30-years-old.
According to the case, the suspects are a woman and
three men. The suspects were identified as a man
surnamed Salas -Suárez, his mother surnamed Suárez-
Jiménez, and two more men surnamed Reyes-Villalobos,
and Esquivel-Castro.
The suspects were detained in Atenas, by Traffic
Police officers, on Saturday, when they were traveling
in two cars that had a ban for driving.
At the time of the detention, the Prosecutor's Office
already had information linking the people to the
double homicide, so it was requested to the agents of
the Judicial Investigation Organization to inspect the
suspects and vehicles. "After the inspection, the
agents identified that one of the cars belongs to
Honer," said the Prosecutor in its statement.
After the suspects were arrested, the prosecution
ordered the judicial agents to carry out two raids,
one in the victims’ houses and the other in the home
of the woman surnamed Suárez-Jiménez, who worked as a
maid in the victims' house.
Suárez-Jiménez lives in the same Canton of Atenas. Her
house is located at a distance of 600 meters near the
victims' house, said the Prosecutor.
During the search of Suárez- Jiménez's house, the
judicial agents seized several objects as relevant
evidence for the development of the investigation,
among those was a credit card that belonged to Honer.
According to the Prosecutor, the case began on May 3,
after some people reported a fire in an empty lot near
La Loma Street in Atenas.
After the firefighters put out the fire, two burned
bodies were found, a man and a woman.
The Prosecutor's Office and the Public Ministry
presume that the bodies belonged to Honer and his
girlfriend Mena. The DNA test is still processing, to
confirm with certainty the identity of the victims.
According to the preliminary results of work done by
specialists in Forensic Pathology of the Judicial
Investigation Organization, it is concluded with some
level of certainty that the identity of the victims
are a U.S. citizen and his Costa Rican girlfriend
Mena, both were living together.
According to the reconstruction of the crime made by
the Prosecutor agents, it is alleged that the four
suspects arrived at the victims' house and killed them
in the house.
It is estimated that the murder occurred on the last
day of April or the first days of May because the
Prosecutor considers that the suspects possibly hid
the bodies for a few days.
Then, on the night of Sunday, May 3, it is alleged
that the suspects took the bodies to the empty lot and
set them on fire.
After the Prosecutor gathers all the evidence in the
case, the trial date for the crime will be announced.
Meanwhile, the four suspects will remain in pre-trial
jail.
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