Venezuelan-American tourist Carla Stefaniak disappeared from the Escazu Airbnb where she was staying on her last night in Costa Rica – November 28, 2018. It was also her last night alive. On December 3rd, a gardener on the property found her partially-buried body 100 meters from her guest room. She had been bludgeoned and stabbed repeatedly in her neck and chest area; her neck had been broken.

News outlets commented on how quickly her alleged killer was found and detained. He was occupying the room immediately next to Carla’s at the time of her death. He was the security guard for the property, a 32-year old undocumented immigrant from Nicaragua, Bismarck Espinoza Martinez. He remains the only suspect in Carla’s murder, despite her family vehemently arguing that there were other persons also involved. The family feels that he is too small to have carried Carla the 100 meters to her grave, and the thorough scrubbing of the guest room after her disappearance indicates several participants.
The elation at Espinoza’s arrest has now faded. Costa Rica has charged him with Simple Homicide, the equivalent of second-degree murder in the USA. It does not carry a life-sentence penalty, only a 12-18 year prison sentence. Stefaniak’s brother Mario Caicedo is incensed saying, “We want him to get the maximum penalty the Costa Rican law allows. There’s so much things (sic) to the crime that would make anybody think this is first-degree murder.”

Former Red Cross paramedic Carlos Fernandez Mora commented on Carla’s wounds, mostly defense wounds. “Her attack was absolutely brutal. She fought, it seems, to the last, using everything she had to defend herself against someone armed with a knife and with the objective of sexually violating her.” She was unable to fight off her attacker(s), and died that night in her hotel room.
Stefaniak’s brother Caicedo said the family is attempting to generate renewed interest in the case. They want to pressure Costa Rica authorities to charge Espinoza with the harshest penalty possible. He said in a statement to ABC News, “What we want to do is just spread the word about what’s happening in Costa Rica. American authorities have no jurisdiction in Costa Rica, so all we can do is spread the word and make the news viral to put some pressure on Costa Rican authorities to do a better job.”

There is no trial date as yet for Espinoza, but one is expected in the next few months. He remains in Preventive Detention at this time. The family is working closely with a legal team, hoping to prove Espinoza’s crime was premeditated, and probably not carried out without assistance.

Carla’s longtime friend Greg Zwolinski spoke for her family and friends saying, “We’re very angry because this monster and evil person took away this person who we hold so dearly in life.”

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