Larry's Central American Travels

The 'Wild Bill' Saga Is Still Unraveling!

More On Serial Killer Wild Bill?

According to Don Winner (Panama-Guide.com), who has been a driving force behind the unveiling of the mass murderer 'Wild Bill' Holbert case, it now appears there is at least one more body in Wild Bill's trail in Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica.  As we reported earlier, the body of what is now assumed to be that of ex-lawyer Jeffrey Kline was found under a hastily-poured concrete pad in a house Holbert rented. However, a year later he was renting another house in the area or Playa Cocles known as the "Monkey House." This is where Stacie Duckworth (the wife in the couple that later got suspicious of Holbert and 'escaped') went with Bill Holbert - when she saw the pile of fresh earth and said jokingly, "Damn, Bill, that looks like a grave." Holbert had rented that house on 28 March 2007. He was supposed to stay there for three months, but then he took off after only a month or so. And that's when he left the area of Puerto Viejo with Allan and Stacie Duckworth, headed for Jaco, Costa Rica.

Back in Panama the story gets more complicated as well.  In the basement of the home of Bo Icelar, the person assumed to be the first victim of Holbert's in Bocas, police recently discovered dozens of antique masks and figures carved in stone, wood and bronze. Authorities are investigating the origin and use of these artifacts, and are consulting with the Heritage Division of the National Institute of Culture, to determine their value and origin.   Bo Icelar was a well known collector and trader of antiquities and artifacts in New Mexico before he came to Panama. He apparently shipped these things to Panama before declaring bankruptcy back home. Since there are no documents showing that they were imported properly, the theory is that Icelar smuggled the items into the country.

Panama Paraíso

I have been negligent - I have not told you of one of Panama's real hidden treasures.  Don't tell everybody, but it is ice cream.  Yes, ice cream!

The cafeteria downstairs has a little open air 'quick-stop' stand on the street front that sells bakery goods, slices of pizza, chips, cookies and - AND - ice cream. They have a cooler with about six tubs of ice cream just waiting for you - just like Baskin and Robbins.  I get the 'grande' - a large Styrofoam coffee cup that will hold five (sometimes six) scoops of ice cream - 60 cents. 

And, one block down the street on the other side of the park, is a 'real' ice cream parlor, with dozens of selections (the place downstairs rotates flavors almost daily, but there still only six choices on any given visit).  They also have 'sins' available like banana splits, hot fudge, etc. Yes, Paraiso (Paradise).

I am just guessing but I think that the 'diet police' have not landed in Panama yet.  The ice cream is sooooooooo creamy that you can almost hear it clogging your arteries.  And, the fruit flavors are ice creams, not sherbets.  Initially I didn't think I would like that difference (orange sherbet is one of my weaknesses), but 'Oh, my God' - it only took one grande cup-full of helado naranja (orange ice cream)!

The Chavez Dream - Ironic or Moronic?

Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez evidently did not get the email that explained that the dictatorial communist-oriented form of government is dead. He must be on the same mailing list as Cuba, Burma, Bolivia, etc.

Chavez continues to preach (and that is the appropriate word) his Bolivarian Revolution.  He is supposedly following the 'gospel' according to Simon Bolivar who envisioned, among other things, Latin America as a single government entity. His fascination with Bolivar has taken some bizarre turns.  Chavez reserves a chair at the head of the table for Bolivar at all government meetings.  He also recently had Bolivar's body exhumed live on nation-wide TV.  Do I hear the music from Twilight Zone in the background?

Here is the ironic part -  the whole thing is that Chavez's 'Bolivarian Initiatives' are a total mis-representation of Bolivar's philosophies and teachings.  For starters, you say Bolivar believed in socialism and embraced communism?  Really?  Karl Marx (yes, that Karl Marx) characterized Bolivar as a "mis-guided academic out of touch with reality".  And, Bolivar in his own writings said that "democracy was the purest form of government, and .... something to be strived for."

So where has Chavez's revolution taken Venezuela?  The nations' oil industry has been in steady decline since Chavez nationalized it.  Poverty is at all-time levels at the same time that the country continues to suffer with the worst inflation rate in Latin America (30%!!).  Even with the problems with polling in a dictator-led country, Chavez's approval rating is in the mid-30s.  And - are you ready for this? - the murder rate in Venezuela makes Mexico look like a peaceful paradise. Yes, the per capita murder rate dwarfs that of Mexico.

The moronic part comes in when Chavez explains, after being the country's virtual dictator for over five years, that the source of all the country's problems are attributal totally to the previous administration.  Ha!  Does that sound familiar?

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Till Next Time.  Pura Vida

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The Latest From Panama

It Is Not All Boring In Panama!

Miss Playa Blanca 2010 is the annual big international bikini beauty contest, held at the resort by the same name this month. Among those vying for the title  are Jhoraisi Peña of Venezuela (left), Gladys Salazar Rojas of Costa Rica (center) and Stefany Amaro of the Dominican Republic (right).  I included this photo just so you wouldn't think I was imagining this whole thing.

Of course in typical Latin American fashion, since there was some kind of scheduling concept at the resort, they just changed the venue to a different beach resort.  Did not change the name though.

Funny - You Can't Make It Up

Many Americans are aware of the 'good news' stories that come out of countries like Argentina, Brazil, Costa Rica and Panama which leave an overall impression of modern well-to-do Latin America.  It is easy to overlook some of the poverty- and crime-ridden sink-holes.  Nicaragua is a classic example.

In 2005, a World Bank report identified that almost 20% of the Nicaragua's' population lived in extreme poverty (extreme poverty!).  Well things are getting slightly better.  Due primarily to big dollars from Venezuela's Chavez, a lot of money (that which isn't scraped off by graft) has gone into poverty programs. (That is one of the ways Chavez strengthens his ties with allies in the Bolivarian revolution). 

The 'Zero Hunger' program gives rural households pregnant cows, pregnant pigs, six chickens, seed, materials to build stables and a bio-system to turn manure into cooking gas. The $2,000 package has benefited 50,000 families so far.  That is not the funny part.

Here is the funny part. According to the government's top aid official, the funds of this, and all other aid programs, are disbursed to the woman of the household.  This insures that "the men don't sell the assets to raise money for booze," he said.

One Of My YouTube Videos

Of the 50-some music/travel videos that I have posted on YouTube, this one is one of my favorites and one of the ones that gets the most comments.  Take a couple of minutes and take a look.

 

Does Size Matter?

I sometimes get amused with Panamanian friends when, in the course of a conversation, they say something that exposes how they really can't comprehend the size of the U.S.  But in fairness, put yourself in their place, born and raised in a country about the same size as South Carolina where you can fly the length of the country in a turboprop aircraft in about an hour.  And, the country is so narrow that there are several places in the country where, from the peaks on the mountain range, you can see both coasts.  

Then I think about the time that I was at a function in one of the suburbs of D.C. where I ended up in a conversation with an elderly woman from one of the small New England states. I had mentioned then I had driven to the gathering.  But later, I misunderstood her when she asked me about where I had come from - she was asking where I lived in the area, I thought she was asking about where I moved from.  When I responded "Las Vegas", her response was "Oh, you must have had to leave early this morning to get here by now."  It turned out she had never been out of the New England area and that was her experience reference for distances. 

I must admit that I always had trouble visualizing the USSR being so big that you traversed 12 time zones when you crossed it from east to west.  But try this one about China on for size.  Experts say that in the next four years over 350 million Chinese will move from the countryside to the cities. Not only does that number exceed the total population of the U.S., that migration will result in China having more than 220 cities with a population of 1 million or more.   By comparison, in all of Europe there are only 35 cities that size.

My Novel

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Till Next Time.  Pura Vida!

  

Another Victim Of The Serial Killer Identified?

Don Winner of Panama-Guide.com Just Keeps Digging.

Here is the latest from investigative reporter Don Winner. "I've known since Saturday, 7 August, that serial killers William Dathan Holbert and Laura Michelle Reese were linked to an unsolved murder in Costa Rica from 2007. I also know that the killers' next intended victims, Allan and Stacie Duckworth were exceptionally lucky to be able to escape with their lives." It turns out as the Duckworths were grabbing their most important possessions and packing as quickly as they could in order to escape with their lives, Stacie Duckworth did a very brave thing.  Since they were convinced that their lives were in jeopardy, she grabbed a handful of paperwork that Holbert had collected - documents that could conceivably be the Duckworths' protection.  Things such as documents, copies of passports, business cards, handwritten notes scribbled on pieces of paper - things that she thought that maybe were documents belonging to people that Holbert had killed.

Unfortunately, it looks like she was right. When Don Winner contacted Stacie Duckworth last week, right off the bat she retold him the story of how she and her ex-husband Allan fled from Holbert and Reese on 11 June 2007. She described how she had snatched documents that Holbert had in the house where they were staying. And, she wanted Winner to check into some of the names on those documents, to find out if these people are still alive.  One of the documents she had was a business card from a (disbarred) lawyer from Wisconsin - Jeffrey A. Kline.  Winner found when he did a quick Google search on his name with "lawyer" and "Wisconsin" the details of the legal proceedings to disbar him. In that document it describes how investigators discovered how he had transferred $107,040 to a bank in Costa Rica. Stacie repeated that when the Duckworths first met William Dathan Holbert and Laura Michelle Reese in Costa Rica in the spring of 2007, one of the very first things Bill told them was "I just sold a property for $107,000 dollars."

The documents that Stacie Duckworth had in her possession included a document from the Wisconsin Bar Association, which showed Kline as a member (complete with Member Number) and a phone listing for a "Lawyer's Assistance Helpline" from the State Bar of Wisconsin, dated in 1998. There was also a card issued by the Lasalle Bank in Kline's name, with an account number. The fact that William Dathan Holbert and Laura Michelle Reese were in possession of these documents, in Costa Rica, obviously ties them to Kline.

Winner adds, " I am now 100% convinced that the body that was recovered from the property in 2007 belonged to Jeffery A. Kline. The only thing remaining to be done is to find and notify his next of kin, obtain dental records or DNA, find where the Office of Judicial Investigation (OIJ) buried his previously unidentified body in November 2007, and confirm what I already know. Holbert and Reese killed Kline in order to steal his $107,000 dollars."

Note that in an article that appeared in the Nacion newspaper in Costa Rica on 8 November 2007, OIJ investigators described the body of the victim as a man who was "1,8 metros de estatura".  Note that 1.8 meters is 5' 11" - almost a perfect match for Jeffery A. Kline. They also said the body belonged to a person who had a "contextura gruesa" which is a very polite way to say "fat dude." And with Jeffery A. Kline weighing in at 310 pounds, that checks as well. Add the fact that he's on someone's Most Wanted List - and that he's sitting on $107,000 dollars in cash - and all of a sudden he turns into a perfect victim for William Dathan Holbert. In fact, there's nothing missing. Kline had money, he was an English speaking "gringo" overseas, he was a US citizen, he was running from something in the US, there was apparently no missing person report filed, the body that was found in November 2007 fits the description perfectly, his identification Bar Association card and bank card were found in William Holbert's house. 

Winner concludes, "Because of all of this evidence I have no doubt whatsoever. None. The dead guy is Jeffery A. Kline. Now, the 'authorities' will play catch-up to confirm what I already know. By the time they get that done, I'll already be moving on to the next victim."

Want To Know About Panama Prisons?

The chief prosecutor for this case, Deputy Attorney General Angel Calderon of the Public Ministry, told Don Winner (for Panama-Guide.com) that William "Wild Bill" Dathan Holbert would be transferred from the temporary holding cells at the Department of Judicial Investigation to a more permanent facility - one of Panama's notorious prisons. When Don  asked another official to confirm this, she said "Yes, I was told yesterday he was going to be transferred." He asked her if Holbert was going to be put into Pavilion 6 in La Joya where most of the other English speaking foreigners are locked up, and she said "No, he's going to Block 7."  That's very bad news for Holbert...

The Panamanians keep the worst and most dangerous prisoners in a part of the prison complex known as "Block 7".   Block 7 is maximum security, on 24 hour lock down. That means William Dathan Holbert is by himself in his cell. He gets no visitors, and he is not taken from his cell. He does not get any time outside, even for exercise. It's what you would call being in "the hole" in a U.S. prison. No social interaction with anyone, no fresh air, no exercise, very small room, nothing in there with him except a thin mattress, and a metal toilet.  No books, no TV, no entertainment of any kind, no personal belongings (maybe a toothbrush), uniform shirt, one pair of shorts, flip flops on his feet, food delivered by the guards. That's it. Being on 24 hour lock down in Block 7 of La Joyita is about as bad as the Panamanian prison system can legally make it on a prisoner. Without a doubt, it's "punishment." And they are going to keep him there for the full 50 years?

My Novel

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Till Next Time. Pura Vida!

 

Couple Dodge A Bullet From The Serial Killer?

A Scary Story

This story should make the hair stand up on the back of your neck. This is about a couple who spent several weeks with the serial killers, William (Wild Bill) Dathan Holbert and Laura Michelle Reese, back in 2007.  In light of the present revelations about the alleged serial killers, this lucky couple, Allan and Stacie Duckworth, feel that they dodged a bullet - literally.  In fact, when Allen Duckworth was contacted recently by investigative reporter Don Winner (of Panama-Guide.com) and advised of Wild Bill Holbert's recently revealed history, Duckworth commented, "After I talked to you yesterday I called and talked to Stacie, and I told her we was some lucky son of a bucks..."  

Allan and Stacie Duckworth spent about six weeks hanging out with serial killers William Dathan Holbert and Laura Michelle Reese in Jaco, Costa Rica, from 30 April until 11 June 2007. The Duckworths were trying to sell the bar they owned on the other side of the country (in Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica).  Bill Holbert was supposedly trying to help Allan sell his bar through advertisements on Craig's List. Allan Duckworth says, "He (Holbert) kept wanting to put the ads up using his account, and then when people would respond to the ad and call or whatever, he would talk to them and just say that he had taken care of it." 

Duckworth started to get extremely nervous when one day Bill came home with a whole box of hair dye and color. He told Don Winner, "He dyed his hair to match my hair color, cut his hair to match my hair style, and he even trimmed his beard to make himself look just like me," Allan said. The Duckworths figured it out - apparently Bill was tying to make himself look like Allan in order to be able to assume his identity, so they decided it was time to leave, in a real big hurry.  "It just so happened that Bill took off and went somewheres on his motorcycle, so Stacie and I just quickly packed some stuff in like one suitcase and maybe one bag and we got the hell out of there. To show you how fast we got out of there, I left my damn dog there, dude. I mean, I felt terrible about it but I wasn't fit to die over it either. They was gonna kill us." 

In the end the Duckworths spent a total of six weeks with the pair in Jaco - from 30 April to 11 June 2007 - and most of the time they talked about different business ventures they could start up to make some money. All the while, Bill was trying to sell Allan's bar on Craig's List. He was also obviously, based on his now-recognized method of operation, actively planning to kill him, assume his identity, take the money from the sale of the bar, and then move on - move on to his next set of victims the Salem (Brown) family in Bocas del Toro in Panama.

The Strange Ways Of Panamanian Prison Life.

There is speculation in various corners that there are very specific reasons why Wild Bill Holbert has confessed to killing everyone except the two Panamanians that were associated with him, and are now missing.  According to the logic floating around, when Holbert is sentenced to a Panamanian prison, if has confessed to killing Panamanian nationals, his life expectancy would be measured in hours (some say minutes).  Isn't that a pleasant thought? 

My Novel

My book is now available from the publisher in two formats - hardcover and paper back.  You can order a copy in your format of choice from the links below.

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A short summary:

...Follow the adventures, and trials and tribulations of Terry Mathis, a retired American expatriate in his travels in Panama. See how his efforts to assist the disadvantaged children of Panama involve him, inadvertently, with both international intelligence agencies, and local security and law enforcement organizations. Share Terry's terror as he narrowly escapes from dangerous situations that he finds himself entangled in.....

Till Next Time.  Pura Vida.

The Serial Killer Story Won't Go Away!

Does This Story Never End?

Joesph and Sue Freconna, the owners of the vacation rental property in Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica, were flabbergasted to learn the body they discovered buried under their house in November of 2007 was most likely another victim of serial killers William Dathan Holbert and Laura Michelle Reese. Their property, which in 2007 they held as a vacation rental property, was rented by Holbert and Reese, who were using the alias of "Big Bill" and Michelle while in Costa Rica.  Joe and Sue Freconna said they were in the United States when the couple signed a three month rental contract, and they never saw the couple who rented their house. However, the description they got from their property manager, Gregory Petin, fits together perfectly.  "Gregory told us about the couple. The guy who was renting the place was a really big guy named Bill, and he was supposedly from Texas." William Dathan Holbert had also told many people in the Bocas del Toro area of Panama that he was supposedly from Texas. And, while in Costa Rica he was known by the nickname "Big Bill." (In Panama he became "Wild Bill")

Suspicious Early Departure: Holbert and Reese signed a contract to rent the house for three months and paid a deposit. However, they left in a big hurry just three weeks later. According to Sue Freconna, "they didn't even turn in the keys. They said they had some kind of a huge family emergency back in the United States and they had to leave immediately. They supposedly got an urgent phone call and they went straight to the airport. They just called Gregory Petin from the airport, said they were leaving, and that they would not be back." Well, it is now known that in fact Holbert and Reese did not leave Costa Rica at that time, they actually just moved across the country to the Jaco area on Costa Rica's Pacific side, where they stayed for at least two months before they moved to Bocas del Toro in Panama.

Sloppy Construction Job: When Joseph and Sue Freconna purchased their home in Costa Rica, that area under the house where the cement slab was poured was just dirt and plants. "When we came back down in late 2007 I found out that someone had laid down this massive cement slab and I thought 'now who would do that - this is my property'." Joseph said the slab was massive and that it would have taken someone a lot of work to put it down, but it's likely the job was done by Holbert himself, because it was "all uneven, rough work - it was not professionally done, and it looked terrible." He said it measured 6 foot on one side by 10 feet on the other, and it was almost 18 inches thick. "They didn't even hardly dig a hole, they just dug a very shallow grave and then covered the guy with cement." Joseph was there when his workmen uncovered the body, which was wrapped in a green tarp. He though that maybe someone had buried a dead dog there or something so if that was the case then he didn't intend to notify the police. But when he opened the tarp and peered in, "I could see a torso and a rib cage, but the body was mostly just bones and soup. I just closed it back up and immediately notified the authorities, and then I called my lawyer."

Joseph and Sue Freconna indicated that the OIJ investigators in Costa Rica apparently didn't do a very good job of investigating the case when the body was discovered in 2007. After officials recovered the body the Freconnas' were told that they could continue on with the improvements and construction of their house. They laid down a new cement floor, and three days later some OIJ investigators showed back up, "and all we could do was show them the cement we had just poured over the hole." Until now no one had made the connection between William Dathan Holbert, Laura Michelle Reese, and the unidentified corpse the pair of serial killers apparently buried under their house. The Frecoonas' added, "It's nice to know what happened. Those people are in prison, right?" Yes, they are. And that is a comforting thought.

Many of the details of this incident and the entire serial killing drama have come to light through the investigative reporting of  DON WINNER reporting for Panama-Guide.com.

The Killer's Methods

Panamanian authorities have publicized the methods that Holbert admits to using to kill his victims.  I am not going to go into specific detail on this blog on those methods.  Quite honestly when I read the details they were so disgusting it made me nauseous.  It just kept popping into mind how ironic it is that Panama does not have capital punishment.

The murder method revelations further illuminates just how sick this bastard Holbert really is. And, it further cements his ties to all things having to do with Adolf Hitler and the Nazis.

Without getting too specific Holbert admitted to execution by gunshots in nape of the neck, which he says he learned from his studies of WWII Nazi methods. Evidently the Nazis did a  lot of experimentation with nape of neck shootings, in both  Buchenwald and Auschwitz, trying to perfect efficient ways to do them in mass. 

If you want additional information over and above that, you can visit Don Winner's site -  link below

The Panama Guide

Till Next Time.

Barring any big revelations or major developments in this case, this will be my last posting on this subject.  Let's get back to important things like updating you on Panamanian Festival, Carnival, etc.

Struggling To Comprehend Serial Killings In Panama

How Do You Understand Crazy?

In the aftermath of the startling revelations about the serial killers', Wild Bill Cortes and Laura Reese, many of us are left wondering 'How Could This Happen?' - particularly over a period of time.  You can't just kill people and bury them in the backyard and nobody notice.  Or can you? 

Let's not make excuses - this guy is a 'nut job'.  But if you are the kind of goof-ball that  in the United States could sell houses you don't own, cars that you have stolen, and businesses were you are only an employee, then Panama must have looked like easy pickings to this clown.  There are some things about Panama that the outsider who has not lived here can not fully comprehend.  Read on.

1. Panamanian prosecutor Angel Calderon told CNN in a telephone interview that the couple would befriend residents in the Bocas del Toro tourist area of Panama. According to Calderon, "The main thing is that he (Wild Bill Cortez) said that once he contacted them, he would study them and would determine what class of people they were in the sense of having money and property. He would become their friend, learning very personal details. Later, he would eliminate them and keep their property."  

In my opinion, probably as important as anything in this wacko's line of thinking was that the 'target' did not have a large family or close support group in the immediate area of Bocas.

2. A large percentage of the ex-pat community here, at least the Americans, are 'isolation' inclined.  Maybe one of the reasons they end up outside the U.S. is they have already 'been there and done that' when it comes to 'being involved'.  "Don't want to hear about your real estate problem in Florida, or your problem with your ex-wife, your son's employment problems, the hold-up on your pension, ..."  Sure there are still some 'joiners' - bridge clubs, Rotary Clubs, etc.  But, those folks are in the minority.  To say that news travels slowly may be incorrect - for a lot of people it does not travel at all.

3.  All the English speakers here also operate in an 'information vacuum' when it comes to local and national (Panama) news, or at best receive only an information trickle - and that with a built in time delay.  The local TV newscasts are indecipherable unless you are fluent (fluent!) in Spanish. And CNN, FOX News and CBS do not cover Panama news unless and until it becomes world news. 

Since David is a major city, we do get a version of the Miami Herald daily (except Sundays).  However, it is only 14 pages and just skims the surface of world news.  The Herald was revamped about a year ago and the two pages of Panama national news were deleted in favor of Latin American coverage (so the paper could be marketed better in the rest of Latin America).  I can buy an international version of both Time and Newsweek, but they are almost two weeks late.  As you can see local news, even Panama national news is absent.  For instance last month, I found out about the week-long deadly riots in Bocas three days after they started, and then only because the hospital bus did not come on Friday and take all the patients that stay in the hotel back to their homes in Almirante and Bocas because the roads were blocked by the rioters.

4.  The real estate and banking laws in Panama are very different than those in the U.S.  I will not bore you with a bunch of details, but just in the time I have been here (almost 3 years), Panama has passed a law that made it a crime for a lawyer to forge a deed or the registration of same.  They also passed a law saying that realtors could not lie to buyers or sellers. Got it??

And both businesses and personal property here are often held (owned) by personal corporations.  (Such was the case of the Bocas properties that Wild Bill grabbed.)  Why is that relevant?  Well the corporate ownership is determined by what we in the U.S. refer to as 'bearer bonds'.  If you have the bonds in your hand that says you own 50% of XYZ Corp. - you do!  And  even worse, by law there is no paperwork of any kind associated with the corporation that has a person's name attached.  That includes the bank!  No names!  The 'bearer' is the corporation - so says the corporation, so says the bank!

5. Probably as important as anything in unraveling this mystery is the personality of this Wild Bill clown.  Big and loud, obnoxious and aggressive, he had the reputation for getting real aggressive with anyone who crossed him.  So it was easier for many folks to just stay away from him - ignore him. There have also been several reports in the press that people were afraid of him (and justifiably so, it turns out).  Why risks his wrath to report your suspicions to a police department that was (and is) infamously unresponsive?

This tragic situation should provide a wake-up call for many U.S. ex-pats, and not just the ones living in Panama.  Many of the ex-pats have come to Panama to escape weather, high prices, politics and day-to-day social pressures in the U.S.  And many of them, particularly the ones who have never lived outside the U.S. before, are painfully naive.  They have read all the guidebooks and been told by their brother to 'watch out for the natives'.  But they assume any Caucasian who speaks English has some kind of 'trusted agent' status.  I can't tell you the number of Americans who check in the hotel, see me sitting on the balcony reading, and 30 minutes later are filling me in on details of their personal situation that I am sure their relatives back home don't even know. 

About two months ago an elderly couple approached me on the balcony after having just arrived in Panama.  He wanted to now how best to protect the cash they were carrying - he an his wife were each carrying $10,000 in cash (the legal max you can enter the country with).  I was shaking my head in wonder as I explained that the hotel did not have a safe, while pointing out to him the Banco Nacional right across the street.  About 30 minutes later when I walked through the hotel lobby, he was trying to make the desk clerk understand his Spanglish (by talking loud enough that you could hear him across the street), explaining that he was carrying 'mucho dinero' and was upset there was no safe in the hotel.  God!

It hasn't dawned on many of the ex-pats here that a certain percentage of their ex-pat brothers are here in Panama because they are running from the law.  A problem as 'minor' as a DWI or a child support problem - or - a Wild Bill history?  Hey folks, does it ever cross your mind to consider how a fellow that is way to young to retire, and can not work here (legally), supports himself in Panama.  Wake up - he is probably hustling something or somebody.

Wake up ex-pats.  If you would call the police in a heartbeat about the guy in the raincoat hanging around the grade-school playground in Tampa - that behavior doesn't become something to "tsk, tsk" about as you go on your way 'minding your own business' just because you are in Panama.  A loud vulgar clown that you would tell to shut up in the restaurant in your hometown does not become less of an a**hole when he gets to Panama.  And ignoring him may be dangerous!

Till Next Time.  Pura Vida

Serial Killer In Panama - EVEN More Bizzare

More On The Serial Killer In Panama

The accused serial killer, Wild Bill Cortez, according to the latest reports has now confessed to the murder of seven people.  However, the more information that comes out about this character, the more bizarre the story becomes.  For instance, according to the Miami Herald coverage, Panama police now say "they believe they may find up to 10 bodies."  And, as his history continues to surface it reads like a twisted horror novel.

William Dathan Holbert (now known as Wild Bill Cortez) was born on 12 September 1979 in Hendersonville, North Carolina. He was the only child and was "raised by a very good Christian family" in the area of Saluda, North Carolina. He was part of the first graduating class of the North Henderson High School (1997) that spent all four years at this (then) new school. One of his classmates said that during his senior year he was on the football team, and that during a pep rally all of the seniors on the team were given flowers. Holbert ate his in front of everyone.

This saga really starts supposedly in 2004 when William Holbert  opened a gym in Ashville, North Carolina together with a partner called "The Body Shop Health and Fitness Center."  He became a power lifter and body builder at that time, and that's when he started injecting steroids. As a result he suffered from a drastic personality change - he became very violent and aggressive. He met his current girlfriend and partner in crime, Laura Michelle Reese, at the gym where she worked for him. This is when he started getting into the whole white supremacist thing. He is a huge fan of Adolf Hitler, and he has read "Mein Kampf" dozens of times. He had his body tattooed with racist and white supremacist symbology.

However, the gym was the first big scam.  As it turns out, Kevin and Marie Hoover were the actual owners the gym, which was just one in their chain of gyms. They hired Holbert to run their gym in Ashville. However, he actually only worked there for about ten weeks when the owners discovered he had stolen about $25,000 dollars from them. They later discovered that he had tried to sell the gym as if he were the owner.  They also discovered that he was a racist, and that he was obsessed with the HBO television series "The Sopranos" and likened himself after the lead character, Tony Soprano.

Back in 2005 WLOS (ABC News) in Western North Carolina, attended a meeting of white supremacists led by Holbert in Forest City, North Carolina. WLOS produced a video at the time, shown in their business and views section, which highlighted  Holbert in action as a rabid white supremacist.  For what it's worth, take a new look at the sign on Wild Bill's bar in Bocas del Toro (shown here).  Do the skull and crossbones on the flag look familiar?

This was all followed by the caper with the bogus sale of the Oak Island property in the Wilmington, NC area (detailed below on previous posting).

And A Dog Is The Only Hero In This Story

The discovery of the remains of Cher Hughes is a story in and of itself.  One of the things that made some suspicious about the disappearance of Cher Hughes, was "Jackie" an adult male Doberman Pinscher that simply adored her. Well Cher's house is located exactly 1.53 miles to the Southwest of Holbert's property. After Cher went missing Jackie refused to leave Holbert's property. On several occasions Jackie was put in a boat and taken back to Cher's island, however sooner or later he would jump into the ocean and swim the 1.53 miles, back to the Holbert property. He just would not leave.

Jackie knew something. Turns out he wanted stay with Cher. On Tuesday, 20 July 2010, when police and judicial investigators finally showed up at the Holbert property to execute a search warrant, Jackie would run down to them, bark and whine, and then run back into the woods behind the house. About 340 meters behind Holbert's house to the Northwest there was a pit used to bury trash and rubbish. Just like something out of a Hollywood movie script Jackie would run down, bark and whine, make sure the investigators were following him, and then run back up into the jungle. Eventually the investigators followed Jackie to an area where there was a garbage pit. Jake laid down right next to a mound of dirt that was there, crying and whining, still refusing to leave Cher's side. Investigators immediately started digging at that exact spot and they quickly discovered Cher's remains buried in the pit, wrapped in a blue plastic tarp. If it wasn't for Jackie, who knows how long it would have taken them to find the remains of Cher Hughes. In addition, the human remains strongly suspected to be those of Bo Icelar were also discovered close by.

Till Next Time.  I Will Keep You Posted

Next time I will also explain some things about Panamanian law that may assist people who have not been here understand this better.  The obvious question is, "How could anyone think they could get away with something like this?"  I will try to shed some light on that - other than you would have to be nuts!