Larry's Central American Travels: Web/Tech

This headline in a recent edition of Panama Guide (the big on-line English-language news publication in Panama) caused my heart to stop.

“Disappearance of Yvonne Lee Baldelli Now Considered A Murder and the Case is Elevated To Superior Prosecutor in Chiriqui”

Admittedly most of the expats living in Panama (and Americans in particular) have been holding their breath since this story came to light several weeks ago. The article continued with the following:

“The Second Superior Prosecutor of Chiriqui will continue the investigation into the disappearance of the American Yvonne Lee Baldelli, who lived in Bocas del Toro. The investigation of this case began under the auspices of the Personality (local prosecutor) of Bocas del Toro, and is now considered a murder, said the Second Superior Prosecutor Nedelka Diaz. She confirmed they have not yet received the results of the DNA tests that were done at the scenes of the investigations. Yvonne Lee Baldelli arrived in Bocas del Toro at the end of September 2011 with her boyfriend Brian Brimager, and she has not been seen since 26 November 2011. (Critica)”

Background

Sunday, April 22nd : This story first came to public attention when an article was posted in Panama Guide. The article said in part:

The family of a missing California woman is searching for her in Panama, where she disappeared in late November 2011. Yvonne Baldelli, who disappeared with her dog GeorgiaMae, was last seen on the night of 26 November 2011 on Isla Caranero, Bocas del Toro, in Panama. Her full name is Yvonne Lee Baldelli. She is 42 years old, and an American citizen from Southern California. She is Caucasian with blonde hair and brown eyes, 5' 2" tall, thin, weight approximately 120 pounds.

The article went on to detail that a Facebook page had been set up by the family to aid in the search and to provide phone numbers for key law enforcement and investigative officers for people who might have any information about her. The article also asked for volunteer help in a physical search effort to be conducted in that area of Bocas where she lived.

Tuesday, April 24^th: Don Winner (Panama-Guide) reported that Panama's Department of Judicial Investigation (DIJ) held a press conference on Isla Colon in Bocas del Toro to announce a $3,000 reward for information leading to the whereabouts of Yvonne. The rationale was that officials felt that people probably had some information because there were reports of a loud and heated argument between Yvonne and her boyfriend, Brian "Brim" Brimager, who had traveled to Panama with her. This noisy altercation in the house they were staying in, the "Casa del Sapo" on Isla Carenero, occurred on Saturday night, 26 November 2011. Yvonne has not been seen since that night. It also came to light that U.S. officials where now involved in that the investigation of the boyfriend was being handled by the FBI because Brimager left Panama in December 2011 and returned to the United States.

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Larry adds: It is interesting to note that family members filed a missing person report with the DIJ in January 2012, because they had lost contact with Yvonne, who had typically remained in contact with them via telephone calls and email. I personally think that Don Winner was partially responsible for DIJs ‘sudden’ interest in this case come April. You may remember that Winner was a catalyst in getting authorities to start actively investigating the Wild Bill Holbert serial killer case a couple of years ago. To say that investigations and investigators are not real proactive in Panama is an understatement of the highest order.

One of the incredible coincidences in this case is that Yvonne and Brian were renting an apartment in the house known locally as the "Casa del Sapo" This is the same house that had been built by Cher Hughes - one of the victims of serial killer "Wild Bill", and his partner Laura Michelle Reese.

By the way, if you are not familiar with the ‘Wild Bill’ Holbert case you can get a quick update at this link.

Wild Bill Background Info

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Thursday, April 26^th: It was announced that scuba divers from the United States traveled to Panama and were participating in the search for the Yvonne. It was also revealed that the search was being supported by units of the Directorate of Judicial Investigation (DIJ), FBI, Interpol, and the Police from Costa Rica. Officials also conceded for the first time publically that it was suspected that boyfriend Brian Brimager, who had left the country without her, had something to do with her disappearance. (It was later reported that he had also married shortly after returning to the states.)

Summary

As you can imagine there is not a lot of optimism about the outcome of this case. Although officials have not released any information on the analysis of DNA collected at various locations, the fact that they have now classified it as a murder case would indicate they have something other than just speculation.

For people who have not lived in Panama this whole scenario must seem unreal. ‘How can someone go missing and it not be noticed’, is probably the question that jumps out at most of you. How in the world can someone go missing in November and nothing seems to happen about it until the following April?

I think it is a combination of several factors. For starters, the Panamanian people are ‘live and let live’ types. ‘It is none of your business what I do in my house and visa-versa’ is their basic attitude. In addition, in places where there is a large contingent of expats (like Boquete and Bocas), the locals kind of see it as more the gringos responsibility to pursue these kinds of problems.

You also have to realize that the Gringo populations ‘come and go’ a lot down here. Some folks get here and decide they don’t like it, and decide to leave as suddenly as they probably decided to come here. Others have something that comes up and they are suddenly gone – a family emergency back in the U.S. or maybe a medical emergency of their own.

There are also a lot of vagabonds (for want of a better term) in the expat community. They are not tied down by a house, household goods or an automobile, and they may be ‘loners’ on top of that. Their long-term plans may be a function of what beer they are this evening. I can’t tell you the number of times that it comes up in conversations that we realize no one has seen ‘Charlie’ for a week and nobody knows where he is. Ten days later someone will get an email (or the story from someone passing through David) explaining that ‘Charlie’ canceled his plans to find a house in David and went to Colombia on a moments notice with a friend who pass through here. It is also not unusual for someone to go back to the U.S. to visit for a couple of weeks and never return.

In addition as I noted earlier, Yvonne’s parents filed a missing persons report with officials here in Panama in January 2012. It took until April before they got serious about investigating it!

For people who do live here in Panama the idea that Yvonne traveled off somewhere without anyone knowing it seems highly unlikely, if not impossible. For starters, a good looking gringa is very high profile in Panama. In any part of this part of the world Yvonne would be about as low profile traveling around as Shaquille O’Neal or Michael Jackson would be.

In addition, it has recently come out that Yvonne had two dogs. Lets face it a woman does not just give away her two dogs and take off – and no one has come forward saying they have them. And her traveling with two dogs un-noticed? People would remember seeing them for a long time. Plus you need permits and paperwork to travel with dogs, even if you are just going to go up the road and cross the border into Costa Rica.

All in all, I am afraid we are seeing another one of those really sad situations unfolding.

Continuing To Follow This Case

For those of you who want to follow this case further

1) The family has set up a Facebook page. You can just go to Facebook and enter her name in the search box.

2) Don Winner will continue to provide updates on Panama Guide. The link is listed in the ‘links listing’ on this page. Since Don posts a lot of articles daily, you may want to enter Yvonne name in the search box on Don’s page so you won’t have to plow through dozens of articles, or risk overlooking an article.

Till Next Time. Pura Vida

Former Lottery Winners Are Broke?

Are you kind of stunned when you see headlines talking about how people who won big lottery prizes in the past are now broke? Are you like most of us and think, “How can anyone blow through what seems like an un-spendable amount of money?”

Well let’s take a look at some numbers. The jackpot for the March 30 drawing was a whopping $656 million. There were apparently three winners. Each could choose to receive an annuity that would pay out about $219 million over 26 years. However if a winner selects the cash option (‘give me the $$ now, not over 26 years’), he or she would collect about $128 million before taxes. The key words are "before taxes."

The Tax Man Cometh

So now let’s take a look at what happens to those numbers when the tax man at various levels get involved. Starting at the top:

Federal Income Tax

Lotto jackpots are fully taxable. And huge jackpots are currently taxed at a maximum federal rate of 35%. So the winner of $128 million will owe the Internal Revenue Service about $45 million. That leaves about $83 million.

State Income Tax

Say a new Mega Millionaire is "unlucky" enough to live in a state with a personal income tax. In most states, the tax rates on high-income individuals range from 5% to 10%. So for the purposes of this discussion let’s use the rate of 7%. Our winner of $128 million will owe the friendly state tax collector about $9 million. That leaves about $74 million.

Now let’s face it, one of the first things that comes to mind now is ‘I can’t spend that much money in a life-time!” Plus all of us are going to want to share our new found wealth. Well, guess what? One of the big reasons why many lotto winners wind up bankrupt is failure to realize that the tax man is going to get his, and there are no tax loop-holes on that.

Generosity Is Expensive

The second big ‘gotcha’ which really sneaks up on a lot of lottery winners is the costs of being generous with their winnings. You, like most people, would probably decide you want to help out family and loved ones by ‘spreading the wealth’. Let’s take a look at some ‘reasonable’ assumptions.

Federal Gift Tax

Despite having already lost $54 million to the IRS and the state tax collector, your tax situation can quickly deteriorate even further if you share your newfound wealth generously with loved ones. That's because you'll owe a 35% federal gift tax on money given away over the $5.12 million gift tax exemption. So if you say “I have $74 million, I’ll give away $25 million to siblings, children, parents, aunts, uncles, and friends”, the gift tax bill would be about $7 million [($25 million - $5.12 million exemption) x 35% = $6.958 million].

Plus let’s say you give away another $25 million to your grandkids. You will now get socked with a 35% generation-skipping transfer tax (GSTT) on gifts in excess of the $5.12 million GSTT exemption. Worse yet, the GSTT is on top of the gift tax. The gift tax on the gifts to your grandchildren is about $9 million ($25 million x 35% = $8.75 million), and the GSTT is about another $7 million [($25 million - $5.12 million GSTT exemption) x 35% = $6.958 million].

Bottom line: you owe $77 million in taxes and you've given away $50 million to loved ones. Guess what? You only have $1 million left for yourself ($128 million - $77 million - $50 million = $1 million). Oops! So another big reason why some lotto winners wind up bankrupt is failure to understand the gift tax rules before it's too late.

So Play It Cool and Hang On To Your Money?

Now let's assume you don't give away any of your $128 million. You just pay the $54 million in income taxes and break even for the rest of your life, dying with a cool $74 million.

Federal Estate Tax

If you kick the bucket this year, your estate will owe federal estate tax equal to 35% of the excess over the $5.12 million exemption. That would amount to about $26 million [($74 million - $5.12 million exemption) x 35% = $25.9 million]. Your heirs would get $48 million (nothing to sneeze at), but $80 million was lost to taxes. That's a whooping 62.5% of what you started with. Ouch!

State Estate Tax

We're not done yet. If you live in one of the 22 states with a state death tax, your estate could be whittled down even more. The tax hits just keep on coming!

And It Could Get Even Worse

Unless Congress takes action and the president (whoever he is at the time) approves, the maximum federal income tax rate for 2013 and beyond will go up to 39.6% (up from the current 35%). And, the maximum federal gift and estate tax rate will be 55% (up from the current 35%). Plus the gift and estate tax exemptions will be only $1 million (versus the current $5.12 million). If these changes come to pass, the tax hits on future Mega Millionaires will be far bigger than what I've shown here.