Into the fray of this fevered market came Eric Volz. I reached a point where I was ready to be a little more responsible socially, he says. According to these files, Krusty Dangla was scratched on seven different parts of his body, including the head of his penis. Nine days after I arrived, on Tuesday, November 21, I walked down the hill into town in the evening to buy a few cans of beer. A Nicaraguan national, Bismarck Espinoza Martinez, 32, has been taken into custody in connection to Stefaniak's death, according to Costa Rican officials. Five days before the murder, he told the court, he'd overheard an angry Chamorro say, I don't give a damn about this Doris; she's a gringo chaser. A New York college student's convicted killer has been sentenced to a maximum of 30 years in prison in Nicaragua where he fled after the murder. Doris's life was worth a lot more than a million dollars. As Volz left the arraignment, the mob saw through the ruse and rushed him. As I left, I thought back to Modelo and the last moments I spent with Volz. This was my fourth attempt to get into the prison in two weeks; what was different about today was that I finally had a letter from Judge Toruo extending me access to visit Volz, for which I'd had to lobby all the way to the office of a Supreme Court magistrate. Consensus among the embassy staff and the other two foreign reporters present was that the prosecution's case was too weak to have been brought in the first place. According to friends, Volz is a diversely talented individualist, a traveler and outdoor enthusiast. They explained that the misrecording of Volz's blood type was a typo and acknowledged that fluid from Jimnez's vagina and anus revealed no presence of semen. Mercedes Alvarado waved around a receipt from the Gran Diamante, crying out, I don't need a million dollars. CNN At least 273 people have died and 2,000 have been injured in the unrest that's rocked Nicaragua since April, according to the human rights arm of the Organization of American States (OAS). With sentiment tilted so heavily against Volz and because a jury trial rules out the possibility of appeal, the defense opted for a judge; the trial was set for January 26. One outfit, Nica Dev, promises that they develop with a conscience, advertising green communities built around ecological reserves, and Century 21's ads exhort readers to preserve the beaches.. In Nicaragua at least 322 people have . Getty The State Department already issues travel advisories for every country around the world,. Nicaragua Tourism: Best of Nicaragua Essential Nicaragua Stay A mix of the charming, modern, and tried and true. At about 2 p.m. that Friday, April 20, 2019, lvaro Conrado died in the operating room. She threw out the cell-phone records because she said they didn't prove Volz's physical location. Chamorro was stoic. After her death, Volz canceled a Thanksgiving business trip back to the States to attend her funeral. Soon enough, Volz and Chamorro arrived, and the cameras began flashing. I never felt good about this guy. Volz, for his part, says Jimnez was never close to her mother. Volz's business associates insist he is a great guy, that he couldn't possibly have done this. Do you think this could happen to anyone? I asked him. In early February, after repeatedly and persistently being turned away, I was finally given access to the Doris Jimnez murder-case file in the Rivas courthouse by Judge Toruo herself. Until then, Volz would remain at a friend's house in an undisclosed location. However, despite being popular as a tourist destination, Nicaragua is one of the most dangerous places to travel due to its epidemic of civil and political unrest, sky-rocketing crime rate, and poor health care facilities. Meanwhile, the first international TV crews, from Dateline and the Today show, had arrived in Nicaragua. ABC News correspondent Bill Stewart reports from Nicaragua, shortly before he was killed by a Nicaraguan National Guard soldier on June 20, 1979. I was patted again for weapons, given my press pass, and allowed to walk into the deserted heart of the downtown commercial district. Security for the 4 p.m. verdict was tighter than it had ever been. Chamorro seemed much affected by prison life, often to the point of tears. Outside the warden's office, seven or eight of them were already waiting their turn to see Volz. Volz's cell-phone records precisely match his account of what happened next: that he left Managua and drove to San Juan. They came in and out of the doorway of the Sol Fashion boutique in their neat blue uniforms, taking notes. Broward County. As we looked down at San Juan's central intersection, where European and American girls in sarongs passed in pairs and threes under the yellow streetlight, Roque told me, Thanks to surfing, lots of people here are making a living: hotels, restaurants, the beach taxis, the surf boats. I have to admit that all the rumors, coupled with the Diario articles, the number of people who said they didn't know or like Volz, and the certainty of Jimnez's family and friends, had led me to have little doubt of his guilt. I'm a warrior, Volz told me. 0. This is the story you haven't heard. According to Alvarado and her lawyer, Erick Cabezas, who was also present, Baltodano told the woman, Your daughter is dead. A mariachi band played a haunting traditional song, Very Pretty Doris, as her relatives tearfully decorated her grave with plastic flowers and ribbons. Sixty major housing developments are either under construction or soon to break ground, from the Costa Rican border, a half-hour south of town, up to and well beyond the fabulous Popoyo reef break, an hour north. MAJESTIC TURKEY BY CULTURE TRIP When it came to this case, she said, It's been very important that it must be someone not from here. We want these tourists to know that this happened. One shouldered past the others and said in a low voice, When Eric is convicted and sent to the real prison, he will be killed there for sure. He drew his finger slowly across his throat. Now, back in town with his role in the trial over for him, he said something different. Nicaragua has implemented a few other regulations for travelers: All travelers may be subject to a health screening upon arrival. What's most important about Eric is that he lacked a community; it seemed to me like he was one of those people here to make money. Volz, it alleged, had offered Chamorro $5,000 to go to Sol Fashion, where the American hit and kicked his ex-girlfriend, then raped, sodomized, and killed her. Where is that sanitation going to drain? Protected in the country's largest national park, the Masaya Volcano is also one of Nicaragua's top places to visit, just 20 kilometers south of Nicaragua's capital city of Managua.. 71-year-old . The call lasted nearly an hour. I didn't do anything. I had a lot of love for her, said Volz, who says that he ended things around June 2006. A campaign and a movement have emerged.. Though sentiment in San Juan is unanimously positive concerning Doris Jimnez, opinion about Volz is mixed. 2022 Hyatt Place Managua 815 Managua, Nicaragua from $144/night Yemaya Reefs Colibri Boutique Hotel 402 Little Corn Island, Nicaragua from $101/night 2022 Verdad Nicaragua 250 San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua from $90/night We were arrested together, he went free. La Yuma (2010) Nicaragua's first locally produced feature film focuses on a young girl called Yuma who comes from a poor neighbourhood of Managua and dreams of one day becoming a professional boxer. But when the clerk called time, I closed the file sure that, whoever he was or wasn't, Eric Volz was innocent. Then Volz took the stand. What I can say is this: The reading of the verdict was long and theatrical. The two nuns killed were identified by church officials as Sister Maureen Courtney, 45 years old, of Milwaukee, Wis., and Sister Teresa Rosales, a Nicaraguan nun who friends . The words beside her read, We are rising in the ranks of power, breaking new ground. But that reputation has largely . Some have mentioned 'karma' I say bullshit. I have a lot of enemies They steal my money, my food. Jimnez's uncle pointed his finger at the sky and said, This is justice for our small town, for Nicaragua, and for all of Central America! As Volz and Chamorro were hustled into waiting police trucks, the crowd hung off the walls of the surrounding buildings, whistling and shouting that one word: Justice!. At noon, Ricardo Castillo, a Nicaraguan journalist who has contributed to the BBC and other news outlets, arrived; he and Volz then initiated a teleconference to Virginia with consultant Nick Purdy, a cofounding publisher of the music magazine Paste. The official police report states that the perpetrators undressed her to rape and sodomize her, then put her clothes back on because of a sentimental attachment, and finally hog-tied her the way she was found. The Diario would quickly run article after article asking why foreigners were carrying military arms in Nicaragua. These were amended on December 6, and what was read at the December 7 arraignment was that Eric Stanley Volz and Julio Martn Rosita Chamorro Lpez were accused of killing Doris Jimnez. I'm a guy who makes a salary, Jan Volz said. Indeed, a terrified Nick Purdy looked at the door after being dismissed from his testimony and said, I ain't going out on the street.. If you decide to travel to Nicaragua: Read the Department of State's COVID-19 page before planning any international travel, and read the Embassy COVID-19 page for country-specific COVID-19 information. He was jubilant, laughing. I passed Chamorro's mother in the hall as I left. Fish leap from the water in schools. And how violent would the mob get? Ensure your U.S. passport is valid and available for a quick departure from the country . There are the impressive colonial cities of Granada and Leon, the island of Ometepe and the Mombacho volcano for hiking and trekking, the coffee farm region of Jinotega and Matagalpa in the mountainous regions, while the gorgeous surf beaches of the Pacific Coast go without saying. The car that the tourists were travelling in. Categories . He was home for the holidays from the job he held, legally, in Texas. I am afraid of people here. Volz had called Hertz to rent a car to go to San Juan. If you don't know what is there to do in Nicaragua, you're in luck - this country has something for everyone. Two visitors from Canada died after being shot on Friday Jan. 21, 2022, at the five-star Hotel Xcaret in Playa del Carmen, which is about 45 miles south of Cancun. When he described the $3 million an average San Juan real estate office made in annual sales, a ripple went through the gallery and a woman gasped, In dollars? Volz looked at the judge and said he was innocent. His voice broke again as he told me, Don't ever in your life let this happen to you.. 16 July 2018. I realized that hanging out in the mountains and staying in shape was great, but I wasn't really doing much., Volz's climbing friends would be among the first to come to his defense after his arrest. He was being held in the Granada penitentiary, a facility off the highway that houses 800 prisoners on small grounds. Eric is innocent. Gringo, chele, norteamericano for us Nicaraguans it's all the same thing.. I'm convinced that if they had caught any one of us, they would have killed us.. Meanwhile, Volz was held in various jails and penitentiaries. He talked about the competitiveness of the real estate market. Nevertheless, Alvarado went to the press. We calculated the number of Americans murdered in a country per 100,000 American tourists, using travel numbers from a dataset gathered by the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. It was hot outside; the street was a shoulder-to-shoulder line of riot police in armor, helmets, and shields. Crime. One day I'll leave here Watch yourself., When the guards called time, Chamorro and I exchanged a hug. Volz took up climbing at a local gym when he was 11, as a way to deal with his parents' divorce. Victims Identified. I'd come, like others before me, looking to pitch a hammock on a stretch of untrammeled beach. Her dream, from when she was 15 years old, says her aunt Mara Elena Alvarado, was to have a shop. Jimnez studied business administration at the UPOLI University in nearby Rivas, taking computer and English classes. In the cross-examination, the prosecution hammered away at the point that both Castillo and Purdy had incentive to see Volz free, as they had business dealings with him. Then Rojas asked how he had gotten the marks on his shoulder. [My store] is a public place, she said. In testimony that made everyone in the courtroom laugh even the judge the excitable and often confused Dangla again and again couldn't follow simple directions to hold the microphone up to his mouth. You were in Managua at 5 p.m. and arrived in San Juan at 6:30. Sometime in the second half of December, Volz's defense team called a meeting at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Managua to give San Juan mayor Holmann Volz's account of his whereabouts on the day of the murder, hoping he could intervene with local reporters. I worked pretty much all the time., Volz and Jimnez's split, both he and Thompson insisted, was amicable. All the while, the real estate ads promise, their investments will increase at rates that would make the stock market look silly. That was the day a Nicaraguan National Guard soldier shot to death Bill Stewart, an ABC News correspondent, at a checkpoint in the capital of Managua. Surfing is a good way to escape the complexities of the world, especially on the empty waves of Nicaragua. I've worked for two years really hard, and as soon as I get released, I've got to leave the country., When the verdict was read, he recalls, Oh, man, it was a horrible feeling. Back in San Juan, I found Dangla where I knew he would be: hanging with his friends outside his house. In the file were the original charges against Volz and Armando Llanes for the rape and sodomy of Jimnez, as well as murder charges against Volz, Llanes, Chamorro, and Dangla. After high school, he moved to Meyers, California, near South Lake Tahoe. Masaya Volcano Masaya Volcano. The day before the trial, the Volz family asked visitors to their Web site to pray for the safety of all involved in and surrounding the trial: Eric, witnesses, press, attorneys, bystanders, security, police; Health of one of Eric's key defense team who is sick with the flu; Judge; Doris's mother & family; That the trial is swift and that Eric will be free on Friday!. The gunfire erupted after a group of . The security guard. There's days that I feel confident, I feel good, I get exercise, I get to go out in the yard. You'll have to talk to my lawyer.. We can't even jaywalk without being harassed by the police.. Two of them, local surfers who ran in the same posse, were picked up soon after the murder: Julio Martn Chamorro Lpez, 30, better known as Rosita, was nabbed after a policeman remembered seeing him wandering near Sol Fashion shirtless, bearing what appeared to be fresh scratches and acting nervous. Nelson Antonio Lpez Dangla, 24, who goes by the nickname Krusty, was arrested shortly after Chamorro. Tourist card at airport. It was amid this tension that the case concluded. People tell me they're in the grocery store looking at which kind of juice to buy and they think about me, he said. At the far end of the yard, I suddenly realized that I was surrounded by inmates, no guards in sight. She admitted that the police lab had done a terrible job and chastised them for it. I was led into a spartan office; Volz was waiting at the desk. 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