Police Continue Investigating Nosara Killing

By Amanda Roberson
Tico Times Staff
aroberson@ticotimes.net

Authorities are continuing to investigate the death of Carl David Brainard, a U.S. citizen whose body was found July 12 in the northwestern beach town of Nosara.

Police have obtained fingerprints from the inside of the house where Brainard’s body was discovered by a gardener, Nosara Judicial Investigation Police (OIJ) Director Greylin Moncada said. Also, the Toyota 4-Runner that was stolen from in front of the house was discovered in Tibás, north of San José, and police have obtained fingerprints from its interior.

Moncada said police are analyzing the fingerprints to see if they are clear enough to be used as evidence, though they have no suspects in the death.

Preliminary autopsy reports indicate that Brainard suffered various wounds, including a fractured trachea, which caused him to suffocate, Moncada said.

Meanwhile, Brainard’s son Jeff, 42, traveled to Costa Rica from the U.S. state of Michigan this week to speak with authorities about his 65-year-old father’s death.

Jeff Brainard told The Tico Times that the house in which his father’s body was found belonged to a friend. Carl Brainard was moving into the house to watch over it and had borrowed the 4-Runner from another friend to move his things in, his son said.

Jeff Brainard, who has been to Nosara several times to surf, said he introduced his father to the town 10 years ago. Carl Brainard moved to Nosara two years ago, he said.

“He made more and more friends and soon became a staple there,” Jeff Brainard said.

Carl Brainard worked at the Nosara Real Estate office answering phones and helping out the realtors, but did not sell real estate; he also worked at the Juice Lab smoothie bar next door.

Jeff Brainard said he has no idea who would want to kill his father and wonders if someone followed him in the 4-Runner with the intention of stealing it.

“He was such a benign person, down here doing nothing but being retired,” Jeff Brainard said.