On Monday morning, a three-judge panel in Pérez Zeledón acquitted U.S. citizen Ann Patton of charges of murdering her husband, wealthy financier John Bender, in 2010.
Costa Rica had a pretty “pura vida” year in 2014 when it came to crime. Compared to unidentified helicopters, $6 billion money laundering schemes and the break up of an organ trafficking ring in 2013, 2014 was a more pedestrian year. But there were still a handful of standout crime stories this year.
Last Wednesday, Patton's boyfriend, 40-year-old New York State native Greg Fischer, was found dead in his Escazú apartment southwest of San José, from an apparent heart attack or asthma attack, his brother Brian stated in a Facebook post.
The conviction by a Costa Rican court of U.S. expat Ann Maxin Patton on charges that she murdered her husband, U.S. financier John Felix Bender, in 2010 continues to be scrutinized, this time by the CBS documentary news series "48 hours."
Ann Maxin Patton, 43, was in court again today in San Isidro de El General for a retrial on charges that she murdered her husband, U.S. financier John Felix Bender, 44, in a bizarre incident at their jungle mansion in 2010.
Many of us in Costa Rica who weren't tuned in to The Ticas' final match in the U-17 Women's World Cup, and who could find a signal for CNN in the U.S., were anxiously awaiting the much-hyped premiere of "Love & Death in Paradise," which promised to get to the bottom of the bizarre death of U.S. expat John Felix Bender in 2010. Instead, we got more coverage of the missing plane.
Did John kill himself? Or did his wife murder him as she saw their dreams collapse? CNN is now airing their own special report called "Love & Death in Paradise" on the case. The program debuts at 8 p.m. tonight, Costa Rica time, and 10 p.m. on the U.S. East Coast.
