Police charge 3 in
Martin murder
The lawyer for a Topeka woman whose daughter,
Shannon Martin, was killed in Golfito, almost two years ago said three suspects
have been charged with murder and a trial is imminent.
Costa Rican prosecutor Erik Martinez told Topeka
lawyer Pedro Irigonegaray that Golfito residents Katia Cruz Murillo, Rafael
"Coco" Zumbado and Luis "Caballo" Castro had been charged in
Martin's death. Martin was stabbed to death May 13, 2001, as she walked home
from a nightclub in the southern Costa Rican town.
"We believe all three of them are going to
trial in March," Irigonegaray said.
| Costa Rican authorities arrested
Cruz Murillo, then 27, six months after Martin was killed, and she has
never been released from jail. Costa Rican law requires that Murillo be
released if she hasn't gone to trial by March 20.
Zumbado and Castro were arrested in July
2002, but released in December after a judge said prosecution had
insufficient evidence to hold them. Stauffer said that when she visited
Costa Rica in November, Martinez told her the prosecution still needed
someone to come forward to implicate Zumbado and Castro. |
Shannon Martin
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In the two years since Martin was killed,
Stauffer has pressed authorities to solve her daughter's murder and criticized
the Federal Bureau of Investigation for not aiding the investigation.
"This is an important case in Costa
Rica," Stauffer said. "A lot of people want to see a trial."
Nazi hunter calls on Estonia, Venezuela to
take action against alleged Nazi
The Nazi-hunting Simon Wiesenthal Center called on Estonia and Venezuela Friday
to act swiftly against an alleged Nazi war criminal barred from traveling to
Costa Rica.
Harry Mannil, 81, was in Costa Rica this week when officials said he was no
longer welcome, citing his alleged ties to a police unit that killed Jews during
the 1941-1944 Nazi occupation of Estonia.
Mannil, now back at his home in Venezuela, said he worked for the unit but
never took part in abuses against Estonian Jews. He left the Baltic Sea state in
1943 and settled in Venezuela's capital, Caracas, and became a businessman.
"Venezuela should put Mannil on trial or expel him," said Efraim
Zuroff, the head of the Wiesenthal Center's Jerusalem office, speaking by
telephone from Israel. "At least don't allow him to live in peace. Send him
packing."
Fernandez wins Costa Rica Open
Sebastian Fernandez is the new champion of the Costa Rica Open, but he was
hardly overjoyed.
"I'm saddened for my friend Cesar (Monasterio)," Fernandez said
after holing a short par putt on the first playoff hole to beat him. "He
had so much to gain by winning. Maybe that added too much extra pressure."
Monasterio was the overnight leader by two. He reached the halfway stage of
the final round with a five-stroke lead, then collapsed with six bogeys over the
last nine holes.
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