Comments on: Five months later, family of murdered American still seeks answers

By: joey

joey — Thu, 25 Jun 2015 06:43:00 +0000

Polygraph the Nicaraguan wife. She prolly knows something.

By: curious

curious — Wed, 23 Jul 2014 22:45:00 +0000

ive living in costa rica for 10 years, know many american expays, and have never seen or heard (in the real world) of this doug smith. all i see is various incoherent ramblings on craigslist rants and raves and attention hungry journalists. what did he actually do?

By: Ken Morris

Ken Morris — Wed, 23 Jul 2014 22:42:00 +0000

Joanna below makes the point that struck me from the beginning, namely that the killing was personal. We know it wasn’t motivated by theft in the ordinary sense and it doesn’t appear to have been at all random. Someone wanted Mr. Heigis dead.

The difficulty seems to be that no one knows who that was, or at least the suspects are not mentioned owing to the ongoing investigation. Compounding the difficulty is that Mr. Heigis seemed to have kept his personal affairs private. Not mentioning a marriage to your kids is a sign of a private man.

An important point for expats to appreciate is that this doesn’t suggest that gringos in general are at risk, that Ticos don’t care about a murdered gringo, or anything like that. Insofar as there might be any lesson like this for gringos, it could be that a cultural misunderstanding allowed Mr. Heigis to unwittingly seriously piss off a Latino. It doesn’t sound like he was the kind of fellow who would do this intentionally, but maybe he did so unintentionally. Certainly someone was hopping mad, but who this was and why they were mad we don’t know. It’s possible that he didn’t know either, although this is remote speculation.

I think he probably knew, just didn’t tell anyone.

And yep, the wife looks like a suspect, but I’m sure OIJ knows that and has investigated, so I’m not going to badmouth her.

It’s a puzzling case and I’m curious to know who killed him and why, but I’m sure it was personal, just don’t know which person or why.

By: duke ster

duke ster — Wed, 23 Jul 2014 18:24:00 +0000

Oh I thought they already arrested him. In any event you are to be admired because of your tenacity in going after your enemies.

By: duke ster

duke ster — Wed, 23 Jul 2014 15:55:00 +0000

Let me relay an interesting story of a “lettered agency’s” tenacity when they want to catch someone
I was “working on the inside” and met a really interesting character, he was a super good guy-I mean some characters the public or law enforcement deem a bad character -sometimes are very human and on a personal level can become good friends despite their situation or how law enforcement or John Q Public views them. This guy –lets call him Tony– told me how the FBI used his “associate” to get their man.( This can all be verified by a story which came out in the Ft Lauderdale Sun Sentinel a few years ago–way after the event) The FBI wanted a guy on charges that he killed several black leaders of whatever “black rights movement”- This was in Mississippi or somewhere way deep down south. and the wanted guy was a KKK type. So they couldn’t get KKK to talk despite all legal methods and trying. This brought them to “Tony’s associate” lets call him Vinny. They went to Vinny and asked him to get a confession from KKK. as to where the bodies were. Vinny would have the benefits of gaining inside information on his “organizational rivals” Let’s call them the other wiseguys. Vinny could get all the secret info on the wiseguys who were business rivals.Where they were at any given moment and so on. Having information where your enemy is at any given moment or where he will be at a certain time on a certain day would possibly put them in a precarious situation if anyone wanted them “out of the picture” Now Vinny could get revenge and also step into territories controlled by the other wiseguys and take over. Vinny decides to help the “lettered organization” let’s call them the DVY—Vinny drives from Jersey- goes down south in his Cadillac and takes some TV’s. Seems KKK was a TV repairman. Vinny goes into KKK’s shop and says come around back I have some TV’s in the trunk of my car in the alley and I need some help bringing them inside. So KKK goes out to help Vinny take them out of the trunk–Vinny hits KKK over the head and throws him into the trunk and takes off. Remember I am hearing this from Tony and we are sharing a stateroom in “hotel graybar” –this gets better… so Tony goes on telling me the story. Vinny drives his Cadillac , with KKK safely stored in the trunk,out on some gravel country road in the middle of nowhere-not hard to find such a road down in the Mississippi countryside. Vinny stops and opens the trunk and KKK sees Vinny and 3 other “suits” . KKK probably thinks all are wiseguys at this point when actually only Vinny is a wiseguy-the other 3 are..well they are members of one of the fine “lettered law enforcement agencies” But again, KKK doesn’t know this and the DVY isn’t fessing up and identifying themselves, that would be counterproductive at this stage of the game. Vinny asks KKK where the bodies are, just like his associates the DVY have been doing. KKK says he doesn’t know what he is talking about-hmmmm where have we heard this statement before? Maybe someone should ask the wife of Heigis the murdered U.S. citizen and biker , the same type of question but word it like this..”where are the people who murdered MR Heigis”!
Now Vinny asks the vital question that DVY has been asking all along but not getting answers to. Vinny asks KKK “where are the bodies”? Still no correct answer. So what does Vinny do? Vinny pulls out his piece and shoots KKK’s ear off! Then Vinny asks the million dollar question again, “where are the bodies”? Only THIS TIME KKK comes up with a location and a confession. Good work Vinny! Who cares about the victims of KKK? I am impressed with Vinny’s methods of questioning and believe the agency should consider putting this method in their training manual–nah— bad idea-they might use this method on me or you when wanting an answer to a particularly sticky question we don’t want to answer at this time sir.
So now Vinny has a leg up or leverage on the DVY and proceeds to use the heck out of his new found fountain of secret information, such as ” tell me when Jimmy Smacks is out and about and where to catch up with him and at what time.” Well there goes Jimmy Smacks– no longer a business rival and also “take this Jimmy” for such and such you did to me. Then follows more set ups and more of Vinny’s wiseguy opponents are out of the business so to speak. And very permanently out of the business.
Sometimes even the best sources of information can desire to put an end their helpful ways and want to finish their relationships with certain individuals. They have the right don’t they? I mean after all, where was the fine print in this contract? Did it have a loophole? Seems Vinny had a medical condition whereby he needed a lot of blood transfusions. And the lettered agency was tired of Vinny using them all the time. Why oh why didn’t Vinny take it easy and only ask the DVY secret information once in a while? Greed Greed Greed—-
Ok- Somehow one of the bloodbags Vinny got for his much needed lifesaving blood transfusions was “tainted”
with an extremely deadly and fast acting version of the aids virus…. Bye Bye Vinny. No more using the DVY to aid you in your personal list of hits and claiming of new profitable business territories.
” Disclaimer” I don’t remember the actual name of Tony or his “associate” and I know of no further information on this event or series of events and further more, this was all fabricated by me because I secretly want to be a writer of FICTION I read the story in the Ft Lauderdale Sun Sentinel and fabricated this story- That is what this is…. pure FICTION! Of course we don’t believe for a second that one of our lettered agencies would ever operate in this way. And I certainly don’t want anyone to believe that any agency of a government would do anything even remotely close to what this FABRICATED story says. Remember–this is a fabricated story from a would be crime story writer. So please do not look for me. Just goes to show you what COULD have happened if you were able to read between the lines of a published story in a well known newspaper.

By: disgusted

disgusted — Wed, 23 Jul 2014 14:57:00 +0000

Joanna, Thanks for your reply and insight. So who benefited was the “wife” she got all the property and assets like TV’s, stoves and such. I guess as well she got the $1,900 as well. My suspecions would be #1 the wife and or her immediate family. I do not know how long it would take her to get the property sold. You’re right it was a personal killing. maybe the 30 yr old has children from a former relationship. The ex is still in the picture.. The wife can be a good actress in portraying a distress women. I think we as a collective could solve this with the right question answers and follow up questions. Again , Best too you Joanna.

By: James F. Agnos

James F. Agnos — Wed, 23 Jul 2014 14:53:00 +0000

FBI jurisdiction is limited in foreign countries. Only because a conspiracy existed among Americans were the FBI able to open a case against Doug Smith and his accomplices.

By: duke ster

duke ster — Wed, 23 Jul 2014 14:31:00 +0000

James, this guy threatened you here in Costa Rica? Threatened you with a contract killing? And you went all the way to panama city to report this to the FBI? That is an incredible story. I certainly congratulate you for your tenacity. How many of us would be so intelligent as to do this?
Are you telling us that this daughter of the slain U.S. citizen ( Heigis) could file a report with the FBI in Panama city and they would do an investigation here in Costa Rica and even follow the wife’s trail to Nicaragua on her behalf? That would be incredible-I mean if the FBI is after someone– watch out baby–they WILL be caught! The FBI are smart cookies.Please fill us in on a little more of the details if you have the time.

By: duke ster

duke ster — Wed, 23 Jul 2014 14:15:00 +0000

I was NOT trying to put out there that your father was involved in drugs-please don’t think I am trying to sully his memory-I was trying to make the point that How did OIJ know whether or not WHATEVER was involved? They must have based all their ideas on what happened by speaking with the only witness –and if she lied about anything–does OIJ just believe her? expatin paradise makes good points-who is this wife? And YOU make good points-you understand that it was personal. Since you are working with an un named U.S.agency. I only hope they have jurisdiction to actually help. If the correct U.S. agency is involved-it will do wonders. So you know it was personal and you have experience with criminal justice,you are in a better position than most would be. Now we know it was personal, that means a lover did it, right? How do we discover who he is and where he was? All very hard to do, especially if you are in the U.S. and have limited funds.
I like expats’s assertion that the Ticos dislike Nicas more than they dislike Gringos, that tells me something. They let her go-they must have had to. .But we never know–don’t sell them short, there are really good Ticos out there who are very professional and don’t care if other Ticos don’t like Gringos–they will do their job. It might sound crazy but meeting these types of Ticos always made me proud to live in Costa Rica.
If she has the house-she will be living there or be able to be found by the collection of rent. She must be found and questioned. The “correct” questioning will lead to the killer. So that is the key–finding this snake and squeezing her until she confesses. It’s a simple idea, the executing of the idea is the trick but it can be done. Personally if my father were murdered I would place an ad on yahoo groups, “costaricaliving”, “costaricacentralvalleyliving” and there are a few more with lots of readers .Place an ad asking for investigative help or ANY kind of help in questioning this woman–Keep posting–every week–keep your search on the front burner of people’s minds–
Keep all of your contacts private and don’t share ANYTHING with the U.S.agency who you are in contact with. Because you have a background in criminal justice you probably don’t understand how things really get done and you trust “agencies”. Forget all that and dig into the world of “keep your mouth shut with who and what you know”. .I can’t go further in helping you because I am “away”.So if there is a way to contact you by e-mail or privately, somehow let me know and I will put you in touch with my contact. Get your personal e-mail to me and I will give u my contact–other than that I can’t go further.
The Editor here has done a WONDERFUL job of asking you public questions and helping you. He is doing something way beyond what others would do. That is rare in today’s world. Also there are many REALLY smart and well connected people who are fans of this site. They are reading all this and some are responding and others are quiet -probably because of the limelight. Put your contact e-mail out here on this site–even if you make up an e-mail address solely for this investigation. You will be contacted further off site. People want to help bring your Father’s killer to justice- many want to keep Costa Rica a “safer” place and when the killer is caught or erased, it will show everyone that you CANNOT kill a U.S./European/ upright citizen from anywhere, take his house and more, and simply get away with it. This will discourage future would be low lifes who hatch ideas to take what the “rich” foreigner has. They will all remember how this particular killer got caught.
Years ago a housekeeper teamed up with the gardner and they killed the gringo owner of a very visible “a frame” house in Escazu so they could take what he had. It was news on Tico Times when it was a paper English newspaper.The Costa Rican police agencies really did their job on that one as they were put in prison, but I don’t know the particulars. Keep this on the front burner and your father’s killers WILL be caught.

By: expatin paradise

expatin paradise — Wed, 23 Jul 2014 13:15:00 +0000

If the “wife” already got all the property, she and the money are probably long gone. It is too bad that assets could not have been frozen pending the outcome of the investigation.

Did anyone investigate the legitimacy of the alleged marriage? Forged documents are commonplace here.

The fact that the woman, an eye witness to a vicious murder, was allowed to live by the attackers doesn’t add up. I hope that the OIJ is quietly looking at her and her associates and building a case.

While gringos may be resented by some Ticos, Nicas are hated by most Ticos. If the OIJ suspects a Nica in this case, they will charge her, if she isn’t already back in Nicaragua. Unfortunately, the Heigis family stands to gain only satisfaction, and that’s a long shot, given the conviction rate here.