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Murder Suspect Is Returned to
Colombia
One of the men suspected in last
month’s murder and dismemberment
of a Staten Island woman in
Panama has been returned to his
native Colombia by Costa Rica
despite being one of Panama’s
most wanted men, the authorities
in Panama and Costa Rica said
yesterday.
The man, Camilo Cuenu Castro,
was arrested in Costa Rica on
April 17 for entering that
country illegally, the chief of
the Costa Rican Special
Migration Police, Francisco
Castaing said.
Mr. Castro is one of two
suspects sought in the death of
Toni Grossi Abrams, 56, a Staten
Island businesswoman with real
estate in Panama. Her butchered
and burned remains were found in
Panama City on April 10.
Interpol had been told that Mr.
Castro was wanted in Panama,
said Rafael Ruiz, a spokesman
for the Panamanian Public
Ministry. But instead of
detaining him, Costa Rican
authorities deported him to
Colombia on Friday, Mr. Castaing
said.
Mr. Castaing told that Costa
Rica had never been notified by
Panama that there was an arrest
warrant for Mr. Castro and that
he was returned to Colombia in
accordance with Costa Rica’s
normal immigration procedures.
Panama plans to ask Colombia to
extradite Mr. Castro, Mr. Ruiz
said, adding that while in the
past Colombia has extradited its
citizens to Panama to face drug
charges, there seemed to be no
precedent for murder cases.
Shortly after Ms. Abrams’s
death, an American tenant of
hers, Debra Ann Ridgley, was
arrested and charged in her
killing. But Panamanian
prosecutors have said that Mr.
Castro and Didier Osorio Garcia,
another Colombian who befriended
Ms. Ridgley, were with her in
Ms. Abrams’s apartment the night
of her death, and that the two
men helped Ms. Ridgley dispose
of the body.
Mr. Garcia remains at large.
Seth Redlich, a cousin of Ms.
Abrams’s who lives in Panama and
has been working to solve her
killing, said he hoped Colombia
would undo what appeared to be
the error that set Mr. Castro
free.
“It’s inexcusable that this man
has simply been allowed to walk
out of the country and been
delivered to Colombia a free
man,” Mr. Redlich said.
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