November 20, 2025 • 44 mins
Ann contemplates leaving Costa Rica forever. A drug bust and a prison visit lead to speculation about the Benders’ former head of security and his role in events. Everyone drawn into the couple’s orbit reflects on this shocking story. The final chapter revisits the jungle house, now abandoned, and the mysteries that refuse to die.
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Speaker 1 (00:10):
In June twenty seventeen, an old cattle truck made its
way down Highway forty seven in Costa Rica. Another car,
a Hyundai SUV, was close behind. If you happened to
see the two vehicles on the road, well you wouldn't
think anything of it. There was nothing remarkable about them.
(00:31):
In each vehicle there were two men, three Costa Ricans
and one Mexican. They thought everything was going to plan. Eventually,
the cattle truck and the suv reached the outskirts of
the small town of Orotina, an hour or so away
from the capital San Jose. The bust was a complete
(01:02):
surprise and executed quickly. The men in the cattle truck
and the suv had no time to react. The police
and a specialized tactical unit congratulated each other. They were
prepared for a shootout, but luckily it hadn't come to that.
For more drug cartel stooges were now off the streets.
(01:26):
In the back of the cattle truck, police found two
hundred and thirty seven kilos of cocaine hidden in a
false bottom of the trunk. It was worth close to
twenty million dollars. They also found a GPS, night vision goggles,
two way radios, and a gun, classic equipment for drug runners.
(01:50):
One of the men arrested was very well known to
the authorities and most Costa Ricans. He was a big catch.
The police had been tracking him for a long time
and their patients had now paid off. The following day,
his mugshot would be on the front of every newspaper
in Costa Rica. Later, he would plead guilty to providing
(02:14):
logistical and operational support to drug gangs linked to the
Mexican cartels. Costa Rica was fast becoming the drug route
of choice for South American cartels the eventual destination of
those drugs the US. The well known Costa Rican was
(02:34):
sentenced to ten years in prison and publicly humiliated. But
there's something else about the man captured on that hot
June day. He had very close links to John and
Anne Bender from Exactly Right Media and iHeart podcasts produced
(03:03):
by Blanchard House. This is Helen Heaven. I'm Becky Milligan.
(03:33):
Two years before that drugs bust, and Bender was in
court waiting for a verdict again. It was the third
time she'd been on trial for murder. She'd hardly slept
a wink the night before, author Carol Vaughan.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
No one had any idea whether she was going to
be found guilty or innocent, no idea whatsoever, and.
Speaker 1 (03:55):
Sat behind her lawyer. She had a clear view of
the three judges who faced her from the bench. Friends
and family were there to support her. At nine point fifteen,
the chief judge called the court to order. At last,
the verdict came on the charge of murdering her husband John,
(04:17):
Anne Bender was acquitted. In TV footage, at the moment
Anne realizes she's free, she looks completely blank for a
split second, as though she can't take it in. Then
she closes her eyes and squeezes them tight. Her lawyer
visibly relaxes and reaches a hand behind him to grab hands.
(04:41):
They don't speak or even look at each other, but
the release of tension and relief is obvious. Cameraman Kevin
Serrano was.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
In court Ricardo El Momento, El Clovi.
Speaker 4 (04:56):
She lowered her head and started to cry. She was weeping.
At last, she was able to release all that tension.
I'm sure it must have been a turning point for her.
Anne's life could never be the same from the non
because despite the harshness of all the trials and the process,
nothing compares to the loss of the person she had
chosen to share her life with, a comfortable life. None
(05:18):
of that was there anymore, whether or not she had
anything to do with his death. So that was the
most memorable moment for me when she started to cry
after hearing the verdict.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
Anne is led out of the courthouse into the bright
light of day and freedom by her brother Ken. The
media scram is pushed away by her security. A minus
scuffle breaks out. Anne, who looks pale and dazed, is
using a cane to help her walk and holds onto
her brother's hand tightly. Her eyes are downcast. She doesn't speak.
(05:50):
Can it really all be over? Ken speaks briefly to
a gaggle of reporters outside the courthouse.
Speaker 5 (05:59):
Sure, noppreciate that justice was served today, and my sister
did not murder her husband. She's not a murderer. There
was not enough circumstantial evidence to convict her for the
simple fact that there was no murder.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
Anne is then whisked away in a car with blacked
out windows to the hotel Zimmer where she'd been staying.
One thing is on her mind to get out of
the country as soon as she can and return to
America before the Costa Rican authorities order another retrial. Her
passport had been confiscated, but the American embassy had managed
(06:36):
to slip her a replacement before the verdict. It's in
her jacket pocket. Kevin, the news cameraman, had listened closely
to the legal arguments. He was fascinated by the Benders
and their lavish but isolated lifestyle. It also made him
think about his homeland too. Are you Antia in this voice?
Speaker 4 (06:59):
In a big picture, Costa Rica is seen as a
place of tranquility and peace, and when all this came
to light, people said, maybe it's not such a peaceful place.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
By the end of the trial, he'd been convinced by
the prosecution's arguments that John didn't kill himself. He was
sure that the trial wouldn't be the end of the story.
Speaker 6 (07:19):
Where is he?
Speaker 4 (07:20):
If the wife was found not guilty, then who killed him?
Speaker 1 (07:24):
It was a question which had simmed a long time
in John Kolvic's head too. One of the Bender's neighbors
he didn't think Anna killed John, but that didn't mean
someone else happened.
Speaker 7 (07:35):
To this day, it still doesn't rest good with me.
Someone that wealthy at that house, I don't think his
wife pulled the trigger. And when they say there was
no one else there, she at that place is the
darkest jungle you've ever seen in your life. You have
no clue. He talked about sending a ninja in to
kill someone or whatever you'd like to call him. An assassin,
someone who's going to pull a trigger on a millionaire
(07:56):
with a doped up wife, Jesus Christ within the country
with no friends, you know what I mean?
Speaker 3 (08:02):
Why not? Why not?
Speaker 7 (08:05):
Why not?
Speaker 1 (08:07):
Kevin was proved right. Even though the court case had
come to an end, speculation and theories about what really
happened to John Bender didn't stop and continue to this day.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
Carol Vaughan, there are opinions that flowed around saying that
people saw individuals running away from Guarakayan that night late.
They're just all kinds of things to be tidied up
and tied together.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
Kevin, the camera operator began to mull over who else
could have had a motive to kill John.
Speaker 4 (08:43):
Any of the security team could have. Perhaps it was
someone he did business with and something went wrong. He
owed someone money. I think there's still a feeling that
the case has not been resolved.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
There was one person whose name came up again and again.
(09:17):
We're at a prison in San Jose. We have to
go through tight security. Our bags, passports and phones are
put through an X ray scan. The man we are
coming to visit is the same man who was captured
at the start of this chapter, caught with two hundred
and thirty seven kilos of cocaine by the police, arrested
(09:41):
and jailed for ten years, very well known in Costa Rica.
We're taken into a small room. A man dressed in
a bright orange top is sitting at a table. He's
around fifty, trimmer and healthier than he looked in the
photos I've seen of the rest, but he still wears
(10:02):
an impressive thick mustache. The person sitting in front of
me is Jose Pizzarro, the Bender's head of security, the
colonel whom John trusted deeply, and the man who cared
for Anne after John died. Yes, what we haven't told
you is that when we interviewed him, he was in prison.
(10:24):
Jose Pizzaro, El Toro, the Bull, one time head of
the Costa Rican Police, now convicted criminal. This is his
first interview since Anne was acquitted in twenty fourteen. As
we settled down, I remind him how well respected and
trusted he'd been before his conviction, even earning an affectionate
(10:49):
nickname that makes him smile, Toro.
Speaker 3 (10:54):
Where I live, everyone knows me by the name Toro Bull.
Some don't even know my real name. They just call
out on the street, Hey Bull, Hey Toro.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
The smile fades quickly. His reputation is now in shreds.
He was publicly disgraced and shamed in Costa Rica. He
first met John after the couple were confronted on the
roadside in two thousand and one. Convinced they were going
to be kidnapped or even worse, John hired the former
chief of police to protect them. Jose Pisari worked for
(11:29):
them for ten years and has nothing but good things
to say about the couple.
Speaker 6 (11:39):
She was a very nice person. She was very sweet.
She took care of her husband. He was like the
apple of her eye. They really made a very nice
couple and we got on from the beginning. Besides the
professional relationship, to put it in another way, we became friends.
They were very open, very friendly.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
Those he hasn't seen or spoken to Anne since she
was acquitted. As we heard, Jose Pizzaro was arrested in
twenty seventeen, a few years after Anne had left Costa Rica,
but it's reported that the former police chief was under
surveillance well before that. In fact, as early as two
(12:26):
thousand and nine, when Pizaro was working for the Benders,
a helicopter had come down in the mountainous Southern Zone
with three hundred and forty seven kilos of cacaine on board.
The first person at the scene of the crash, yes,
it was reportedly Jose Pizzaro. Many speculate that the only
(12:47):
way he could have been at the crash site so
fast was because he was involved in the smuggling operation.
So Kevin, the cameraman who covered Anne's trial, began to
wonder if John rom Bender had inadvertently or not got
mixed up with the drug cartels through his head of security, Josekisaro.
Speaker 3 (13:09):
Is Tyli Gao Conrakotraviotli.
Speaker 4 (13:14):
Between two thousand and seven and two thousand and eight,
a helicopter loaded with drugs crashed in the mountains. The
only person who managed to reach the place was Hossepi Serro.
It's presumed that he already had links with Mexican cartels
and that John might have been cut in the middle
of all this. That reinforces my belief he didn't kill himself.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
But was murdered, possibly by someone who had links to
the drug gangs. It's yet another theory to add to
all the others and may sound a little far fetched,
and there's no evidence to suggest it's true. In fact,
there's no evidence at all Jose Pizarro was in any
way connected to John's death. Perhaps it's just too easy
(13:51):
to pin it all on this celebrity ex police chief
turned criminal. But Kevin wasn't the only one thinking along
these lines.
Speaker 4 (13:59):
On the Star A lout of my Lady, Do.
Speaker 1 (14:04):
Remember Carlos, the ambulance driver who was the first on
the scene of John's death in Boracayanne. He's convinced John
didn't kill himself and believes that Jose Pizzaro may have
been involved in some way. Again, though it's speculation. Like
with every part of this story, there are coincidences and
(14:25):
the unexplained. What are the chances that the person the
Benders hired to protect them is actually in bed with
violent criminals. It certainly got people talking, and again it
conveyed a certain mystique around the couple. On the other hand,
it kind of also makes sense. Latin America's cartels are
(14:45):
infamous and Pizarro was an obvious target for them because
of his police connections, and those connections were also why
John and Ann hired him. He was the go to
guy in Costa Rica, which isn't a big place. Jose
Pizarre has spent five years in prison.
Speaker 6 (15:06):
Which There's a lot more that I have to say,
but in my current situation, there is much that I
can't say. What I really want for Anne is that
she finds peace and tranquility and that she can face
whatever comes ahead.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
Jose gave evidence at all of Anne's trials. He believes
she's innocent and that the evidence showed that. He says
that he had nothing to do with John's death and
believes that John kills himself. As to why Jose mentions
the trust which John and Anne put their money into,
meaning they effectively lost control of their.
Speaker 6 (15:44):
Fortune, well, I feel sorry about everything that happened to
John and Anne. If you dig a little deeper, you'll
find much more about the fraud management of the trust,
which I believe led John Bender to kill himself. I
(16:06):
hope everything's well for her, so that her family and
John's family find some peace. It's a shame what they're
going through tough. I know how difficult it has been
for both John's and Anne's family. I have nothing to
gain from this, but as a Costa Rican, I'm ashamed
to see these types of things happen in this country.
Speaker 1 (16:32):
I asked him about being arrested and his involvement with
the drug cartels personnel.
Speaker 3 (16:45):
I come from humble beginnings. I'm from the countryside. However
I managed to rise to the highest position of the police.
Then I made a mistake. No, I committed a horror.
I feel ashamed for having committed such a thing. I
humbly ask for forgiveness to every citizen in this country
(17:08):
for committing a crime for which I am pain a
sentence in prison.
Speaker 8 (17:13):
They are your indios.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
Okay, okay.
Speaker 3 (17:39):
I believe in God. I'm a human being and I failed.
But I want to be clear that that doesn't justify
what I did. Though I was no longer an officer
of the police force of this country when I committed
this crime. So as a human being, I might have failed,
but as a member of the police force, I never
(18:02):
did come on policia.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
As Jose spoke, the tears began to roll freely down
his face. He wiped them away and then gave up
because they kept coming, wetting his cheeks and his chin
and his shirt. To us, they seemed to come from
a very profound sorrow and regret, but it's impossible to
know for sure if his tears were genuine. What did
(18:29):
leap outed us during the interview was rather cryptically. Jose
told us he had a lot more to say, but couldn't.
We said goodbye. As we made our way out of
(18:54):
the prison, Jose was led in the opposite direction. The
last we saw of him was disappearing through several double doors,
and they're out of sight. When Anne got back to
the Zimmer hotel after the verdict, her family and friends
had lunch. It wasn't a loud, celebratory one, but quiet
and peaceful. After lunch, they gathered their bags and Anne
(19:18):
said goodbye to hotel owners Santiago and Anna.
Speaker 8 (19:21):
We don't know where she's going to, but you know
she was going to go out of the country of course,
I don't ask her where. I said, by good luck,
that's it.
Speaker 1 (19:34):
Did she smile?
Speaker 4 (19:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:37):
Anne's brother thanked the hoteliers, saying he hoped it was
finally over, except the authorities had one last surprise for her.
All Anne wanted to do now was leave the country.
(19:57):
But would she be able to.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
When she guid to the airport. Although she had a
new passport, she appeared on a no fly list. Costa
Rica had stopped her.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
Author Carol Vaughan, she lost it.
Speaker 2 (20:10):
I understand from people around her that she the poor thing.
She just fell apart. Her lawyer got her off that
no fly list super fast. I think it wasn't like
eight days. She was off and she was out of here.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
She has never returned to Costa Rica. Now, all that
was left to remind people about the couple was the house.
Like so many people in Perizeladon, Santiago and Anna had
always been curious about the huge, full story home built
on a hill in the middle of the jungle. It
intrigued everyone, but the hoteliers had never seen it. After
(20:48):
the trials and Anne's departure, they decided to go and
have a look for themselves. When they arrived at the house.
It was empty, abandoned. Some of John and Ann's possessions
remained scattered around the four floors, without gardeners or anyone
to maintain the property. Nature was taking over the wallless house.
(21:10):
Animals were moving in.
Speaker 8 (21:13):
It was it was glowing like a jungle because nobody
does nothing to the house. And the swimming pool there
was frogs and everything. Everything was down. The house in size,
was dirty. Everything clothes and papers and all that kind
of stuff by the floor. Nobody cleans nothing.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
So everything it was left as it was. Why did you.
Speaker 8 (21:39):
Go because we wanted to see the house. Everybody talk
about the house.
Speaker 1 (21:45):
So were you a bit shocked at the state it
was in?
Speaker 8 (21:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:49):
They walked around the garden and decided to take one
of the bender's benches, which would have been chucked away otherwise,
a lover's wooden swing seat which the couple used to
sit on to enjoy their paradise. Now it's in the
hotel garden, a little weathered but still usable.
Speaker 8 (22:06):
The bench.
Speaker 1 (22:07):
Have you got the bench?
Speaker 8 (22:08):
The benches from the house.
Speaker 1 (22:11):
They also saw the remnants of John's beloved orchids strewn
all over the place, withered and decaying. Santiago rescued some
of the healthier looking ones and took them away. Now,
in one corner of Santiago's hotel garden, there is a
spectacular display of yellows and reds, which often catch the
(22:31):
eye of the guests. John's beautiful and rare orchids are
tall and thriving all these years after his death. A
few days after Anne had left Costa Rica, a mysterious
package arrived at the hotel inside Santiago, and Anna found
(22:56):
beautiful clothes Anne's designer collection and must have arranged for
them to be sent. Anna couldn't believe it. She'd had
marred them so many times, and and sense of style.
All these years. Anna has looked after them and even
wears them. Sometimes they're a perfect fit. When Santiago says
(23:18):
Anne pattern, that's Anne Bender.
Speaker 8 (23:21):
Sometimes when she used those clothes, she says, Okay, I'm
gonna be Anna's today, an pattern.
Speaker 1 (23:28):
Really you say that? Do you walk up and down
and go look at me.
Speaker 8 (23:32):
I'm gonna be a pattern today, That's why she said.
Speaker 1 (23:35):
And sure enough, one morning, when I was staying at
the hotel, Anna called me over. She was wearing one
of Anne's dresses long and black and elegant. This was
Anne's See it's beautiful.
Speaker 9 (23:48):
See do you feel elegant?
Speaker 1 (23:53):
It's perfect, it's perfect, It fits beautifully. So it's a
really sort of really quite tight fitting long black dress
with a halting neck. Heakake, oh beautiful. After her acquittal,
Anne left the country and settled in America to start
(24:14):
a new life. And yet you can probably guess what
happened next. The Costa Rican authorities were still determined to
get her. In twenty seventeen, the Prosecutor's office ordered a
fourth trial. They wanted to try her all over again,
but to do that they would need to extradite an
(24:35):
from the United States. They issued an international arrest warrant
against her, effectively making it impossible for her to travel internationally.
There were other battles too. She took her Costa Rican lawyer,
Juan Alvarez to court for fraud in twenty twelve. He
(24:56):
had control over part of their fortune, which had been
put in that trust. The money was supposed to be
set aside for John and Anne's wildlife sanctuary. Anne accused
Alvarez of taking cash from the trust for his personal use,
spending it on horses and paying off credit card bills.
The court ruled that he should be removed from the
(25:17):
trust's board. Alvarez denied all the accusations made against him,
telling CBS they were bogus, but when his office was
raided during an investigation into his management of the trust,
it was discovered that forty million dollars was missing. He
didn't respond to our requests for an interview. We of
(25:41):
course also reached out to Anne. We would have loved
to have talked her about everything in this podcast, about
the whole story, but she didn't respond. So what about
those gems, the rubies, diamonds, the opals, which the police
confiscated at the time of John's death, and which they
(26:02):
claimed were Anne's motive for murder? The Costa Rican authorities
alleged that the Benders had not paid taxes on the
jewels and had smuggled them in The private collection was
originally valued at twenty million dollars. Anne eventually recovered some
of the gems in February twenty twenty, but that part
(26:23):
of the hoarde was apparently valued closer to four million dollars.
Authorities explained some had been kept in order to pair
a tax bill of about one point three million dollars.
What happened to the rest of the collection is still
a mystery, and all the while, the threat of having
(26:43):
to face trial in Costa Rica for a fourth time
hung over Anne. The international arrest warrant meant that she
was effectively trapped in the US even as she tried
to rebuild her life. She was not free until finally
the law changed, enabling her defense team to challenge the retrial.
(27:04):
The case was heard before the Human Rights Chamber of
Costa Rica's Supreme Court in twenty twenty three. Her defense
team argued that she was the victim of judicial persecution.
Seven judges deliberated and the vote was very close, But
in the end, four of the seven judges ruled in
(27:25):
Anne's favor that Anne's two previous acquittals will now protect
her from any more appeals. She can never again be
prosecuted for the death of her husband. In other words,
in the eyes of the law, it is finally over.
(27:46):
But for those around the couple, it's not quite so simple.
It's been fifteen years since John's death, but the repercussions
are still reverberating around the mystical Dia Monte Valley and
be Carol Vaughan wasn't the only one to become possessed
and obsessed with the story. So what do all our
(28:08):
characters make of it now? Do they still think about
the private but compelling couple who lived on top of
the hill? Remember Michael, the mercenary who we had voiced
out by an actor.
Speaker 8 (28:21):
I was contracted by a third party to kind of
intercept mister Bender and send him to the States.
Speaker 1 (28:29):
Michael said he'd been hired to abduct John and take
him back to America. I caught up with him briefly.
He said, there's one thing he thinks about. At the
time he had John under surveillance, he noticed a couple
of other people, a youngish woman and a man, also
keeping an eye on John Bender. Who were they and
what were they up to? He still has no clue.
(28:51):
Another mystery, And what of Jesse and Matty.
Speaker 10 (28:55):
I personally thought he was probably somebody very big in
the drugs Lene.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
Obviously they were doing something secret.
Speaker 1 (29:02):
They haven't forgotten their former neighbors. In fact, they have
become more invested in their story. Jesse even went to
the court to watch part of the trial. Remember I
told you Matti is a clairvoyant. Well, halfway through our interview,
Jesse stopped us and said, Matty may be receiving a
communication from John at that very moment.
Speaker 10 (29:26):
It's possible we could have some information from John.
Speaker 6 (29:32):
John.
Speaker 11 (29:36):
Look, Joon, no mean John Nolosavia is the John, I said,
Goldpi Goldpi Caldandura.
Speaker 10 (29:57):
Is.
Speaker 1 (30:01):
Matty was breathing heavily, and we waited. But well, I
don't think they were able to speak to John at
that time in the past. They say they had curious
if he could give them answers. They say he tells
them that he killed himself and is played by guilt
about Anne's illness and his attempts to cure her.
Speaker 3 (30:20):
They're saying that Anne killed you.
Speaker 10 (30:22):
What do you say?
Speaker 11 (30:24):
And then he said I killed her.
Speaker 1 (30:27):
Then there's doctor Lozano and psychiatrist.
Speaker 9 (30:31):
I asked her, what are these bumps? He said, Well,
John was injected me, giving me clear spring water injections
under my skin to heal me. I said, and are
you serious.
Speaker 1 (30:47):
He's still practicing in San Jose and he has been left
with a sense of great loss following the departure of
his former patient. He feels like.
Speaker 9 (30:57):
The girl who's boyfriend left her kind of feeling really like,
what happened? What did we do? What was wrong?
Speaker 1 (31:09):
You thought you'd done something wrong.
Speaker 9 (31:12):
I have kindalyzed one thousand times, and I think I
never did anything wrong.
Speaker 1 (31:17):
Did you find it confusing?
Speaker 9 (31:21):
Yes in the beginning, but there was a moment in
time in which I said, well, let it be.
Speaker 1 (31:28):
Let it be, he says, but I can tell he
finds it hard to let go of Van Bender. And
what of John Corvick, who first told us how sinister
the dear Monte Valley could be?
Speaker 7 (31:41):
She at that place is the darkest jungle you've ever
seen in your life. You have no clue.
Speaker 1 (31:46):
He left Costa Rica and now lives in Florida, still
loving the outdoor life. He and his wife, Nicole do
sometimes talk about their old neighbors, the Benders, and discuss
all their theories about what really happened, But most of
the time John is air boating in the Everglades.
Speaker 7 (32:04):
Well, I'm still out in the woods a lot.
Speaker 10 (32:05):
Here.
Speaker 7 (32:06):
We write boats around and I don't know, you know,
I still have some wilderness is different than the mountains,
But I'm a well rounded outdoors person.
Speaker 1 (32:15):
Hotelier Santiago put forward a proposal for groups of tourists
to stay at Borichayanne and experience the authentic jungle, but
that was rejected the Bender's head of maintenance, As Valdo,
is now working at a local vets. He's still coming
to terms with what happened while he worked for the Benders.
(32:37):
Ambulance driver Carlos now drives taxies, but still thinks about
that night in twenty ten when he went to Borichayanne
in the small hours and saw the house like a
flying saucer and John dead on the fourth floor. While
in prison, the Bender's former head of security, Jose Pizzaro,
(32:58):
found god he was really east from prison in twenty
twenty two, Rosemary, who sold seeds to the Benders and
witnessed that dramatic confrontation with the police, is now making
locally sourced chocolate. There's something about this story which seems
to stay with people, get under their skin.
Speaker 4 (33:20):
It was a big shock.
Speaker 12 (33:22):
I didn't know that it was going to bother me
that much, but it did.
Speaker 1 (33:27):
Remember John's friend, Steve, John taught him how to chat
up girls in Philadelphia. He was deeply affected when he
heard about John's death and for a while. It took
over his life.
Speaker 12 (33:41):
And I'm looking at the pictures, I said, that's him,
and it just hit me like a ton of bricks.
For one of the few times in my life, I
actually shed the tear. I don't cry. I couldn't stop
talking about it. I went on Facebook and I put
a whole big post and everybody saw it. I did
(34:03):
research all over the place finding what happened.
Speaker 7 (34:07):
I was there in all kind.
Speaker 12 (34:08):
Of forums, cracks and crevices. I was going to find
out what happened to John. And then one day I
woke up and I said, I can't do this anymore.
I don't like walking around that big burden on my
shoulder and something hurting me. So I deleted all my posts,
I deleted the video I had, and I promised I
would never talk about it again. And after that day,
(34:30):
I never talked about it because that saved That saved it,
like it made me. I was okay after that.
Speaker 1 (34:37):
Like Steve, author and journalist Carol Vaughan couldn't let go
of the Bender's story either. She was possessed and obsessed
and it changed her life.
Speaker 2 (34:48):
I became so deeply entrenched, involved, smitten that I would
go hardly. I'd go days without bathing and go all
day with any eat.
Speaker 7 (35:00):
I was just.
Speaker 2 (35:02):
I was possessed.
Speaker 1 (35:04):
Is that what it felt like?
Speaker 2 (35:05):
Definitely?
Speaker 1 (35:07):
Did you try to stop being?
Speaker 12 (35:08):
No?
Speaker 2 (35:08):
I loved it?
Speaker 1 (35:10):
And why did you love it?
Speaker 2 (35:11):
Because I felt so much passion, really, and I like passion,
So I felt I think Kostreeka is a very passionate place,
a very sexy place that's filled with love. And I
was right in the middle of all of that, so
felt kind of good.
Speaker 1 (35:26):
Yeah, where you wanted to be?
Speaker 10 (35:27):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (35:28):
Do you think it's detrimental to you at all?
Speaker 10 (35:30):
No?
Speaker 2 (35:30):
I think that I'm over it, really, But it was
an almost year where I wasn't very healthy. I wasn't eating,
while I wasn't exercising.
Speaker 1 (35:42):
Wasn't Yeah, would you like to let go of it
a bit? I would like to.
Speaker 2 (35:48):
I like to know what really happened, which I probably
never will.
Speaker 1 (35:52):
We said at the start of the series that Bora
kay Anne, the extraordinary house which John built on top
of the hill, was the scene of a mystery, but
also a tragedy, the death of a brilliant man who,
for all his flaws, followed his dreams for a few
short years, he created his own heaven. Anne and John
(36:13):
lived there among animals, the sloths, monkeys, and anteaters in
the natural world, which they loved, but it turned to hell.
John left behind his family, his brother Matthew and parents
Margie and Paul, who I can see are still reeling
from his death. Were you able to have a funeral
(36:34):
or at least be able to have a ceremony for John?
Speaker 10 (36:38):
We didn't. We probably should if she had some kind
of a formal ceremony of some.
Speaker 1 (36:45):
Kind, Paul is talking about Anne.
Speaker 10 (36:48):
We probably would have gone down there for it, Yes,
but she didn't.
Speaker 1 (36:53):
Do you feel that you have questions that are unanswered
still that you would have you would want answered.
Speaker 10 (37:00):
Well, I don't know how Mary feels about this. She's
much better right than I am. But what's the point
of worrying about things that have happened and there's nothing
you can do about them anymore?
Speaker 2 (37:13):
I think sometimes that makes the situation far worse?
Speaker 1 (37:18):
Continuing to ask questions.
Speaker 10 (37:21):
Yeah, because soon what the answers are? What are you
going to do with what you find out? I knew
he had some battles with people in the investment. Things
that worked for him, or that he worked against him.
I knew about that kind of stuff, but he seemed
to be doing well with I figured he knows what
he's doing a lot better than I is. So what
can I do?
Speaker 1 (37:40):
Is it something that both of you you still think
about every day? Are you able to in some ways
come to terms with what happened? Because I can't imagine
how that could be.
Speaker 10 (37:50):
I don't know what you mean, but coming to terms with.
Speaker 2 (37:53):
Him, I certainly coming to terms is not a thing
I even think about. It hangs there.
Speaker 10 (38:03):
Yeah, it's just a helpless feeling. So there's nothing you
can do about it. I still don't know who's responsible.
That's the difference. It's not going to make anything better.
Speaker 1 (38:14):
If there was one memory, at least of looking back
of the best memory of John is the one that
comes to mind.
Speaker 10 (38:23):
The relationship with the animals and with the land which
he had developed with the house. That's a really positive thing.
I couldn't believe it when I saw the whole developmentto
the place was something that I never thought would happen,
and that was just wonderful to see. And then it
(38:45):
all comes crashing down. But it was very, very successful,
and he did that all on his own. I was
kept saying this isn't going to work, but it always worked.
Speaker 1 (38:56):
As well as a mystery and a tragedy, this series
is also a love story. Remember how John and Anne
fell instantly in love in Virginia over the punch Bowl.
Echoing that romantic meeting is the story of how Paul
and Margie met back in the nineteen fifties. The memory
of it makes them both smile, and the heaviness in
(39:18):
their voices lifts. It's just nice to hear, but it
reveals something else, how their love for each other has
got them through the dark days and still does. They
were both studying at the time.
Speaker 10 (39:32):
She was one year behind me, and we met.
Speaker 2 (39:38):
That's the wonderful time.
Speaker 10 (39:40):
We met at a Gilbert and Sullivan production and I
played the piano when she was in the chorus.
Speaker 1 (39:45):
Was it love at first sight?
Speaker 10 (39:48):
Well me, it certainly was.
Speaker 1 (39:49):
Really he's a very lovable he's very romantic.
Speaker 10 (39:55):
We got along very well.
Speaker 1 (39:57):
And what about the house. It's still on sale. It
seems the asking price has been reduced from twenty five
million dollars to twelve million, and it's been renamed ce
Ridge Reserve. The house with no walls stands vacant, with
two guards at the gate, and the jungle steadily reclaiming
(40:21):
the land to its original wilderness. It's thought that Anne
would like whoever buys it to revive the nature reserve,
which she and John were so proud of, but so
far there are no takers.
Speaker 4 (40:39):
This is where they lived, this is where John died.
Speaker 1 (40:44):
We started with the house and we end with it.
I mean, when it was really beautiful, poppy, it must
have been quite dramatic to walk up those steps. I
mean wat an entrance. Absolutely. I mean there's something quite
kind of you know, after doing working on it for
so long. It's something quite kind of poignant about actually
seeing the house, isn't it. You know this is where
(41:07):
it all happened, on that top floor, you know, near
the dome. Something. It's sad, it is. I feel kind
of heavy here, So do I carries something, doesn't it?
Speaker 2 (41:27):
They had the big doors in the big raught iron.
Speaker 1 (41:29):
Do you think that had flowers on it? I think
the whole lot had flowers everywhere and animals just wandering around.
We were told that John's ashes are scattered here at
(41:51):
his beloved Bora Kaya. It's weird, isn't it just so still. Yeah,
(42:28):
it's really sad. It just feels that you can only
hear the buds. Sure we go, Let's come on. You've
(43:19):
been listening to Helen Heaven from Exactly Right Media and
iHeart Podcasts produced by Blanchard House, hosted, written and produced
by me Becky Milligan. The producer and co writer is
Poppy Damon. Music is by Daniel Lloyd Evans, Louis nank Manell,
and Toby Mattamont. The sound recordist and head of sound
(43:41):
and Music is Daniel Lloyd Evans. The lead sound designer
is Vulcan Kiseltook. The artwork is by Vanessa Lilac for
Exactly Right Media. The executive producers are Karen Kilgareth Georgia
Hartstark and Danielle Kramer, with consulting producer Lilli Laderwig and
associate producer Jay Elias. The creative director of Blanchard House
(44:06):
is Rosie Pye. The executive producer and head of Content
at Blanchard House is Lawrence Griselle. Listen to Helen Heaven
on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get
your podcasts.
In June twenty seventeen, an old cattle truck made its
way down Highway forty seven in Costa Rica. Another car,
a Hyundai SUV, was close behind. If you happened to
see the two vehicles on the road, well you wouldn't
think anything of it. There was nothing remarkable about them.
(00:31):
In each vehicle there were two men, three Costa Ricans
and one Mexican. They thought everything was going to plan. Eventually,
the cattle truck and the suv reached the outskirts of
the small town of Orotina, an hour or so away
from the capital San Jose. The bust was a complete
(01:02):
surprise and executed quickly. The men in the cattle truck
and the suv had no time to react. The police
and a specialized tactical unit congratulated each other. They were
prepared for a shootout, but luckily it hadn't come to that.
For more drug cartel stooges were now off the streets.
(01:26):
In the back of the cattle truck, police found two
hundred and thirty seven kilos of cocaine hidden in a
false bottom of the trunk. It was worth close to
twenty million dollars. They also found a GPS, night vision goggles,
two way radios, and a gun, classic equipment for drug runners.
(01:50):
One of the men arrested was very well known to
the authorities and most Costa Ricans. He was a big catch.
The police had been tracking him for a long time
and their patients had now paid off. The following day,
his mugshot would be on the front of every newspaper
in Costa Rica. Later, he would plead guilty to providing
(02:14):
logistical and operational support to drug gangs linked to the
Mexican cartels. Costa Rica was fast becoming the drug route
of choice for South American cartels the eventual destination of
those drugs the US. The well known Costa Rican was
(02:34):
sentenced to ten years in prison and publicly humiliated. But
there's something else about the man captured on that hot
June day. He had very close links to John and
Anne Bender from Exactly Right Media and iHeart podcasts produced
(03:03):
by Blanchard House. This is Helen Heaven. I'm Becky Milligan.
(03:33):
Two years before that drugs bust, and Bender was in
court waiting for a verdict again. It was the third
time she'd been on trial for murder. She'd hardly slept
a wink the night before, author Carol Vaughan.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
No one had any idea whether she was going to
be found guilty or innocent, no idea whatsoever, and.
Speaker 1 (03:55):
Sat behind her lawyer. She had a clear view of
the three judges who faced her from the bench. Friends
and family were there to support her. At nine point fifteen,
the chief judge called the court to order. At last,
the verdict came on the charge of murdering her husband John,
(04:17):
Anne Bender was acquitted. In TV footage, at the moment
Anne realizes she's free, she looks completely blank for a
split second, as though she can't take it in. Then
she closes her eyes and squeezes them tight. Her lawyer
visibly relaxes and reaches a hand behind him to grab hands.
(04:41):
They don't speak or even look at each other, but
the release of tension and relief is obvious. Cameraman Kevin
Serrano was.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
In court Ricardo El Momento, El Clovi.
Speaker 4 (04:56):
She lowered her head and started to cry. She was weeping.
At last, she was able to release all that tension.
I'm sure it must have been a turning point for her.
Anne's life could never be the same from the non
because despite the harshness of all the trials and the process,
nothing compares to the loss of the person she had
chosen to share her life with, a comfortable life. None
(05:18):
of that was there anymore, whether or not she had
anything to do with his death. So that was the
most memorable moment for me when she started to cry
after hearing the verdict.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
Anne is led out of the courthouse into the bright
light of day and freedom by her brother Ken. The
media scram is pushed away by her security. A minus
scuffle breaks out. Anne, who looks pale and dazed, is
using a cane to help her walk and holds onto
her brother's hand tightly. Her eyes are downcast. She doesn't speak.
(05:50):
Can it really all be over? Ken speaks briefly to
a gaggle of reporters outside the courthouse.
Speaker 5 (05:59):
Sure, noppreciate that justice was served today, and my sister
did not murder her husband. She's not a murderer. There
was not enough circumstantial evidence to convict her for the
simple fact that there was no murder.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
Anne is then whisked away in a car with blacked
out windows to the hotel Zimmer where she'd been staying.
One thing is on her mind to get out of
the country as soon as she can and return to
America before the Costa Rican authorities order another retrial. Her
passport had been confiscated, but the American embassy had managed
(06:36):
to slip her a replacement before the verdict. It's in
her jacket pocket. Kevin, the news cameraman, had listened closely
to the legal arguments. He was fascinated by the Benders
and their lavish but isolated lifestyle. It also made him
think about his homeland too. Are you Antia in this voice?
Speaker 4 (06:59):
In a big picture, Costa Rica is seen as a
place of tranquility and peace, and when all this came
to light, people said, maybe it's not such a peaceful place.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
By the end of the trial, he'd been convinced by
the prosecution's arguments that John didn't kill himself. He was
sure that the trial wouldn't be the end of the story.
Speaker 6 (07:19):
Where is he?
Speaker 4 (07:20):
If the wife was found not guilty, then who killed him?
Speaker 1 (07:24):
It was a question which had simmed a long time
in John Kolvic's head too. One of the Bender's neighbors
he didn't think Anna killed John, but that didn't mean
someone else happened.
Speaker 7 (07:35):
To this day, it still doesn't rest good with me.
Someone that wealthy at that house, I don't think his
wife pulled the trigger. And when they say there was
no one else there, she at that place is the
darkest jungle you've ever seen in your life. You have
no clue. He talked about sending a ninja in to
kill someone or whatever you'd like to call him. An assassin,
someone who's going to pull a trigger on a millionaire
(07:56):
with a doped up wife, Jesus Christ within the country
with no friends, you know what I mean?
Speaker 3 (08:02):
Why not? Why not?
Speaker 7 (08:05):
Why not?
Speaker 1 (08:07):
Kevin was proved right. Even though the court case had
come to an end, speculation and theories about what really
happened to John Bender didn't stop and continue to this day.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
Carol Vaughan, there are opinions that flowed around saying that
people saw individuals running away from Guarakayan that night late.
They're just all kinds of things to be tidied up
and tied together.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
Kevin, the camera operator began to mull over who else
could have had a motive to kill John.
Speaker 4 (08:43):
Any of the security team could have. Perhaps it was
someone he did business with and something went wrong. He
owed someone money. I think there's still a feeling that
the case has not been resolved.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
There was one person whose name came up again and again.
(09:17):
We're at a prison in San Jose. We have to
go through tight security. Our bags, passports and phones are
put through an X ray scan. The man we are
coming to visit is the same man who was captured
at the start of this chapter, caught with two hundred
and thirty seven kilos of cocaine by the police, arrested
(09:41):
and jailed for ten years, very well known in Costa Rica.
We're taken into a small room. A man dressed in
a bright orange top is sitting at a table. He's
around fifty, trimmer and healthier than he looked in the
photos I've seen of the rest, but he still wears
(10:02):
an impressive thick mustache. The person sitting in front of
me is Jose Pizzarro, the Bender's head of security, the
colonel whom John trusted deeply, and the man who cared
for Anne after John died. Yes, what we haven't told
you is that when we interviewed him, he was in prison.
(10:24):
Jose Pizzaro, El Toro, the Bull, one time head of
the Costa Rican Police, now convicted criminal. This is his
first interview since Anne was acquitted in twenty fourteen. As
we settled down, I remind him how well respected and
trusted he'd been before his conviction, even earning an affectionate
(10:49):
nickname that makes him smile, Toro.
Speaker 3 (10:54):
Where I live, everyone knows me by the name Toro Bull.
Some don't even know my real name. They just call
out on the street, Hey Bull, Hey Toro.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
The smile fades quickly. His reputation is now in shreds.
He was publicly disgraced and shamed in Costa Rica. He
first met John after the couple were confronted on the
roadside in two thousand and one. Convinced they were going
to be kidnapped or even worse, John hired the former
chief of police to protect them. Jose Pisari worked for
(11:29):
them for ten years and has nothing but good things
to say about the couple.
Speaker 6 (11:39):
She was a very nice person. She was very sweet.
She took care of her husband. He was like the
apple of her eye. They really made a very nice
couple and we got on from the beginning. Besides the
professional relationship, to put it in another way, we became friends.
They were very open, very friendly.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
Those he hasn't seen or spoken to Anne since she
was acquitted. As we heard, Jose Pizzaro was arrested in
twenty seventeen, a few years after Anne had left Costa Rica,
but it's reported that the former police chief was under
surveillance well before that. In fact, as early as two
(12:26):
thousand and nine, when Pizaro was working for the Benders,
a helicopter had come down in the mountainous Southern Zone
with three hundred and forty seven kilos of cacaine on board.
The first person at the scene of the crash, yes,
it was reportedly Jose Pizzaro. Many speculate that the only
(12:47):
way he could have been at the crash site so
fast was because he was involved in the smuggling operation.
So Kevin, the cameraman who covered Anne's trial, began to
wonder if John rom Bender had inadvertently or not got
mixed up with the drug cartels through his head of security, Josekisaro.
Speaker 3 (13:09):
Is Tyli Gao Conrakotraviotli.
Speaker 4 (13:14):
Between two thousand and seven and two thousand and eight,
a helicopter loaded with drugs crashed in the mountains. The
only person who managed to reach the place was Hossepi Serro.
It's presumed that he already had links with Mexican cartels
and that John might have been cut in the middle
of all this. That reinforces my belief he didn't kill himself.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
But was murdered, possibly by someone who had links to
the drug gangs. It's yet another theory to add to
all the others and may sound a little far fetched,
and there's no evidence to suggest it's true. In fact,
there's no evidence at all Jose Pizarro was in any
way connected to John's death. Perhaps it's just too easy
(13:51):
to pin it all on this celebrity ex police chief
turned criminal. But Kevin wasn't the only one thinking along
these lines.
Speaker 4 (13:59):
On the Star A lout of my Lady, Do.
Speaker 1 (14:04):
Remember Carlos, the ambulance driver who was the first on
the scene of John's death in Boracayanne. He's convinced John
didn't kill himself and believes that Jose Pizzaro may have
been involved in some way. Again, though it's speculation. Like
with every part of this story, there are coincidences and
(14:25):
the unexplained. What are the chances that the person the
Benders hired to protect them is actually in bed with
violent criminals. It certainly got people talking, and again it
conveyed a certain mystique around the couple. On the other hand,
it kind of also makes sense. Latin America's cartels are
(14:45):
infamous and Pizarro was an obvious target for them because
of his police connections, and those connections were also why
John and Ann hired him. He was the go to
guy in Costa Rica, which isn't a big place. Jose
Pizarre has spent five years in prison.
Speaker 6 (15:06):
Which There's a lot more that I have to say,
but in my current situation, there is much that I
can't say. What I really want for Anne is that
she finds peace and tranquility and that she can face
whatever comes ahead.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
Jose gave evidence at all of Anne's trials. He believes
she's innocent and that the evidence showed that. He says
that he had nothing to do with John's death and
believes that John kills himself. As to why Jose mentions
the trust which John and Anne put their money into,
meaning they effectively lost control of their.
Speaker 6 (15:44):
Fortune, well, I feel sorry about everything that happened to
John and Anne. If you dig a little deeper, you'll
find much more about the fraud management of the trust,
which I believe led John Bender to kill himself. I
(16:06):
hope everything's well for her, so that her family and
John's family find some peace. It's a shame what they're
going through tough. I know how difficult it has been
for both John's and Anne's family. I have nothing to
gain from this, but as a Costa Rican, I'm ashamed
to see these types of things happen in this country.
Speaker 1 (16:32):
I asked him about being arrested and his involvement with
the drug cartels personnel.
Speaker 3 (16:45):
I come from humble beginnings. I'm from the countryside. However
I managed to rise to the highest position of the police.
Then I made a mistake. No, I committed a horror.
I feel ashamed for having committed such a thing. I
humbly ask for forgiveness to every citizen in this country
(17:08):
for committing a crime for which I am pain a
sentence in prison.
Speaker 8 (17:13):
They are your indios.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
Okay, okay.
Speaker 3 (17:39):
I believe in God. I'm a human being and I failed.
But I want to be clear that that doesn't justify
what I did. Though I was no longer an officer
of the police force of this country when I committed
this crime. So as a human being, I might have failed,
but as a member of the police force, I never
(18:02):
did come on policia.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
As Jose spoke, the tears began to roll freely down
his face. He wiped them away and then gave up
because they kept coming, wetting his cheeks and his chin
and his shirt. To us, they seemed to come from
a very profound sorrow and regret, but it's impossible to
know for sure if his tears were genuine. What did
(18:29):
leap outed us during the interview was rather cryptically. Jose
told us he had a lot more to say, but couldn't.
We said goodbye. As we made our way out of
(18:54):
the prison, Jose was led in the opposite direction. The
last we saw of him was disappearing through several double doors,
and they're out of sight. When Anne got back to
the Zimmer hotel after the verdict, her family and friends
had lunch. It wasn't a loud, celebratory one, but quiet
and peaceful. After lunch, they gathered their bags and Anne
(19:18):
said goodbye to hotel owners Santiago and Anna.
Speaker 8 (19:21):
We don't know where she's going to, but you know
she was going to go out of the country of course,
I don't ask her where. I said, by good luck,
that's it.
Speaker 1 (19:34):
Did she smile?
Speaker 4 (19:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:37):
Anne's brother thanked the hoteliers, saying he hoped it was
finally over, except the authorities had one last surprise for her.
All Anne wanted to do now was leave the country.
(19:57):
But would she be able to.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
When she guid to the airport. Although she had a
new passport, she appeared on a no fly list. Costa
Rica had stopped her.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
Author Carol Vaughan, she lost it.
Speaker 2 (20:10):
I understand from people around her that she the poor thing.
She just fell apart. Her lawyer got her off that
no fly list super fast. I think it wasn't like
eight days. She was off and she was out of here.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
She has never returned to Costa Rica. Now, all that
was left to remind people about the couple was the house.
Like so many people in Perizeladon, Santiago and Anna had
always been curious about the huge, full story home built
on a hill in the middle of the jungle. It
intrigued everyone, but the hoteliers had never seen it. After
(20:48):
the trials and Anne's departure, they decided to go and
have a look for themselves. When they arrived at the house.
It was empty, abandoned. Some of John and Ann's possessions
remained scattered around the four floors, without gardeners or anyone
to maintain the property. Nature was taking over the wallless house.
(21:10):
Animals were moving in.
Speaker 8 (21:13):
It was it was glowing like a jungle because nobody
does nothing to the house. And the swimming pool there
was frogs and everything. Everything was down. The house in size,
was dirty. Everything clothes and papers and all that kind
of stuff by the floor. Nobody cleans nothing.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
So everything it was left as it was. Why did you.
Speaker 8 (21:39):
Go because we wanted to see the house. Everybody talk
about the house.
Speaker 1 (21:45):
So were you a bit shocked at the state it
was in?
Speaker 8 (21:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:49):
They walked around the garden and decided to take one
of the bender's benches, which would have been chucked away otherwise,
a lover's wooden swing seat which the couple used to
sit on to enjoy their paradise. Now it's in the
hotel garden, a little weathered but still usable.
Speaker 8 (22:06):
The bench.
Speaker 1 (22:07):
Have you got the bench?
Speaker 8 (22:08):
The benches from the house.
Speaker 1 (22:11):
They also saw the remnants of John's beloved orchids strewn
all over the place, withered and decaying. Santiago rescued some
of the healthier looking ones and took them away. Now,
in one corner of Santiago's hotel garden, there is a
spectacular display of yellows and reds, which often catch the
(22:31):
eye of the guests. John's beautiful and rare orchids are
tall and thriving all these years after his death. A
few days after Anne had left Costa Rica, a mysterious
package arrived at the hotel inside Santiago, and Anna found
(22:56):
beautiful clothes Anne's designer collection and must have arranged for
them to be sent. Anna couldn't believe it. She'd had
marred them so many times, and and sense of style.
All these years. Anna has looked after them and even
wears them. Sometimes they're a perfect fit. When Santiago says
(23:18):
Anne pattern, that's Anne Bender.
Speaker 8 (23:21):
Sometimes when she used those clothes, she says, Okay, I'm
gonna be Anna's today, an pattern.
Speaker 1 (23:28):
Really you say that? Do you walk up and down
and go look at me.
Speaker 8 (23:32):
I'm gonna be a pattern today, That's why she said.
Speaker 1 (23:35):
And sure enough, one morning, when I was staying at
the hotel, Anna called me over. She was wearing one
of Anne's dresses long and black and elegant. This was
Anne's See it's beautiful.
Speaker 9 (23:48):
See do you feel elegant?
Speaker 1 (23:53):
It's perfect, it's perfect, It fits beautifully. So it's a
really sort of really quite tight fitting long black dress
with a halting neck. Heakake, oh beautiful. After her acquittal,
Anne left the country and settled in America to start
(24:14):
a new life. And yet you can probably guess what
happened next. The Costa Rican authorities were still determined to
get her. In twenty seventeen, the Prosecutor's office ordered a
fourth trial. They wanted to try her all over again,
but to do that they would need to extradite an
(24:35):
from the United States. They issued an international arrest warrant
against her, effectively making it impossible for her to travel internationally.
There were other battles too. She took her Costa Rican lawyer,
Juan Alvarez to court for fraud in twenty twelve. He
(24:56):
had control over part of their fortune, which had been
put in that trust. The money was supposed to be
set aside for John and Anne's wildlife sanctuary. Anne accused
Alvarez of taking cash from the trust for his personal use,
spending it on horses and paying off credit card bills.
The court ruled that he should be removed from the
(25:17):
trust's board. Alvarez denied all the accusations made against him,
telling CBS they were bogus, but when his office was
raided during an investigation into his management of the trust,
it was discovered that forty million dollars was missing. He
didn't respond to our requests for an interview. We of
(25:41):
course also reached out to Anne. We would have loved
to have talked her about everything in this podcast, about
the whole story, but she didn't respond. So what about
those gems, the rubies, diamonds, the opals, which the police
confiscated at the time of John's death, and which they
(26:02):
claimed were Anne's motive for murder? The Costa Rican authorities
alleged that the Benders had not paid taxes on the
jewels and had smuggled them in The private collection was
originally valued at twenty million dollars. Anne eventually recovered some
of the gems in February twenty twenty, but that part
(26:23):
of the hoarde was apparently valued closer to four million dollars.
Authorities explained some had been kept in order to pair
a tax bill of about one point three million dollars.
What happened to the rest of the collection is still
a mystery, and all the while, the threat of having
(26:43):
to face trial in Costa Rica for a fourth time
hung over Anne. The international arrest warrant meant that she
was effectively trapped in the US even as she tried
to rebuild her life. She was not free until finally
the law changed, enabling her defense team to challenge the retrial.
(27:04):
The case was heard before the Human Rights Chamber of
Costa Rica's Supreme Court in twenty twenty three. Her defense
team argued that she was the victim of judicial persecution.
Seven judges deliberated and the vote was very close, But
in the end, four of the seven judges ruled in
(27:25):
Anne's favor that Anne's two previous acquittals will now protect
her from any more appeals. She can never again be
prosecuted for the death of her husband. In other words,
in the eyes of the law, it is finally over.
(27:46):
But for those around the couple, it's not quite so simple.
It's been fifteen years since John's death, but the repercussions
are still reverberating around the mystical Dia Monte Valley and
be Carol Vaughan wasn't the only one to become possessed
and obsessed with the story. So what do all our
(28:08):
characters make of it now? Do they still think about
the private but compelling couple who lived on top of
the hill? Remember Michael, the mercenary who we had voiced
out by an actor.
Speaker 8 (28:21):
I was contracted by a third party to kind of
intercept mister Bender and send him to the States.
Speaker 1 (28:29):
Michael said he'd been hired to abduct John and take
him back to America. I caught up with him briefly.
He said, there's one thing he thinks about. At the
time he had John under surveillance, he noticed a couple
of other people, a youngish woman and a man, also
keeping an eye on John Bender. Who were they and
what were they up to? He still has no clue.
(28:51):
Another mystery, And what of Jesse and Matty.
Speaker 10 (28:55):
I personally thought he was probably somebody very big in
the drugs Lene.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
Obviously they were doing something secret.
Speaker 1 (29:02):
They haven't forgotten their former neighbors. In fact, they have
become more invested in their story. Jesse even went to
the court to watch part of the trial. Remember I
told you Matti is a clairvoyant. Well, halfway through our interview,
Jesse stopped us and said, Matty may be receiving a
communication from John at that very moment.
Speaker 10 (29:26):
It's possible we could have some information from John.
Speaker 6 (29:32):
John.
Speaker 11 (29:36):
Look, Joon, no mean John Nolosavia is the John, I said,
Goldpi Goldpi Caldandura.
Speaker 10 (29:57):
Is.
Speaker 1 (30:01):
Matty was breathing heavily, and we waited. But well, I
don't think they were able to speak to John at
that time in the past. They say they had curious
if he could give them answers. They say he tells
them that he killed himself and is played by guilt
about Anne's illness and his attempts to cure her.
Speaker 3 (30:20):
They're saying that Anne killed you.
Speaker 10 (30:22):
What do you say?
Speaker 11 (30:24):
And then he said I killed her.
Speaker 1 (30:27):
Then there's doctor Lozano and psychiatrist.
Speaker 9 (30:31):
I asked her, what are these bumps? He said, Well,
John was injected me, giving me clear spring water injections
under my skin to heal me. I said, and are
you serious.
Speaker 1 (30:47):
He's still practicing in San Jose and he has been left
with a sense of great loss following the departure of
his former patient. He feels like.
Speaker 9 (30:57):
The girl who's boyfriend left her kind of feeling really like,
what happened? What did we do? What was wrong?
Speaker 1 (31:09):
You thought you'd done something wrong.
Speaker 9 (31:12):
I have kindalyzed one thousand times, and I think I
never did anything wrong.
Speaker 1 (31:17):
Did you find it confusing?
Speaker 9 (31:21):
Yes in the beginning, but there was a moment in
time in which I said, well, let it be.
Speaker 1 (31:28):
Let it be, he says, but I can tell he
finds it hard to let go of Van Bender. And
what of John Corvick, who first told us how sinister
the dear Monte Valley could be?
Speaker 7 (31:41):
She at that place is the darkest jungle you've ever
seen in your life. You have no clue.
Speaker 1 (31:46):
He left Costa Rica and now lives in Florida, still
loving the outdoor life. He and his wife, Nicole do
sometimes talk about their old neighbors, the Benders, and discuss
all their theories about what really happened, But most of
the time John is air boating in the Everglades.
Speaker 7 (32:04):
Well, I'm still out in the woods a lot.
Speaker 10 (32:05):
Here.
Speaker 7 (32:06):
We write boats around and I don't know, you know,
I still have some wilderness is different than the mountains,
But I'm a well rounded outdoors person.
Speaker 1 (32:15):
Hotelier Santiago put forward a proposal for groups of tourists
to stay at Borichayanne and experience the authentic jungle, but
that was rejected the Bender's head of maintenance, As Valdo,
is now working at a local vets. He's still coming
to terms with what happened while he worked for the Benders.
(32:37):
Ambulance driver Carlos now drives taxies, but still thinks about
that night in twenty ten when he went to Borichayanne
in the small hours and saw the house like a
flying saucer and John dead on the fourth floor. While
in prison, the Bender's former head of security, Jose Pizzaro,
(32:58):
found god he was really east from prison in twenty
twenty two, Rosemary, who sold seeds to the Benders and
witnessed that dramatic confrontation with the police, is now making
locally sourced chocolate. There's something about this story which seems
to stay with people, get under their skin.
Speaker 4 (33:20):
It was a big shock.
Speaker 12 (33:22):
I didn't know that it was going to bother me
that much, but it did.
Speaker 1 (33:27):
Remember John's friend, Steve, John taught him how to chat
up girls in Philadelphia. He was deeply affected when he
heard about John's death and for a while. It took
over his life.
Speaker 12 (33:41):
And I'm looking at the pictures, I said, that's him,
and it just hit me like a ton of bricks.
For one of the few times in my life, I
actually shed the tear. I don't cry. I couldn't stop
talking about it. I went on Facebook and I put
a whole big post and everybody saw it. I did
(34:03):
research all over the place finding what happened.
Speaker 7 (34:07):
I was there in all kind.
Speaker 12 (34:08):
Of forums, cracks and crevices. I was going to find
out what happened to John. And then one day I
woke up and I said, I can't do this anymore.
I don't like walking around that big burden on my
shoulder and something hurting me. So I deleted all my posts,
I deleted the video I had, and I promised I
would never talk about it again. And after that day,
(34:30):
I never talked about it because that saved That saved it,
like it made me. I was okay after that.
Speaker 1 (34:37):
Like Steve, author and journalist Carol Vaughan couldn't let go
of the Bender's story either. She was possessed and obsessed
and it changed her life.
Speaker 2 (34:48):
I became so deeply entrenched, involved, smitten that I would
go hardly. I'd go days without bathing and go all
day with any eat.
Speaker 7 (35:00):
I was just.
Speaker 2 (35:02):
I was possessed.
Speaker 1 (35:04):
Is that what it felt like?
Speaker 2 (35:05):
Definitely?
Speaker 1 (35:07):
Did you try to stop being?
Speaker 12 (35:08):
No?
Speaker 2 (35:08):
I loved it?
Speaker 1 (35:10):
And why did you love it?
Speaker 2 (35:11):
Because I felt so much passion, really, and I like passion,
So I felt I think Kostreeka is a very passionate place,
a very sexy place that's filled with love. And I
was right in the middle of all of that, so
felt kind of good.
Speaker 1 (35:26):
Yeah, where you wanted to be?
Speaker 10 (35:27):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (35:28):
Do you think it's detrimental to you at all?
Speaker 10 (35:30):
No?
Speaker 2 (35:30):
I think that I'm over it, really, But it was
an almost year where I wasn't very healthy. I wasn't eating,
while I wasn't exercising.
Speaker 1 (35:42):
Wasn't Yeah, would you like to let go of it
a bit? I would like to.
Speaker 2 (35:48):
I like to know what really happened, which I probably
never will.
Speaker 1 (35:52):
We said at the start of the series that Bora
kay Anne, the extraordinary house which John built on top
of the hill, was the scene of a mystery, but
also a tragedy, the death of a brilliant man who,
for all his flaws, followed his dreams for a few
short years, he created his own heaven. Anne and John
(36:13):
lived there among animals, the sloths, monkeys, and anteaters in
the natural world, which they loved, but it turned to hell.
John left behind his family, his brother Matthew and parents
Margie and Paul, who I can see are still reeling
from his death. Were you able to have a funeral
(36:34):
or at least be able to have a ceremony for John?
Speaker 10 (36:38):
We didn't. We probably should if she had some kind
of a formal ceremony of some.
Speaker 1 (36:45):
Kind, Paul is talking about Anne.
Speaker 10 (36:48):
We probably would have gone down there for it, Yes,
but she didn't.
Speaker 1 (36:53):
Do you feel that you have questions that are unanswered
still that you would have you would want answered.
Speaker 10 (37:00):
Well, I don't know how Mary feels about this. She's
much better right than I am. But what's the point
of worrying about things that have happened and there's nothing
you can do about them anymore?
Speaker 2 (37:13):
I think sometimes that makes the situation far worse?
Speaker 1 (37:18):
Continuing to ask questions.
Speaker 10 (37:21):
Yeah, because soon what the answers are? What are you
going to do with what you find out? I knew
he had some battles with people in the investment. Things
that worked for him, or that he worked against him.
I knew about that kind of stuff, but he seemed
to be doing well with I figured he knows what
he's doing a lot better than I is. So what
can I do?
Speaker 1 (37:40):
Is it something that both of you you still think
about every day? Are you able to in some ways
come to terms with what happened? Because I can't imagine
how that could be.
Speaker 10 (37:50):
I don't know what you mean, but coming to terms with.
Speaker 2 (37:53):
Him, I certainly coming to terms is not a thing
I even think about. It hangs there.
Speaker 10 (38:03):
Yeah, it's just a helpless feeling. So there's nothing you
can do about it. I still don't know who's responsible.
That's the difference. It's not going to make anything better.
Speaker 1 (38:14):
If there was one memory, at least of looking back
of the best memory of John is the one that
comes to mind.
Speaker 10 (38:23):
The relationship with the animals and with the land which
he had developed with the house. That's a really positive thing.
I couldn't believe it when I saw the whole developmentto
the place was something that I never thought would happen,
and that was just wonderful to see. And then it
(38:45):
all comes crashing down. But it was very, very successful,
and he did that all on his own. I was
kept saying this isn't going to work, but it always worked.
Speaker 1 (38:56):
As well as a mystery and a tragedy, this series
is also a love story. Remember how John and Anne
fell instantly in love in Virginia over the punch Bowl.
Echoing that romantic meeting is the story of how Paul
and Margie met back in the nineteen fifties. The memory
of it makes them both smile, and the heaviness in
(39:18):
their voices lifts. It's just nice to hear, but it
reveals something else, how their love for each other has
got them through the dark days and still does. They
were both studying at the time.
Speaker 10 (39:32):
She was one year behind me, and we met.
Speaker 2 (39:38):
That's the wonderful time.
Speaker 10 (39:40):
We met at a Gilbert and Sullivan production and I
played the piano when she was in the chorus.
Speaker 1 (39:45):
Was it love at first sight?
Speaker 10 (39:48):
Well me, it certainly was.
Speaker 1 (39:49):
Really he's a very lovable he's very romantic.
Speaker 10 (39:55):
We got along very well.
Speaker 1 (39:57):
And what about the house. It's still on sale. It
seems the asking price has been reduced from twenty five
million dollars to twelve million, and it's been renamed ce
Ridge Reserve. The house with no walls stands vacant, with
two guards at the gate, and the jungle steadily reclaiming
(40:21):
the land to its original wilderness. It's thought that Anne
would like whoever buys it to revive the nature reserve,
which she and John were so proud of, but so
far there are no takers.
Speaker 4 (40:39):
This is where they lived, this is where John died.
Speaker 1 (40:44):
We started with the house and we end with it.
I mean, when it was really beautiful, poppy, it must
have been quite dramatic to walk up those steps. I
mean wat an entrance. Absolutely. I mean there's something quite
kind of you know, after doing working on it for
so long. It's something quite kind of poignant about actually
seeing the house, isn't it. You know this is where
(41:07):
it all happened, on that top floor, you know, near
the dome. Something. It's sad, it is. I feel kind
of heavy here, So do I carries something, doesn't it?
Speaker 2 (41:27):
They had the big doors in the big raught iron.
Speaker 1 (41:29):
Do you think that had flowers on it? I think
the whole lot had flowers everywhere and animals just wandering around.
We were told that John's ashes are scattered here at
(41:51):
his beloved Bora Kaya. It's weird, isn't it just so still. Yeah,
(42:28):
it's really sad. It just feels that you can only
hear the buds. Sure we go, Let's come on. You've
(43:19):
been listening to Helen Heaven from Exactly Right Media and
iHeart Podcasts produced by Blanchard House, hosted, written and produced
by me Becky Milligan. The producer and co writer is
Poppy Damon. Music is by Daniel Lloyd Evans, Louis nank Manell,
and Toby Mattamont. The sound recordist and head of sound
(43:41):
and Music is Daniel Lloyd Evans. The lead sound designer
is Vulcan Kiseltook. The artwork is by Vanessa Lilac for
Exactly Right Media. The executive producers are Karen Kilgareth Georgia
Hartstark and Danielle Kramer, with consulting producer Lilli Laderwig and
associate producer Jay Elias. The creative director of Blanchard House
(44:06):
is Rosie Pye. The executive producer and head of Content
at Blanchard House is Lawrence Griselle. Listen to Helen Heaven
on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get
your podcasts.
Hosts And Creators
Emma Jane Kirby
Becky Milligan
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