John and Ann Bender had hundreds of millions of dollars and one dream: to build a glittering glass mansion deep in the Costa Rican jungle. But paradise soon gave way to paranoia — with abduction plots, armed guards and a bedroom blazing with hundreds of Tiffany lamps. And then one night, it all ended in blood.
Hosted by award-winning journalist Becky Milligan, Hell in Heaven is an eight-part limited series from Blanchard House, Exactly Right Media and iHeart Podcasts.
Premieres Thursday, October 9. Follow Hell in Heaven wherever you get your podcasts — and see rare photos from the story at @exactlyright on Instagram.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Episode Transcript
Two rich, young Americans moved to the Costa Rican jungle
to start over. But one of them will end up
dead and the other tried for murder three times. From
the start, the omens are bad.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Their place is the darkest jungle you've ever seen in
your life. You have no clue.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
John and Anne Bender are young, rich and attractive. He's
a Wall Street wiz.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Kid, just handsome. We'll be star handsome.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
And they're devoted to each other.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
There's a lot of just like warmth and care.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
They set up a nature reserve and build a strange
new home. It's like a spaceship's landed on attop of
a hill in the middle of the jungle in Costa Rica.
But slowly their dreams starts to crumble.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
It was just doomed, just doomed.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
I'm Becky Milligan and this is Hell in Heaven, a
new podcast from Exactly Right Media and iHeart Podcasts, produced
by Blanchard House. I'm a seasoned investigative journalist and I've
reported on some pretty weird stories over the years. But
believe me, stories don't get much weirder than this, Because
(01:16):
even out here in the jungle, you can run, but
you can't hide.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
All of a sudden, there's guys with guns, lots of
men with guns.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
They were saying, help, help the they're kidnapping us. As
their past catches up with them. Our couple retreat from reality.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
They lose it. They actually lose it. They sort of like.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
Nuts until one night everything spins out of control.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
Inmi.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
He says Colonel we heard a shot inside the boss's
house and I could see the gun on the floor
and the trail of blood, and one of them will
end up being tried for murder.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
Not once, people, yes, not twice stunned, but three times.
We were all looking at each other just in total disbelief.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
Helen Heaven premieres on October ninth. New episodes Thursdays. 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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