September 30, 2025 • 22 mins
She was just weeks from graduating nursing school. The night before, Haley Anderson spent hours laughing and playing board games with friends. The next day, when she didn’t show up at a poetry reading, her friends tracked her phone to a nearby apartment — and found a scene they will never forget. The man who lived there was already gone, on a flight out of the country.
In this episode of Murder U, we follow the murder of Haley Anderson — a case that began on the campus of Binghamton University and stretched across borders. From her life as a beloved nursing student to the obsessive behavior of Orlando Tercero, from the horrifying discovery inside his apartment to an international trial that ended with a rare femicide conviction, this story reveals how jealousy and control turned deadly.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/murder-u--6152042/support.
In this episode of Murder U, we follow the murder of Haley Anderson — a case that began on the campus of Binghamton University and stretched across borders. From her life as a beloved nursing student to the obsessive behavior of Orlando Tercero, from the horrifying discovery inside his apartment to an international trial that ended with a rare femicide conviction, this story reveals how jealousy and control turned deadly.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/murder-u--6152042/support.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
On the evening of March seventh, twenty eighteen, Hailey Anderson,
just weeks from graduating nursing school at Binghamton University, spent
the night playing board games with friends before heading out.
The next day. When she didn't show up at a
poetry reading, her friends grew worried. Tracking her phone led
them to a nearby apartment and to a scene they
(00:24):
will never forget. The man who lived there was already
on a plane out of the country. The murder of
Hailey Anderson stunned the Binghamton community and set off an
international hunt for justice, a case that would stretch from
a college campus in New York to a courtroom thousands
of miles away. Hailey Anderson was born on May ninth,
(00:44):
nineteen ninety five, in Westbury, New York, to Karen and
Gordon Anderson. Though her parents divorced during her childhood, both
remained deeply involved in her life. She was a role
model to her younger sister, Madeleine, and her mother described
her as trusting, fiercely independent, a free spirit, and a
millennial hippie. Friends described Hailey as warm, extroverted, and always
(01:10):
ready to dance. She loved music, had a contagious laugh
and brought the same energy to her studies. She was
the kind of person who could brighten a hospital room
while caring for patients, so nursing was a natural calling.
In twenty thirteen, Hailey was accepted to Binghamton University in
Broome County, New York. The public school is renowned for
(01:32):
its diverse, global student body and rigorous academic standards. She
quickly thrived, earning straight a's, working three years at a
campus coffee shop, and building a wide circle of close friends.
After being accepted into the nursing program, she embraced the
extra year of study it required. Her friend Brittany Pikett,
(01:52):
said Haley wanted to help people. She wanted to make
people happy, make something of herself. By spring twenty eighteen,
Hailey was weeks from graduation with a job lined up
in a Long Island emergency room. But on March ninth,
twenty eighteen, just two months before her twenty third birthday,
(02:13):
Hailey was found strangled to death in an off campus apartment.
Two nights earlier, Haley and her room mats had a
girl's night, complete with board games, whine, and staying up late.
But when the girls awoke Haley wasn't there. When she
didn't respond to texts, her roommate Josie Arten assumed she
was still sleeping. At first, Haley's housemates weren't alarmed when
(02:36):
they didn't hear from her. She had an active social life,
and with graduation just weeks away, it wasn't unusual to
think she might be out celebrating. But on March eighth,
her roommate Josie was scheduled to read at a campus
poetry event when Haley had promised to attend. When she
failed to show, Josie's concern turned to fear. Hailey was
(02:57):
loyal and supportive. She wouldn't miss something like that without
a reason. Josie began calling around, checking with people Haley
often saw. One of those calls was to Haley's friend,
Orlando Terchero. He didn't pick up. When Josie reached his roommate, instead,
she learned something even more unsettling. They couldn't reach Orlando either.
(03:20):
That sinking feeling only deepened when Josie and their third roommate,
Michela Topali, pulled up Haley's location on the Find my
Friend's app. Her phone wasn't moving The app showed her
inside Orlando's unit, a converted apartment within a house near campus.
I had a really bad feeling, Josie Arton later told reporters.
(03:41):
But I thought there was no way. I figured we
were going to go over there and we were going
to find Haley asleep or something and be like, you
guys were scared. What's wrong with you guys? That's really
what we expected. They got to his place and realized
that Orlando's car was nowhere to be found. Josie told
The New York Post his car wasn't there and that
(04:03):
was a big ominous sign. After knocking and receiving no response,
Josie and Michela entered the apartment through a window. In
an interview with CBS, Josie recalled, I boosted Michella up
first and then climbed in, and she was a little
ways ahead of me, and basically she screamed and yelled
to me. Josie called nine one one, and I was like,
(04:26):
what's going on? And I walk in there and Seetersaro's
bedroom and Haley's there. I didn't know for sure that
she was dead at the time. She just was so pale,
you know. Josie dialed nine one one. Both she and
Michella were struggling to process what they had just seen.
Haley was lying in Orlando's bed, a handprint shaped bruise
(04:47):
on her arm, dark marks across her neck, and Orlando
was nowhere to be found. Their worst fears about him
now seemed justified. For more than a year, Haley and
Orlando had been involved on and off, but in the
months leading up to her death, his behavior had shifted.
What had once been a casual friendship and occasional hookup
(05:08):
was turning into something more strained, marked by jealousy and obsession.
Orlando was also a nursing student. Born in Miami, Florida,
he grew up in Nicaragua in a well off family
before returning to the US for college at Binghamton. He
was known as charming and outgoing, the kind of person
many wanted to be around. Drawn to a career in
(05:31):
health care, he enrolled in the university's nursing program, the
same path Haley had chosen. According to CBS News, Haley
and Orlando first met in class, but didn't become friends
until her senior year, when they crossed paths at a
party at the off campus apartment of her boyfriend, Kevin o'campo.
It was just a coincidence that they met in my apartment.
(05:54):
Hailey recognized him, and so she introduced me to him.
Ocampo recalled from there the three began spending time together.
Kevin encouraged Orlando to rush his fraternity, eager to bring
in someone he connected with and who shared his Hispanic background.
Orlando accepted, and for a time they all moved in
the same circle. Haley and Kevin always had an on
(06:16):
and off relationship. They cared for one another, but as
her mother described, Haley was fiercely independent. She made it
clear that she wanted the freedom to date until after graduation.
Kevin respected that, though he still hoped they might one
day settle down. Their cycle of breakups and reconciliations continued
through college, and in their final year, after Haley introduced
(06:40):
him to Orlando, the two split again. That was when
Orlando made his move. Haley agreed to see him, but
on the same terms she had set with Kevin. She
wasn't looking for exclusivity. Orlando accepted those conditions, even though
it blurred the lines with his new fraternity brother. What
seemed usual at first would eventually spiral into something far
(07:03):
more dangerous. Orlando was kicked out of the frat because
of his relationship with Hailey. The group saw it as
a betrayal of a fellow brother. Hailey felt awful that
she put Orlando in that position, and it was only
exacerbated by Tersro's manipulation. He would guilt trip Hailey, threatening
to harm himself after being socially ostracized. He wanted a
(07:25):
more serious relationship with Hailey, but she had no desire
to be tied down. Haley's connection with Orlando was casual
at best. They were friends who occasionally crossed a physical line,
but for Hailey it was never serious. She didn't want
a relationship with him. Orlando, though, began to push for more.
He texted her constantly, lingered outside her off campus apartment,
(07:49):
and smoked on the curb while watching who came and went.
Haley was uncomfortable, but avoided direct confrontation. It was her
roommate Josie who finally told him to stop, making it
clear that his presence felt intrusive and unwanted. Orlando's behavior
wasn't friendly anymore. It was possessive and a major red
flag to everyone around Hailey. The warning signs became undeniable.
(08:14):
The morning, after a party at Orlando's apartment, he learned
Hailey and Kevin had started seeing each other again. The
next morning, Haley walked outside to find that all four
of her car tires had been slashed. Kevin, standing beside her,
had no doubt who was responsible. When they confronted Orlando,
he denied it, even turning the accusation back on Kevin,
(08:38):
but it was clear that Orlando was angry, jealous, and unpredictable.
Hailey's mother urged her to press charges, but Haley refused.
She didn't want to ruin his future in nursing, Even
though his actions already showed he could threaten hers after
he had blamed her for his troubles with the fraternity,
Haley wasn't willing to cause him more fallout that empathy.
(09:01):
Her unwillingness to hurt someone else would leave her exposed
to someone who was rapidly losing control of his own emotions.
The tire slashing incident wasn't enough for Haley to cut
Orlando completely out of her life. They weren't in a
relationship exclusive or otherwise, but she still saw him as
a friend despite his alarming behavior. Only Orlando Turcio knows
(09:25):
precisely what happened inside that apartment. When questioned later, he
claimed he couldn't remember that he had been drinking heavily,
and when he awakened, Haley was dead. What investigators could
piece together told a different story. Security cameras showed Haley
enter Saro, entering his apartment around four a m. Then
(09:48):
captured him leaving alone seven hours later. He came back
that afternoon, disappeared into the basement, and hours later emerged
with luggage and a bandaged head. Investigators believed that when
Haley came over that night, an argument may have broken out.
The exact cause will never be known, but it could
have been her closeness with Kevin or her decision to
(10:09):
distance herself from Orlando completely. One theory is that Orlando's
jealousy and anger boiled over. He grabbed her arm with
enough force to leave a deep bruise, then strangled her
with both his hands and the necklace she wore. As
someone trained in nursing, he would have known precisely what
was happening as her life slipped away. A more chilling
(10:31):
possibility is that Orlando strangled Haley while she was sleeping.
With Haley lying dead beside him for the first time,
the reality of what he had done must have set in.
Evidence suggests he tried to end his own life twice,
first by taking sleep aids he bought at a nearby pharmacy,
and later by attempting to hang himself in the basement
(10:52):
of the building. Both attempts failed. When police entered the apartment,
they also found a handwritten note written in Spanish. It read,
I'm really sorry about this. I never felt I could
be capable of doing this. Father. I'll see you soon.
Orlando's father had died five years earlier. When his suicide
(11:13):
attempts failed, Orlando Tercero chose another path escape. Before leaving,
he phoned his sister and left a message so troubling
that she contacted campus police, asking them to check on him.
Officers knocked on his apartment door, but when no one answered,
they left. Hours later, it was Haley's roommates who forced
(11:36):
their way in. Inside Orlando's bedroom, they found their friend's
lifeless body in his bed, a scene they would never forget.
Police rushed back to the same address for the second
time that day, Haley's death was quickly ruled a homicide,
and investigators began processing the crime scene and questioning witnesses,
(11:57):
But the person they most wanted to question, or Lando
daugh Tercio, had already vanished in Long Island. Karen Anderson
learned of her daughter's murder later that afternoon. A black
car pulled up outside her house and two men walked
to the door. They get out of the car and
they walk up to the door, Karen recalled in an
interview with forty eight Hours. They sat me down at
(12:20):
the table and they said Haley's name, and then they
said suspicious activity. I just kept staring at them, and
it wasn't processing. I said, what do you mean? And
then they told me. In the shock that followed, Karen
even blamed herself. I was just numb. I felt angry
(12:40):
that I didn't push for him to be arrested for
that tire slashing, and that I didn't raise more red
flags for Haley. No one could have predicted just how
far Orlando Terchero would go. Slashing tires was one thing,
Strangling someone in cold blood was another. For Broome County
Police and for Haley's loved ones, The only question now
(13:01):
was where was he? Security cameras provided part of the answer.
Orlando was captured hauling luggage out of the building after
his failed suicide attempts. He packed his things and boarded
a plane to Nicaragua, the country where he'd been raised.
He was gone, and an international manhunt was under way.
(13:22):
Once in Nicaragua, Orlando's mother picked him up at the
airport and drove him to their hometown of Chinandega. For days,
he stayed hidden while investigators in New York scrambled to
locate him. Reaching Nicaragua authorities proved difficult, and the longer
he was missing, the greater the fear he might slip
away for good. Four long days passed with no leads,
(13:47):
until finally Orlando turned up at a hospital an hour
south of Chinandega. His mother brought him in for treatment
for his self inflicted injuries, but by then the story
of Hailey Andersen's murder was everywhere in Nicaragua, the case
of a young American woman killed by one of their
own citizens. Staff at the hospital recognized him, Police were called,
(14:10):
and Orlando Terciro was placed under arrest. The next question
was where justice would be served, because he held dual citizenship.
Would he face trial in the United States or in Nicaragua.
Haley's mother, Karen, hoped he'd be extradited so the trial
could be held close enough for her family to attend.
(14:31):
Broome County District Attorney Steve Cornwell was so confident that
Tersero would be extradited that he began preparing a murder indictment. However,
in September twenty nineteen, more than a year after Haley
Anderson's death, the decision came back Nicaragua would keep the case.
Broome County d A. Steve Cornwell was stunned and deeply
(14:54):
concerned that Terchierro might never be convicted. Nicaragua was willing
to try him. That alone felt like a first step,
but there was a striking difference. In the US, Orlando
Terceero faced a charge of second degree murder. In Nicaragua,
prosecutors charged him with something the American system doesn't even recognize, femicide.
(15:18):
Femicide is defined as the killing of women and girls
simply because they are women. In much of Latin America,
the murder of women by current or former partners falls
under that category. It first became law in Costa Rica
in two thousand seven and has since spread across the
region to Broome County, DA. Steve Cornwell the charge was unfamiliar.
(15:42):
He worried the trial might be little more than theatre,
ending with Tersero set free, but when the Nicaraguan prosecution
team reached out for his office's help, he was relieved.
This would be a joint effort. Witnesses in New York
would testify by video link, and the judge in Monagua
would weigh the evidence alone. There would be no jury,
(16:02):
only one person to convince. The trial opened on October first,
twenty nineteen, with Karen Anderson as the first witness. She
told the court about her daughter's relationship with Orlando, watching
him on a video screen as she testified, he acted
very arrogant, she recalled later, almost as if he was
(16:23):
there and he was bored. Over the course of the trial,
Haley's friends and loved ones also took the stand, Josie Artin,
Kevin o'campo, and Terschero's Binghamton roommate Jesse Bua. Piece by piece,
prosecutors laid out the evidence, the tire slashing, the jealous texts,
and uninvited visits, the bruises on Haley's body, and the
(16:46):
note he left behind. I never felt I could be
capable of doing this. Cornwall was blunt about what it meant.
He choked her to death. He took Hayley, who I
believe may have been sleeping, and he choked the life
out of her and left her there to rot. That
is a sick, disturbed man that could take advantage of
(17:07):
somebody he claimed to love and kill her because he
couldn't have her. But Orlando's defense team turned to a
familiar strategy, an insanity defense. They argued he'd been drinking
the night of Haley's murder and woke up to find
her dead beside him, a claim meant to cast doubt
on whether he even knew what he was doing. A psychiatrist,
(17:29):
doctor Ronald Lopez Eguilar, evaluated him and later testified in court.
Orlando told him he had no memory of strangling Haley,
a claim impossible to verify but convincing enough to plant doubt.
Yet doctor Aguilar also made it clear whatever had happened
that night, ter Cerro's mental state in the courtroom appeared stable.
(17:52):
Cornwell didn't mince words. It's indefensible, He said, twas an
indefensible case, I would say there is absolutely no possibility
that he doesn't remember what happened. There is no evidence
that he was drunk or on drugs. There's no evidence
that he had some sleepwalking disorder and commits murder in
(18:13):
his sleep. As the trial came to an end, Karen
Anderson was given the final word. She didn't use it
to demand Orlando Tersro's lifelong imprisonment. Instead, she spoke of
her daughter. Hailey was a beautiful, intelligent and friendly girl.
She was an aspiring nurse and had her whole life
(18:33):
to look forward to. She was and still is my
best friend. So thank you for listening and letting me
speak on behalf of my daughter. The judge left for recess,
but not for long. Ninety minutes later he returned with
a verdict guilty of femicide. For the Anderson family, there
was a sense of relief that this chapter at least
(18:55):
was over. In her final statement, Karen Anderson address terzero directly,
saying she hoped he would receive the maximum sentence possible.
The court granted that wish Terchero was sentenced to thirty
years in prison. The longest term available under Nicaraguan law.
He will be just past fifty when he is released.
(19:17):
It is not a life sentence, but for Haley's family
it was enough. I couldn't believe it, Karen said afterward.
I was so happy that we could work with this
other country, and that the prosecuting attorney did such a
good job and was so passionate about this conviction. District
Attorney Steve Cornwell echoed that gratitude we owe the Nicaraguan authorities,
(19:40):
the prosecutor, the court system. We owe them tremendous thanks,
and they have my gratitude for the rest of my life.
Thirty years is a long time. The loss of Haley
left avoid no sentence could ever fill. She had been
remembered as a millennial hippie with a bright, caring spirit,
(20:00):
someone whose laugh could change a room. At Binghamton's Nursing
School graduation in May twenty eighteen, her photo rested on
a chair in her honor. Her father, Gordon Anderson, walked
the stage and accepted her diploma. In Nicaragua. Terchero's family
grieved as well. To them, he was intelligent, funny and kind,
(20:23):
not someone capable of killing some friends still clung to
the belief that he was innocent or that something must
have provoked him. That belief carried into his legal team's
next move. On February fourth, twenty twenty, his attorneys filed
an appeal. They requested another psychiatric evaluation and asked for
(20:44):
his sentence to be reduced. The judge denied both requests.
On March tenth, the appeal was formally rejected. Orlando Terchero
would remain in prison in Managua, serving his thirty year term. Today,
Haley's ashes sit in her childhood bedroom, where her mother
visits when she misses her daughter. Most Karen has since
(21:07):
called for the United States to recognize femicide as a crime,
as it is in Nicaragua. Binghamton University carried on with
that grief still fresh, and less than six weeks later,
tragedy struck again. On April fifteenth, twenty eighteen, nineteen year
old freshman Joao Suza was stabbed to death in his dorm.
(21:28):
We'll be covering that case next week on Murder You
so don't miss that episode. Thanks for listening, and please
remember if you or someone you know needs help. Advocates
that the National Domestic Violence Hotline are available to talk
confidentially with anyone in the United States who is experiencing
domestic violence, seeking resources or information, or questioning unhealthy aspects
(21:52):
of their relationship. Call one eight hundred seventy nine nine safe,
seven two three three. Be sure to like and subscribe
to Murder You podcast and don't forget to watch on
our YouTube channel.
On the evening of March seventh, twenty eighteen, Hailey Anderson,
just weeks from graduating nursing school at Binghamton University, spent
the night playing board games with friends before heading out.
The next day. When she didn't show up at a
poetry reading, her friends grew worried. Tracking her phone led
them to a nearby apartment and to a scene they
(00:24):
will never forget. The man who lived there was already
on a plane out of the country. The murder of
Hailey Anderson stunned the Binghamton community and set off an
international hunt for justice, a case that would stretch from
a college campus in New York to a courtroom thousands
of miles away. Hailey Anderson was born on May ninth,
(00:44):
nineteen ninety five, in Westbury, New York, to Karen and
Gordon Anderson. Though her parents divorced during her childhood, both
remained deeply involved in her life. She was a role
model to her younger sister, Madeleine, and her mother described
her as trusting, fiercely independent, a free spirit, and a
millennial hippie. Friends described Hailey as warm, extroverted, and always
(01:10):
ready to dance. She loved music, had a contagious laugh
and brought the same energy to her studies. She was
the kind of person who could brighten a hospital room
while caring for patients, so nursing was a natural calling.
In twenty thirteen, Hailey was accepted to Binghamton University in
Broome County, New York. The public school is renowned for
(01:32):
its diverse, global student body and rigorous academic standards. She
quickly thrived, earning straight a's, working three years at a
campus coffee shop, and building a wide circle of close friends.
After being accepted into the nursing program, she embraced the
extra year of study it required. Her friend Brittany Pikett,
(01:52):
said Haley wanted to help people. She wanted to make
people happy, make something of herself. By spring twenty eighteen,
Hailey was weeks from graduation with a job lined up
in a Long Island emergency room. But on March ninth,
twenty eighteen, just two months before her twenty third birthday,
(02:13):
Hailey was found strangled to death in an off campus apartment.
Two nights earlier, Haley and her room mats had a
girl's night, complete with board games, whine, and staying up late.
But when the girls awoke Haley wasn't there. When she
didn't respond to texts, her roommate Josie Arten assumed she
was still sleeping. At first, Haley's housemates weren't alarmed when
(02:36):
they didn't hear from her. She had an active social life,
and with graduation just weeks away, it wasn't unusual to
think she might be out celebrating. But on March eighth,
her roommate Josie was scheduled to read at a campus
poetry event when Haley had promised to attend. When she
failed to show, Josie's concern turned to fear. Hailey was
(02:57):
loyal and supportive. She wouldn't miss something like that without
a reason. Josie began calling around, checking with people Haley
often saw. One of those calls was to Haley's friend,
Orlando Terchero. He didn't pick up. When Josie reached his roommate, instead,
she learned something even more unsettling. They couldn't reach Orlando either.
(03:20):
That sinking feeling only deepened when Josie and their third roommate,
Michela Topali, pulled up Haley's location on the Find my
Friend's app. Her phone wasn't moving The app showed her
inside Orlando's unit, a converted apartment within a house near campus.
I had a really bad feeling, Josie Arton later told reporters.
(03:41):
But I thought there was no way. I figured we
were going to go over there and we were going
to find Haley asleep or something and be like, you
guys were scared. What's wrong with you guys? That's really
what we expected. They got to his place and realized
that Orlando's car was nowhere to be found. Josie told
The New York Post his car wasn't there and that
(04:03):
was a big ominous sign. After knocking and receiving no response,
Josie and Michela entered the apartment through a window. In
an interview with CBS, Josie recalled, I boosted Michella up
first and then climbed in, and she was a little
ways ahead of me, and basically she screamed and yelled
to me. Josie called nine one one, and I was like,
(04:26):
what's going on? And I walk in there and Seetersaro's
bedroom and Haley's there. I didn't know for sure that
she was dead at the time. She just was so pale,
you know. Josie dialed nine one one. Both she and
Michella were struggling to process what they had just seen.
Haley was lying in Orlando's bed, a handprint shaped bruise
(04:47):
on her arm, dark marks across her neck, and Orlando
was nowhere to be found. Their worst fears about him
now seemed justified. For more than a year, Haley and
Orlando had been involved on and off, but in the
months leading up to her death, his behavior had shifted.
What had once been a casual friendship and occasional hookup
(05:08):
was turning into something more strained, marked by jealousy and obsession.
Orlando was also a nursing student. Born in Miami, Florida,
he grew up in Nicaragua in a well off family
before returning to the US for college at Binghamton. He
was known as charming and outgoing, the kind of person
many wanted to be around. Drawn to a career in
(05:31):
health care, he enrolled in the university's nursing program, the
same path Haley had chosen. According to CBS News, Haley
and Orlando first met in class, but didn't become friends
until her senior year, when they crossed paths at a
party at the off campus apartment of her boyfriend, Kevin o'campo.
It was just a coincidence that they met in my apartment.
(05:54):
Hailey recognized him, and so she introduced me to him.
Ocampo recalled from there the three began spending time together.
Kevin encouraged Orlando to rush his fraternity, eager to bring
in someone he connected with and who shared his Hispanic background.
Orlando accepted, and for a time they all moved in
the same circle. Haley and Kevin always had an on
(06:16):
and off relationship. They cared for one another, but as
her mother described, Haley was fiercely independent. She made it
clear that she wanted the freedom to date until after graduation.
Kevin respected that, though he still hoped they might one
day settle down. Their cycle of breakups and reconciliations continued
through college, and in their final year, after Haley introduced
(06:40):
him to Orlando, the two split again. That was when
Orlando made his move. Haley agreed to see him, but
on the same terms she had set with Kevin. She
wasn't looking for exclusivity. Orlando accepted those conditions, even though
it blurred the lines with his new fraternity brother. What
seemed usual at first would eventually spiral into something far
(07:03):
more dangerous. Orlando was kicked out of the frat because
of his relationship with Hailey. The group saw it as
a betrayal of a fellow brother. Hailey felt awful that
she put Orlando in that position, and it was only
exacerbated by Tersro's manipulation. He would guilt trip Hailey, threatening
to harm himself after being socially ostracized. He wanted a
(07:25):
more serious relationship with Hailey, but she had no desire
to be tied down. Haley's connection with Orlando was casual
at best. They were friends who occasionally crossed a physical line,
but for Hailey it was never serious. She didn't want
a relationship with him. Orlando, though, began to push for more.
He texted her constantly, lingered outside her off campus apartment,
(07:49):
and smoked on the curb while watching who came and went.
Haley was uncomfortable, but avoided direct confrontation. It was her
roommate Josie who finally told him to stop, making it
clear that his presence felt intrusive and unwanted. Orlando's behavior
wasn't friendly anymore. It was possessive and a major red
flag to everyone around Hailey. The warning signs became undeniable.
(08:14):
The morning, after a party at Orlando's apartment, he learned
Hailey and Kevin had started seeing each other again. The
next morning, Haley walked outside to find that all four
of her car tires had been slashed. Kevin, standing beside her,
had no doubt who was responsible. When they confronted Orlando,
he denied it, even turning the accusation back on Kevin,
(08:38):
but it was clear that Orlando was angry, jealous, and unpredictable.
Hailey's mother urged her to press charges, but Haley refused.
She didn't want to ruin his future in nursing, Even
though his actions already showed he could threaten hers after
he had blamed her for his troubles with the fraternity,
Haley wasn't willing to cause him more fallout that empathy.
(09:01):
Her unwillingness to hurt someone else would leave her exposed
to someone who was rapidly losing control of his own emotions.
The tire slashing incident wasn't enough for Haley to cut
Orlando completely out of her life. They weren't in a
relationship exclusive or otherwise, but she still saw him as
a friend despite his alarming behavior. Only Orlando Turcio knows
(09:25):
precisely what happened inside that apartment. When questioned later, he
claimed he couldn't remember that he had been drinking heavily,
and when he awakened, Haley was dead. What investigators could
piece together told a different story. Security cameras showed Haley
enter Saro, entering his apartment around four a m. Then
(09:48):
captured him leaving alone seven hours later. He came back
that afternoon, disappeared into the basement, and hours later emerged
with luggage and a bandaged head. Investigators believed that when
Haley came over that night, an argument may have broken out.
The exact cause will never be known, but it could
have been her closeness with Kevin or her decision to
(10:09):
distance herself from Orlando completely. One theory is that Orlando's
jealousy and anger boiled over. He grabbed her arm with
enough force to leave a deep bruise, then strangled her
with both his hands and the necklace she wore. As
someone trained in nursing, he would have known precisely what
was happening as her life slipped away. A more chilling
(10:31):
possibility is that Orlando strangled Haley while she was sleeping.
With Haley lying dead beside him for the first time,
the reality of what he had done must have set in.
Evidence suggests he tried to end his own life twice,
first by taking sleep aids he bought at a nearby pharmacy,
and later by attempting to hang himself in the basement
(10:52):
of the building. Both attempts failed. When police entered the apartment,
they also found a handwritten note written in Spanish. It read,
I'm really sorry about this. I never felt I could
be capable of doing this. Father. I'll see you soon.
Orlando's father had died five years earlier. When his suicide
(11:13):
attempts failed, Orlando Tercero chose another path escape. Before leaving,
he phoned his sister and left a message so troubling
that she contacted campus police, asking them to check on him.
Officers knocked on his apartment door, but when no one answered,
they left. Hours later, it was Haley's roommates who forced
(11:36):
their way in. Inside Orlando's bedroom, they found their friend's
lifeless body in his bed, a scene they would never forget.
Police rushed back to the same address for the second
time that day, Haley's death was quickly ruled a homicide,
and investigators began processing the crime scene and questioning witnesses,
(11:57):
But the person they most wanted to question, or Lando
daugh Tercio, had already vanished in Long Island. Karen Anderson
learned of her daughter's murder later that afternoon. A black
car pulled up outside her house and two men walked
to the door. They get out of the car and
they walk up to the door, Karen recalled in an
interview with forty eight Hours. They sat me down at
(12:20):
the table and they said Haley's name, and then they
said suspicious activity. I just kept staring at them, and
it wasn't processing. I said, what do you mean? And
then they told me. In the shock that followed, Karen
even blamed herself. I was just numb. I felt angry
(12:40):
that I didn't push for him to be arrested for
that tire slashing, and that I didn't raise more red
flags for Haley. No one could have predicted just how
far Orlando Terchero would go. Slashing tires was one thing,
Strangling someone in cold blood was another. For Broome County
Police and for Haley's loved ones, The only question now
(13:01):
was where was he? Security cameras provided part of the answer.
Orlando was captured hauling luggage out of the building after
his failed suicide attempts. He packed his things and boarded
a plane to Nicaragua, the country where he'd been raised.
He was gone, and an international manhunt was under way.
(13:22):
Once in Nicaragua, Orlando's mother picked him up at the
airport and drove him to their hometown of Chinandega. For days,
he stayed hidden while investigators in New York scrambled to
locate him. Reaching Nicaragua authorities proved difficult, and the longer
he was missing, the greater the fear he might slip
away for good. Four long days passed with no leads,
(13:47):
until finally Orlando turned up at a hospital an hour
south of Chinandega. His mother brought him in for treatment
for his self inflicted injuries, but by then the story
of Hailey Andersen's murder was everywhere in Nicaragua, the case
of a young American woman killed by one of their
own citizens. Staff at the hospital recognized him, Police were called,
(14:10):
and Orlando Terciro was placed under arrest. The next question
was where justice would be served, because he held dual citizenship.
Would he face trial in the United States or in Nicaragua.
Haley's mother, Karen, hoped he'd be extradited so the trial
could be held close enough for her family to attend.
(14:31):
Broome County District Attorney Steve Cornwell was so confident that
Tersero would be extradited that he began preparing a murder indictment. However,
in September twenty nineteen, more than a year after Haley
Anderson's death, the decision came back Nicaragua would keep the case.
Broome County d A. Steve Cornwell was stunned and deeply
(14:54):
concerned that Terchierro might never be convicted. Nicaragua was willing
to try him. That alone felt like a first step,
but there was a striking difference. In the US, Orlando
Terceero faced a charge of second degree murder. In Nicaragua,
prosecutors charged him with something the American system doesn't even recognize, femicide.
(15:18):
Femicide is defined as the killing of women and girls
simply because they are women. In much of Latin America,
the murder of women by current or former partners falls
under that category. It first became law in Costa Rica
in two thousand seven and has since spread across the
region to Broome County, DA. Steve Cornwell the charge was unfamiliar.
(15:42):
He worried the trial might be little more than theatre,
ending with Tersero set free, but when the Nicaraguan prosecution
team reached out for his office's help, he was relieved.
This would be a joint effort. Witnesses in New York
would testify by video link, and the judge in Monagua
would weigh the evidence alone. There would be no jury,
(16:02):
only one person to convince. The trial opened on October first,
twenty nineteen, with Karen Anderson as the first witness. She
told the court about her daughter's relationship with Orlando, watching
him on a video screen as she testified, he acted
very arrogant, she recalled later, almost as if he was
(16:23):
there and he was bored. Over the course of the trial,
Haley's friends and loved ones also took the stand, Josie Artin,
Kevin o'campo, and Terschero's Binghamton roommate Jesse Bua. Piece by piece,
prosecutors laid out the evidence, the tire slashing, the jealous texts,
and uninvited visits, the bruises on Haley's body, and the
(16:46):
note he left behind. I never felt I could be
capable of doing this. Cornwall was blunt about what it meant.
He choked her to death. He took Hayley, who I
believe may have been sleeping, and he choked the life
out of her and left her there to rot. That
is a sick, disturbed man that could take advantage of
(17:07):
somebody he claimed to love and kill her because he
couldn't have her. But Orlando's defense team turned to a
familiar strategy, an insanity defense. They argued he'd been drinking
the night of Haley's murder and woke up to find
her dead beside him, a claim meant to cast doubt
on whether he even knew what he was doing. A psychiatrist,
(17:29):
doctor Ronald Lopez Eguilar, evaluated him and later testified in court.
Orlando told him he had no memory of strangling Haley,
a claim impossible to verify but convincing enough to plant doubt.
Yet doctor Aguilar also made it clear whatever had happened
that night, ter Cerro's mental state in the courtroom appeared stable.
(17:52):
Cornwell didn't mince words. It's indefensible, He said, twas an
indefensible case, I would say there is absolutely no possibility
that he doesn't remember what happened. There is no evidence
that he was drunk or on drugs. There's no evidence
that he had some sleepwalking disorder and commits murder in
(18:13):
his sleep. As the trial came to an end, Karen
Anderson was given the final word. She didn't use it
to demand Orlando Tersro's lifelong imprisonment. Instead, she spoke of
her daughter. Hailey was a beautiful, intelligent and friendly girl.
She was an aspiring nurse and had her whole life
(18:33):
to look forward to. She was and still is my
best friend. So thank you for listening and letting me
speak on behalf of my daughter. The judge left for recess,
but not for long. Ninety minutes later he returned with
a verdict guilty of femicide. For the Anderson family, there
was a sense of relief that this chapter at least
(18:55):
was over. In her final statement, Karen Anderson address terzero directly,
saying she hoped he would receive the maximum sentence possible.
The court granted that wish Terchero was sentenced to thirty
years in prison. The longest term available under Nicaraguan law.
He will be just past fifty when he is released.
(19:17):
It is not a life sentence, but for Haley's family
it was enough. I couldn't believe it, Karen said afterward.
I was so happy that we could work with this
other country, and that the prosecuting attorney did such a
good job and was so passionate about this conviction. District
Attorney Steve Cornwell echoed that gratitude we owe the Nicaraguan authorities,
(19:40):
the prosecutor, the court system. We owe them tremendous thanks,
and they have my gratitude for the rest of my life.
Thirty years is a long time. The loss of Haley
left avoid no sentence could ever fill. She had been
remembered as a millennial hippie with a bright, caring spirit,
(20:00):
someone whose laugh could change a room. At Binghamton's Nursing
School graduation in May twenty eighteen, her photo rested on
a chair in her honor. Her father, Gordon Anderson, walked
the stage and accepted her diploma. In Nicaragua. Terchero's family
grieved as well. To them, he was intelligent, funny and kind,
(20:23):
not someone capable of killing some friends still clung to
the belief that he was innocent or that something must
have provoked him. That belief carried into his legal team's
next move. On February fourth, twenty twenty, his attorneys filed
an appeal. They requested another psychiatric evaluation and asked for
(20:44):
his sentence to be reduced. The judge denied both requests.
On March tenth, the appeal was formally rejected. Orlando Terchero
would remain in prison in Managua, serving his thirty year term. Today,
Haley's ashes sit in her childhood bedroom, where her mother
visits when she misses her daughter. Most Karen has since
(21:07):
called for the United States to recognize femicide as a crime,
as it is in Nicaragua. Binghamton University carried on with
that grief still fresh, and less than six weeks later,
tragedy struck again. On April fifteenth, twenty eighteen, nineteen year
old freshman Joao Suza was stabbed to death in his dorm.
(21:28):
We'll be covering that case next week on Murder You
so don't miss that episode. Thanks for listening, and please
remember if you or someone you know needs help. Advocates
that the National Domestic Violence Hotline are available to talk
confidentially with anyone in the United States who is experiencing
domestic violence, seeking resources or information, or questioning unhealthy aspects
(21:52):
of their relationship. Call one eight hundred seventy nine nine safe,
seven two three three. Be sure to like and subscribe
to Murder You podcast and don't forget to watch on
our YouTube channel.
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