A Costa Rican field hand by the last names of López Rojas was intercepted yesterday at 5 a.m. by police while traveling to work in a rice field by motorcycle near Loma de Parrita in the Central Pacific region of Parrita, near Jacó.

The man, a resident of Loma de Parrita, is suspected of having murdered two women this year in the Parrita area, one on February 14, Valentine’s Day, and the other on May 11, the suspect’s birthday. He was arrested and is being held in Parrita, Quepos in the Pacific Puntarenas province.

Investigative police explained in a press conference that a witness who saw a red motorcycle coming out of a watermelon plantation on May 11, the day of the murder of 26-year-old Costa Rican model Isamar del Carmen Cordoba Ramirez, was key to identifying and locating López.

The model, known as Chiquis and from Aserrí near San José, was discovered face down with her hands bound, and was reported to have died of strangulation, allegedly with a rope. After police sent out a request for assistance in identifying the woman’s body, her relatives immediately recognized her based on her tattoos, said police.

According to bus tickets found on Cordoba’s body, and information on her Facebook page, she traveled from San José to Parrita on Thursday, May 11 on the afternoon bus to Manuel Antonio, where she apparently got off the bus around 3:45 p.m. and met Lopez, who then proceeded to take her to a wooded area called Barbudal de Parrita where he apparently bound and murdered her.

Lopez is also being investigated for the crime of 35-year-old Ana Salazar Carrillo, who was murdered on February 14, 2017 at Playa Marisol near Parrita. She was found with deep stab wounds in her neck several meters away from her vehicle.

According to the OIJ, Salazar was a resident of Parrita who worked at a local soda, had two children, and was in the process of getting a divorce.

“Both crimes are attributed to the same subject, who we are describing as a kind of serial killer, with particular psychological characteristics and conditions that allow us to link him with both criminal acts,” said Wálter Espinoza, director of the judicial investigative police (OIJ).

Both of the victims were of similar age and complexion, and both agreed to meet Lopez after contact via social media and phone. The  women’s bodies had similar wounds that were inflicted with some type of knife, including a stab at the base of the neck, as well as stab wounds to the abdomen, stomach and sides. Both murders took place in outdoor public areas that were well known to the suspect.

Other similarities in the two crimes, in what police have called the killer’s “signature mark” is the fact that both victims were left with their undergarments cut open to expose their genitals, said Espinoza. Forensic studies are being done to determine whether there was any sexual violence involved. And finally, in both cases, the perpetrator took the women’s cell phones, and used them to contact the victim’s families, apparently with the intent of attempting to thwart their participation in any future police investigations., explained Espinoza The victims’ cell phones have not been recovered by police.

Espinoza also explained that normally in police investigations, in order to label a person a serial killer there needs to be a similar pattern in at least three murders. In this case, there were only two, both of which shared many similarities, but strong indications that the man was likely planning another in a another three months which would have coincided with the August 15 Mother’s Day celebration in Costa Rica, since he had a predilection for symbolic dates in his first two alleged attacks, which were carried out 3 months apart.

Apparently, the victims had set up the meetings with the suspected killer via phone contact and social media messages, and were taken to the places of their eventual killing without the use of force. They were apparently premeditated acts, in which once the killer was alone with the women he proceeded to kill them.

Police searched Lopez’ home after his arrest – at around 6 a.m. – and seized as evidence his cell phone, the motorcycle that he apparently used in second murder, as well as knives that may have been used as weapons. The man lived with his wife and two small boys, one two years of age, and one a newborn, said police.