SIGN UP FOR OUR UPDATED :07/28/20
With the recent surge of COVID-19 deaths in Costa Rica, it is easy to overlook the fact that homicides are also still on the rise. Nothing has brought that home quite like the July 19th homicide of anesthesiologist Dr. Maria Luisa Cedeno Quesada, in a hotel room in Manuel Antonio, Puntarenas. She was only 43 years old.
Dr. Cedeno was the head of Anesthesiology and Recovery Service at the private Hospital Cima in Escazu, San Jose. She had booked a 3-day mini vacation for herself at Hotel La Mansion Inn, near the beach in Manuel Antonio. When she did not check out of her room on Monday afternoon, hotel staff discovered her dead body on the floor of her hotel room, wrapped in a sheet. She had knife wounds and bite marks on her body. Most of her fingernails were broken. She had been both beaten and raped. There was an open bottle of wine and two wine glasses on the table. The door lock had seemingly not been forced.
Detectives were immediately reminded of the case of Venezuelan/American Carla Stefaniak, who was also killed in her hotel room, in 2018. Carla was killed by a Nicaraguan hotel security guard.
In Dr Cedeno’s case Authorities immediately began interviewing hotel staff and guests at La Mansion and quickly zeroed in on a sometimes security guard at La Mansion, a 38 year old, named Teodoro Herrera Martinez. Herrera was living at the hotel for several months, working at a gay strip club. Investigators believe Herrera and Cadeno had met before this visit. He is a Nicaraguan citizen.
Herrera left shoe prints outside the doctor’s hotel room door, and had incriminating scratches and bruises on his body. DNA results will be available soon. A second suspect was picked up by detectives Sunday afternoon in Jaco. He is a 36-year old Costa Rican citizen by the name of Miranda Izquierdo. Izquierdo had been teleworking as a systems analyst from La Mansion for several weeks, according to other guests.
The hotel management and ownership have expressed their remorse that this happened, saying, “No woman should suffer from violence and this is one of those situations that one wishes would never happen in our town, or in our country, or in the world.”
Herrera has been arrested and given 6-months of Preventive Detention, just as Stefaniak’s killer was given. Public sentiment is that Stefaniak’s killer was given a too-lenient prison sentence, and Cedeno’s friends and family are hoping for greater justice in her case. Izquierdo has yet to be charged.
Two German women were recently discovered dead in Costa Rica, but their causes of death have not yet been determined. The cases are not related. Nine days ago a pregnant Costa Rican woman disappeared on the way to visit her father in Perez Zeledon. There has been no word from her since.
While the world focuses on the Coronavirus pandemic, the homicide rate in Costa Rica is up to 160 murders thus far in 2020. Clearly people need to maintain social distancing, wear masks, and lock their doors at night.
Update on Homicide of Doctor Maria Luisa Cedeno Quesada:
On Monday July 20th, the second man accused in the slaying of Dra Cedeno, has been charged with helping with her murder at La Mansion Inn in Manuel Antonio. His name is Miranda Izquierdo, 36 years old, Costa Rican citizen, who had allegedly been working remotely at the inn as a systems analyst. He was detained by the OIJ on Thursday, after authorities had completed a thorough search of the victim’s room. There they discovered “important scientific evidence”, which was then taken to their Forensic and Medical Center in Heredia, where evidence possibly implicating Miranda was processed.
Miranda is now being held for six months in Preventive Detention, as is the primary suspect in this murder, a Nicaraguan named Herrera Martinez. This is a standard legal procedure in Costa Rica. It allows authorities time to properly build a case against the accused. Herrera has been accused of homicide, and Miranda of assisting in a homicide. The situation is still fluid, pending more testimonies from witnesses and more forensic results from the crime lab. There were only a handful of guests at the inn on the night of the murder, and all have been helpful to investigators.
According to the Programa Estado de la Nacion (State of the Nation Report for Costa Rica), approximately 89% of homicide victims in recent years were men, with handguns being the most commonly used weapon. This was not the case in Dra Cadeno’s murder. She was stabbed to death, after having been beaten and raped. She had defense wounds indicating she fought her attacker(s) with a ferocity out of proportion to her tiny frame. It is also an unusual case because the doctor seemed to have been acquainted with her attackers, and might have even been romantically involved with Herrera.
Recent murder stats for Costa Rica reveal the following numbers: 603 homicides in 2017, 585 in 2018, and 560 in 2019. As of March 2nd this year, there have been 106 murders in Costa Rica, as compared with 91 homicides in 2019. What concerns officials is the increase of femicides (Murders of women by their lovers or husbands) in 2020. Two recent deaths of German women, and the disappearance of a pregnant Costa Rican woman also have authorities worried. The COVID-19 pandemic has put a strain on couples forced to be together more than usual, and an economic strain on couples unable to work due to the quarantine.
The tourist industry will continue to monitor the murder of Dr Cedeno, as it is the most inconvenient time for bad press, now that Canadian and European tourists will be allowed to return in August. The La Mansion Inn has cooperated fully with investigators.
Dra Cedeno’s associates and friends have been very vocal on social media, calling for NOT ONE MORE MURDER of an innocent woman. A possible deterrent could be tougher prison sentences for the guilty. There was a public outcry in the case of Carla Stefaniak whose murderer was charged with second degree murder, and given only 16 years in prison, rather than the 20-35 years he would have received had he been convicted of first degree murder.
The family of Dra Cedeno is understandably horrified at what has happened to this well-loved and highly accomplished Tica doctor. May she rest in peace.
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