Murders stir trouble in Panama paradise (American suspects)

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Miami Herald

Posted on Friday, 07.30.10
Murders stir trouble in Panama paradise

Panamanian authorities suspect two people on a laid-back archipelago may have killed their neighbors for their property. The fugitives have been caught and brought back to Panama.
BY ASIA SHERMAN
Special to The Miami Herald

PANAMA CITY, Panama -- When William and Jane Cortez came to Bocas del Toro, they seemed like any other couple looking for the laid-back island living that has attracted so many expatriates to Panama's Western Caribbean archipelago. What neighbors could not have suspected was that ``Wild Bill,'' as he called himself, and his partner were really 30-year-old William Dathan Holbert and Laura Michelle Reese -- fugitives wanted for property fraud in the United States and featured in 2006 on America's Most Wanted, the television crime show.

Now Panamanian authorities suspect the two may be serial killers who murdered two of their Bocas del Toro neighbors -- and possibly others -- in order to take over their property. Panamanian police have confirmed they found two bodies in shallow graves behind the Cortez home. In a Thursday night news conference, they said there could be as many as 10 victims in a killing spree that may have spanned three years.

An international manhunt began June 20 when Panamanian police discovered the graves of Cheryl Hughes, a former Florida resident, and a man believed to be Bo Icelar. On Monday, Nicaraguan forces caught the couple as they fled across the San Juan River from Costa Rica. They were extradited to Panama Thursday. As he got off the plane in Panama City, Holbert shouted: ``Long live Panama. Thank you for the free trip.''

The America's Most Wanted website says Holbert once lived in North Carolina and ran a White supremacist store but was almost constantly on the move. Reese, 27, also lived in North Carolina at one time.


Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/07/30/1753007/theres-tr...

[Judi Lynn]

1. The 'married couple serial killers': U.S. husband and wife suspected of killing seven are deported i

The 'married couple serial killers': U.S. husband and wife suspected of killing seven are deported in shackles
By Mail Foreign Service
Last updated at 12:35 PM on 30th July 2010

A couple were deported in shackles from Nicaragua to Panama yesterday to face charges of killing two Americans.

The pair, identified by US authorities as William Cortez and his wife, Jane, will also be questioned in connection with the disappearances of five more people.

Cortez, who claimed his name was William Dathan Holbert - a suspect featured on the America's Most Wanted website - was arrested in Nicaragua with his wife.

Prosecutors allege the American couple preyed on residents in the scenic coastal region of Bocas del Toro, in what President Ricardo Martinelli termed 'one of the first cases of serial murders' in the Central American country.

'He picked out his victims after making their acquaintance,' Assistant Prosecutor Angel Calderon told reporters. 'Knowing that nobody would ask about them, he got rid of them.'

More:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-12989...

[saigon68]

2. They could be movie stars

[Judi Lynn]

3. They're way overdressed, if you ask me! Putting on airs! n/t

[saigon68]

4. Ah the airs--- dude looks like he's been at the Golden Corral for a couple of decades

They obviously don't dress to impress

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

8. They look like computer aged images of Bristol and Levi

tell me you don't see it!

[pitohui]

10. they don't look like the same women to me

maybe it's a bad photo but the younger "version" is not just younger, she has a skinny long face

the older version is a standard chunky gal

[Judi Lynn]

13. Here's a photo of them when they were a little less messy than the capture photo, but fat.

Earlier:

[UpInArms]

5. background:

http://www.amw.com/fugitives/case.cfm?id=37959



When an Oak Island, North Carolina couple returned to their vacation house on the coast, they made a shocking discovery.There was a man inside, making renovations to their home. And he adamantly claimed that he owned the house. Even more startling was that the man had a deed.

The three came to realize that they had been duped and William Holbert, the man cops say is responsible, was nowhere to be found.

Holbert came onto the scene from Asheville, in the west part of the state. Back in his hometown, Holbert had a store that sold white supremacy goods. But the entrepreneur and alleged con man set his sights on a new venture.

Officials say he first assumed a new identity and began telling people he was a doctor. Soon, he met a property investor who was interested in buying a house and fixing it up. Authorities say Holbert tricked him into buying a home and told him that he was selling the property for his elderly godmother who needed the money. The house was valued at around a half million dollars, but cops say Holbert wanted to sell fast. So, he let it go for less than half the market price.

...more...

[Judi Lynn]

6. Wow! You'd never expect a fine white separatist like Hobart to be caught up in serial murders!

He must have lost his moral compass. Either that or he ate it.

Thanks for a look at his history.

[CanonRay]

7. Let Panama keep them for the next 50 years

we've got enough people in jail.

[pitohui]

9. i think there is no death penalty in panama

i'm not normally pro death penalty but why should panama or anyone else house them for the next 50 years? if they somehow got extradited back to the usa to stand trial for the murder of americans (they killed ex-pats, including the lady from florida) it wouldn't bother me a bit if they fried

i don't think this is do-able because all the murders appear to have been done in panama but if it could be done, i wouldn't have a problem w. it

this is just awful, people go there to enjoy a peaceful life, not to find the same scumbag criminals they can get back home

[Judi Lynn]

11. Murder suspect refuses mental health exam

Panamá, sábado 07 de Agosto de 2010
Murder suspect refuses mental health exam

William Dathan Holbert, known in Panama as Wild Bill, was taken to the Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences Friday for psychological tests, but he refused to take them.

Holbert is accused of killing at least five people in Bocas del Toro in order to steal their property. He was captured in Nicaragua after fleeing Panama, and returned here to stand trial.

Naphtali Jaén, of the Attorney General's Office, said that Holbert demanded to be accompanied by his lawyer and a translator. He described the defendant as "tense and reluctant to cooperate with the investigation."

Holbert is being held in a maximum security cell. The psychological tests were ordered to determine his mental competence.

He has admitted to killing the five people, and investigators have found their bodies buried on property inhabited by the defendant.

http://mensual.prensa.com/mensual/contenido/2010/08/07/...

[Judi Lynn]

12. Panama finds 3 more bodies at US man's hostel

Panama finds 3 more bodies at US man's hostel
(AP) – 3 days ago

PANAMA CITY — Authorities said they recovered three more bodies Tuesday on property owned by a jailed U.S. man who prosecutors say has confessed to killing five fellow Americans to get their money and property in a Panamanian resort area.

Jose Pachard, deputy director of the Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences, said the remains were found with the help of information provided by the suspect, William Dathan Holbert.

He said searchers found the bodies of an adult man, adult woman and child on the grounds of a hostel operated by Holbert. Two other bodies were found earlier, touching off a search for Holbert and his wife.

Tests were planned to identify the latest remains. On Sunday, prosecutors quoted Holbert as admitting he killed a U.S. man named Mike Brown, his wife and small son about three years ago and buried them on his property.

More:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jVXqX...