Manhunt for “Wild Bill” Cortez in Costa Rica
The real estate business is tough due to the global recession, and now one real estate speculator is on the run in Costa Rica for allegedly murdering expatriates in Panama with the motive to steal their property.
The man known as William Adolfo Cortez Reese or “Wild Bill” was spotted in Turrialba a few days after becoming a fugitive from justice in the Republic of Panama.
Costa Rican authorities have known of his whereabouts, however are stalled waiting for a judicial capture order to clear Interpol.
All the international attention on this case is perhaps due to the efforts of Don Winner, and his panama-guide.com blog. He supplied Fox 2now in St. Louis with information for their video, and also made contact with the Costa Rican owner of a home that was rented by Cortez and his wife.
The case paints a chilling picture of what can go on quietly in an expatriate community, and how people can be vulnerable to threats from within. “Wild Bill” ran the Jolly Roger Social Club and boasted that “90% of the members survived”. He took over the property for the club from Cher Lynn Hughes in March, 2010 and was also the last person to see her alive.
Also among the victims in Panama is the Watson Family who disappeared shortly before transferring control of their holdings to Cortez.
It now turns out that the Watson family is actually the Salem family. Michael Francis Salem is a convicted drug trafficker who eluded justice in Flordia for over thirty years after escaping and kidnapping law enforcement officers in the 1980.
As Don Winner put it, “He survived all of that, until he ran into “Wild Bill” and Jane Cortez”.
The entire story shows exactly why an expatriate needs to be careful about the details they make available to people they come across in social settings. It appears that Wild Bill targeted his victims once he could determine from conversation in what structures their property was held.
Keeping the legal books for a corporation in a safe deposit box or having a lien on a property would have likely removed the motive for murder. Equally so, not getting into too many details in a bar room might have also saved lives.
We now know Wild Bill has been a social guy with expatriates in Mexico, Belize and also Costa Rica. He purportedly spent some time in Arenal, Costa Rica. Investigations in Latin American countries are not always as efficient as in the United States. We might never know the scope of the alleged crimes.
Information and photos for this article were provided by Don Winner and the Panama Guide.
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Filed Under: Local News
