On January 26th, the Judicial Investigation Agency reported the disappearance of Italian businessman Vincenzo Costanzo, 52, in circumstances that are still being investigated.
There are few details that OIJ has shared since then, but in Italy, the media have made the disappearance a national scandal.
Vincenzo was about to close a multi-million dollar contract for the sale of part of a paradise island located in the Pacific of Panama.
These details were shared by the sister of the foreigner to the Italian press and police. They are now coordinating legal actions with the OIJ through the Italian embassy in Costa Rica.
Bari’s Prosecutor Office in Italy is investigating the disappearance. Italian agent, Simona Filoni, indicated that everything points at a millionaire offer as the motive of the disappearance.
The property would be negotiated in several million euros and the contract would be signed abroad one day after the disappearance, since he was scheduled to travel to his country to sign the sale with another businessman from that nation.
Costanzo had 60 percent of the island’s shares and on January 25th he would arrive in Lombardy, Italy, after several delays in signing the contract with the interested party, which the Italian police said was another Italian.
The sister also said that a day earlier she received a Whatsapp message that raised her suspicions.
I am still waiting, today I am going to the capital (San José, Costa Rica), and tomorrow I will be abroad. It seems that this thing is closed, always in the vanguard, unfortunately. I didn’t call anybody. I’ll be abroad.”
Vincenzo Costanzo traveled to a house in San José in a taxi from Jacó, where he lived for 25 years. Italian police said that the OIJ met with another Italian man identified as Constancio, since the meeting in the capital was with him.
The man confirmed that he had had a meeting with the missing person, but when inquiring the taxi driver, he assured that the businessman disappeared without paying the trip from Jacó.
Still, the alleged death of the subject is a mystery, since the authorities in Italy claim the body of the businessman was located in advanced state of decomposition and that they were able to identify it thanks to a tattoo with the names of his two children.
However, this version was rejected by the press office of the OIJ, which indicated that the case is being investigated as a disappearance.