GUILTY COSTA RICA - Carla Stefaniak, 36, American tourist, San Antonio de Escazú, 27 Nov 2018

[Mica]

Remains of Florida woman killed in Costa Rica return home to Tampa Bay

 

[Mica]

Good article....

She lived a ‘powerful and independent’ life. Then came the horror in Costa Rica

 

[soap mama]

Carla Stefaniak, Florida woman killed in Costa Rica, had to be cremated, father says - UPI.com

Is that a law, the cremation? From which country?

 

[Warwick7]

Is that a law, the cremation? From which country?

Yes, at least for the United States.

Requirements for importing bodies in coffins / ashes in urns

 

[soap mama]

Yes, at least for the United States.

Requirements for importing bodies in coffins / ashes in urns

Thank you

 

[Mica]

Escazu Municipality Closes Down Lodging Facility Where Carla Stefaniak was Murdered - Costa Rica Star News


The Escazú Municipality closed down on Thursday, December 6, the lodging facility Villa Le Mas located in San Antonio, Escazú, where Carla Stefaniak, the Venezuelan-American tourist who was murdered, stayed.

According to the Municipality, the hotel, owned by a corporation under the name Adiantum had given up the permit to operate as a hotel back in 2013, and apparently was operating without any regulations from the Municipality or the Costa Rican Tourism Board.

Villa Le Mas was operating as an AirBnb and advertised in sites such as TripAdvisor.

AirBnB type rentals or lodging are not currently regulated or supervised by tourism authorities in the country. The AirBnB platform has been operating since 2011 in the country and has stated its willingness to pay taxes. There are close to 9 thousand properties in the country available in AirBnB. This is the first time an incident like this takes place involving a property rented through this platform in the country.

 

[Trinitee]

I may be slightly confused or just not understanding so please bear with me for a moment. How can The Escazú municipality close down the Villa Le Mas facility if it was operating as a non-regulated AirBnB? Can the municipality enforce this action long term, to ensure the owner’s compliance, if they do not have legal ground to stand on? I do not disagree with their decision by any means, I am just curious.

 

[Mica]

I may be slightly confused or just not understanding so please bear with me for a moment. How can The Escazú municipality close down the Villa Le Mas facility if it was operating as a non-regulated AirBnB? Can the municipality enforce this action long term, to ensure the owner’s compliance, if they do not have legal ground to stand on? I do not disagree with their decision by any means, I am just curious.

“I Stayed in Death Apartment”: Airbnb Guest Tells

Snip

No permits
On Thursday the Municipality of Escazú confirmed that the hotel Le Mas de Prevence was closed because it did not have the necessary permits to provide service as a hotel.

This fact was confirmed by Carlos Bejarano, a spokesman for the municipality, who indicated that apparently, the hotel had been operating illegally for several years.

“As a result of this unfortunate event (the death Carla) the municipality made a review on the situation of the place and we discovered that in 2013 the permits they had were rescinded and that at the moment they did not have any,” explained Bejarano.

 

[Satchie]

I may be slightly confused or just not understanding so please bear with me for a moment. How can The Escazú municipality close down the Villa Le Mas facility if it was operating as a non-regulated AirBnB? Can the municipality enforce this action long term, to ensure the owner’s compliance, if they do not have legal ground to stand on? I do not disagree with their decision by any means, I am just curious.

I would guess there are zoning/building regulations, that are enforceable by court order. For example, Airbnb's are usually tolerated in private homes, but local zoning may limit a private home to, for example, 2 kitchens. This place may have multiple kitchens. In that case it might be classified, by zoning laws, as a hotel. That's just off the top of my head, there may be other elements that define a hotel in the municipal laws. The fact that this was owned by a corporation, rather than an individual, is another dodgy issue.

I guess an owner can live in their hotel, but without a permit they can't have guests. If anyone reports seeing guests there, the municipality could send authorities to force them to leave.

I think this action may be partly motivated by the resentment of local hotel owners, who pay a lot extra in taxes and fees, in order to be inspected and certified as a hotel.

 

[Mica]

I would guess there are zoning/building regulations, that are enforceable by court order. For example, Airbnb's are usually tolerated in private homes, but local zoning may limit a private home to, for example, 2 kitchens. This place may have multiple kitchens. In that case it might be classified, by zoning laws, as a hotel. That's just off the top of my head, there may be other elements that define a hotel in the municipal laws. The fact that this was owned by a corporation, rather than an individual, is another dodgy issue.

I guess an owner can live in their hotel, but without a permit they can't have guests. If anyone reports seeing guests there, the municipality could send authorities to force them to leave.

I think this action may be partly motivated by the resentment of local hotel owners, who pay a lot extra in taxes and fees, in order to be inspected and certified as a hotel.

I’m thinking the villa resort is classified as a hotel. As a hotel it is required have a permit and follow Municipal and Tourist Board regulations. That would include hiring and vetting a citizen for the position of security guard.

 

[Trinitee]

That makes sense, thank you both.

 

[Rob774]

She might have had to be cremated regardless of the rules of transportation of the body.

With the level of trauma to the body, I wouldn't want my daughter sitting up there in a closed casket.

Hopefully, the family has success in pushing to find out who else was involved.

 

[Mica]

Video

Emotional homecoming for family of woman murdered in Costa Rica

 

[morena2003]

There are some doubts as to whether or not he acted alone.

Pending Doubts in Carla Stefaniak Murder

 

[Mica]

There are some doubts as to whether or not he acted alone.

Pending Doubts in Carla Stefaniak Murder

From the article.....just terrible. Possibly a gang rape?

Snip..

In fact, the doubt extends to that there may be up 3 or 4 possible people involved. Authorities are not revealing much, this conclusion is based on forensic analysis of the body.

Also, investigators are working on a version of a guest who would have heard noises coming from victim’s villa, furniture being moved and cleaning inside the villa. This, allegedly occurring hours after the victim would have been murdered.

When the OIJ entered the villa on December 3, they found it had been cleaned. A lawyer speaking on behalf of the owners of the property said other guests had stayed in the villa after Carla. The reason for the cleaning.

However, using luminol, forensic examiners found traces of blood.

Deathblow

Carla was killed between Tuesday niight, November 27 and Wednesday, November 28. Relatives and friends say the last they heard of Carla was on the night of the 27th. After that her cellular phone and her social media activity went dark.

Investigators say the motive was sexually motivated. Apparently Carla was killed in an attempted sexual assault. As the woman defended herself, she was wounded with a knife, receiving cuts to her upper extremities and beaten.

The death blows came from a metal pipe to head, which caused her to have a stroke.

 

[Rob774]

From the article.....just terrible. Possibly a gang rape?

Snip..

I wasn't there. But my amateur sleuthing tells me the original crime was alone. The subsequent cleanup was more than one person. Until other details come foreward, I still think the confrontation was the whole water thing. No water ... I think she's alive. I don't think other parties just happened to make their move right at the same time she went to ask this guy for water. Think about it, she may have been a curvy girl... but she was still a small girl. TWO guys wouldn't need weapons to overpower her for a rape. But one guy would... hence the incapacitation with the blow to the head. If two guys come up on her with knives... kinda defeats the purpose of having secs with a bloodied victim.

My .02.

Sad to see this case started to lose steam on here now that most of the facts are in.
Its been some interesting conjecture back and forth.

 

[Hatfield]

JMO
I hope not more than the arrested perp was involved with this but after reading how she described the place as "shady" or some similar wording to that effect it would not surprise me one bit if somehow the owner himself or another staff or security guard became involved in this too.

Ever since this story broke I had been thinking about the horror movie called "Hostel". The original movie and not Part 2 or 3. It was a scary awful movie and for some reason this case reminded me of that movie.

Basic theme in the movie is you could not trust who you were dealing with when staying at the places they were staying at.

 

[neesaki]

JMO
I hope not more than the arrested perp was involved with this but after reading how she described the place as "shady" or some similar wording to that effect it would not surprise me one bit if somehow the owner himself or another staff or security guard became involved in this too.

Ever since this story broke I had been thinking about the horror movie called "Hostel". The original movie and not Part 2 or 3. It was a scary awful movie and for some reason this case reminded me of that movie.

Basic theme in the movie is you could not trust who you were dealing with when staying at the places they were staying at.

I was thinking along the same lines, Hostel was an awful movie, hard to watch and I didn’t dare watch the sequels. That poor lady, to endure something so horrific. Evil, evil people.

 

[Elainera]

A knife and a metal pipe

So much violence, and the murder clearly planned. Who runs around with a metal pipe at night?

 

[Satchie]

A knife and a metal pipe

So much violence, and the murder clearly planned. Who runs around with a metal pipe at night?

True, no reason for a night watchman to be carrying either of those things, or for them to be lying around her bedroom to be grabbed if he got angry for being rejected.