At one point Rojas intervened, asking the father to calm down. Caicedo had to fight back tears during the trial, according to video footage, and at one point he addressed Martínez directly, telling him to confess if he still considered himself a man. Her Carlos Caicedo traveled from his native Venezuela to testify in the trial, according to a report from Costa Rican news website. Much of her family still lives in the Tampa Bay area. The verdict marked the end of an emotionally charged trial for the family of Stefniak, who was born in Venezuela, moved to Tampa in 2000 and then to Miami in 2012. 18, 2020Ī security guard at a Costa Rican resort was found guilty Monday of killing Carla Stefaniak, a 36-year-old Florida woman who went missing during a birthday trip to the Central American country in November 2018.īismarck Espinoza Martínez, of Nicaragua, was then sentenced to 16 years in prison by a panel of local judges, Eduardo Rojas, Simón Guillén and José Alberto Vargas. WFTS' JJ Burton, Nicole Grigg, Michael Paluska, and Isabel Rosales contributed to this report.Published Feb. An autopsy found that Stefaniaks body had stab wounds to the neck and other areas. Stefaniak had been staying in Apartment 8, and when investigators searched her room, they found blood. Now that Stefaniak has been identified by her family, they say they will continue to press Costa Rican officials for more information on who killed her. This has been a long exhausting year and to end up here is heartbreaking all over again,' a Facebook post from Carla Stefaniaks family said. While the investigation is ongoing, and since the focus of the owners is the comfort of our guests, the facility has been temporarily closed." Our deepest sympathies are with the family of the victim of this horrible crime. The owners are fully cooperating with the authorities in the investigation and we hope that once the facts are determined, the perpetrator is brought to justice. We are deeply saddened and devastated by the tragic events that occurred last week. We have received over a thousand guests with wonderful reviews about the property and our service. "Since 2013, Villa Le Mas has operated a small vacation rental facility located at San Antonio, Escazu, Costa Rica. The lawyer released the following statement: He said the rental had been temporarily closed while officials conduct the investigation. Meanwhile, the lawyer representing the complex that houses the Airbnb told WFTS they were "deeply saddened and devastated by the tragic events that occurred last week" and said that the owners were cooperating with authorities. She left for Costa Rica on Thanksgiving Day but had not been heard from since Tuesday, her brother, Carlos Caicedo, told WFTS. Stefaniak traveled to Costa Rica to celebrate her 36th birthday, according to the family. In addition, fluids found in the apartment where Stefaniak was staying have the consistency of blood, OIJ officials said.ĭownload the FOX 4 FREE app that offers real-time news and weather from across Fort Myers, Cape Coral, Naples, Southwest Florida Specifically, his statements did not match video surveillance in and around the area at that time. Officials say that Martínez had the time and space to commit this crime and became a suspect because of the investigation. On Monday night around 11 p.m., OIJ officials detained a security guard at the apartment complex, 32-year-old Bismarck Espinoza Martínez. Martínez has been in Costa Rica since June 2018.Īfter Stefaniak was reported missing, agents began to investigate where she was last seen. The body was found in a wooded area as investigators combed through the region, roughly 1,000 feet away from where Miami resident and Tampa native, Carla Stefaniak, spent what was supposed to be her final night in Costa Rica last week, Judicial Investigator Director Walter Espinoza said in a press conference. On Monday, a spokesperson for the OIJ confirmed that remains were found.
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