Carol’s Bio


Carol hails from Washington, DC. She holds a Master’s Degree in Performing Arts, and retired to Costa Rica after a career as a college professor. Since moving to Quebradas, Carol has written for Inside Costa Rica, The Costa Rica Star, and El Residente Magazine. She founded Carol’s Club for fellow expats, and is an American Citizen Volunteer, helping expats and tourists who get in trouble. She inherited her love for Latin America from her father Jack Vaughn, who served as a US Ambassador to both Panama and Colombia, and later as Assistant Secretary of State for Latin America.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Infamous Slice of Costa Rican Paradise For Sale : The Bender Estate Boracayan

Image
Posted: 13 May 2019 07:34 AM PDT Most expats and Ticos alike remember the infamous death of multi-millionaire hedge fund manager John Felix Bender in Florida de Baru in 2010, and the subsequent three trials of Bender’s wife, Ann Patton Bender, for Intentional Homicide. The Bender case put the Southern Zone of Costa Rica in the international news spotlight, and its infamy was spread far and wide by extensive television coverage on CNN,  48 Hours, CBS , and in the local press, most notably The Costa Rica Star. Ultimately, Ann Bender was released from all charges for insufficient evidence and less than state-of-the-art incriminating forensic proof. She now lives in the USA, where she has begun a new life, leaving behind the tragedy of her husband’s death and the loss of their shared fortune, estimated at $600 million. Boracayan has now come up for sale, for a cool $25 million. Boracayan in Spanish means … well, nothing. The Benders made up the word because they thought it s
Read more

Ann Patton Bender Faces Difficult Life in Costa Rica Prison

Image
Posted: 22 May 2019 02:24 PM PDT American citizen, Ann Patton Bender, who was accused of murdering her husband, John Felix Bender, in Costa Rica in 2010, has been moved out of the ICU, and into the women’s prison, El Buen Pastor, located in San Rafael Arriba de Desamparados, in San Jose. Ms. Bender has been sentenced to 22 years for first-degree murder, following an initial acquittal of the charges in January 2013, of killing John Bender on August 8, 2010, in the bedroom of their 5,000 acre estate, which they called Boracayan, in Perez Zeledon. In Costa Rica, both the convicted and prosecutors are able to file appeals to court decisions, which led to the retrial and conviction of Ann Bender in May.  Ms. Bender now shares a module with forty other inmates at Buen Pastor. She sleeps in a bunk bed, is allowed family visitation four hours per week, has no access to the internet, and shares a public phone with her cell mates which only allows phone calls within Costa Rica. Like other
Read more

A Fourth Murder Trial for Ann Patton Bender in Costa Rica?

Image
Posted: 13 May 2019 07:45 AM PDT John Felix Bender, an American multi-millionaire hedge fund manager was found dead in his bed in Florida de Baru, Perez Zeledon, Costa Rica, with a bullet through the back of his head, in January 2010. His widow, Ann Patton Bender, was the only one at home with him at the time of his death. Since that tragic night, Ann Bender has been through three trials for intentional homicide, has served nine months in Preventive Detention at El Buen Pastor Prison, had her jewels confiscated as evidence in a jewel smuggling case, lost her estate and nature reserve in the Southern Zone, lost her boyfriend under mysterious circumstances while she was in prison, and barely made it out of Costa Rica after she was acquitted at her third trial for John Bender’s murder. Could Costa Rica really be planning to bring her back for a fourth trial? According to those close to this case, that is exactly what the Fiscalia (Prosecution) intends to do. On June 23, 2017, a
Read more