American among six tortured, shot and burned in massacre at Costa Rica cattle and coffee farm
The 61-year-old was in the process of selling his property for $1.8m to be closer to family in the US
Justin Vallejo
New York
11 hours ago
An American cattle and coffee farmer found dead with his five farm hands at a ranch in Costa Rica had been trying to sell his property to return to the United States and be closer to family.
Stephen Paul Sandusky, 61, was a United States citizen and Costa Rica resident, according to the US Embassy in the Central American country.
The former Florida resident retired to a farm in Llano Bonito de Buenos Aires de Puntarenas, about 200km south east of San Jose.
He listed the property for $1.8m in 2019 to return to the US, but the Covid pandemic hit and left it on the market for the past two years without a buyer, listing agent Diego Quesada told The Independent.
“He wanted to go back to his family and he wanted to go back to the States,” Mr Quesada said.
More:
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/steve-sandusky-costa-rica-massacre-b1941295.html?r=52924
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Florida father-of-two, 61, and five farm workers are killed at his remote ranch in Costa Rica: Victims' bodies were riddled with bullets, doused in gasoline and set alight in suspected robbery
By CHRISTINA COULTER FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 10:46 EDT, 19 October 2021 | UPDATED: 15:54 EDT, 19 October 2021
. . .
A security guard on Sandusky's Llano Bonito property, Édgar Humberto Rojas Blanco, was shot dead by a former police officer with the surname Saldaña in August of 2006, the local outlet reported.
Sandusky reportedly appeared as a witness in the trial against the officer - Rojas had reportedly called Sandusky before he was shot and told him that the officer had threatened to shoot him, and that he was hiding in a shrub beside a river.
The security guard, Q Costa Rica said, had accused Saldaña of stealing zinc sheets and purling - the police officer was sentenced on November 26, 2006 to 12 years in prison for the murder.
Sandusky was one of more than 6,200 victims of a millionaire scam attributed to Osvaldo Villalobos, whose companies Ofinter and 'The Brothers' embezzled investors with the false promise of interest, according to La Nacion.
The ranch where the massacre took place is one of two than Sandusky owns in the Buenos Aires area, the publication reported.
. . .
A broken window and signs of a search inside the home on the property (pictured) have lead
authorities to believe that theft could have been the killers' motive
More:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10107629/Six-killed-Costa-Rica-Victims-tortured-born-ranch-owners-body-burned.html