Body found floating in sea
may be North American


Investigators think they have found the body of a U.S. citizen who had been reported missing in Golfito.

The body bore the signs of an effort to conceal it by tying it to chunks of concrete.

The Judicial Investigating Organization said that agents believe they have located the body of a 38-year-old man with the name of Rover. He was reported missing by a friend Saturday, they said.

A resident noticed the body floating in the sea Monday. At first the man thought the white shape was some kind of package or clothing. Closer inspection showed that the body had been draped in a white sheet. The body was floating upright with the shrouded head above water, perhaps due to the weight of the concrete tied to the legs.

Agents said they are awaiting a report from the judicial morgue as to the cause of death. They stressed that they are not completely sure the body is that of Rover although it does match his physical description.

Missing girl, 3, found
dead not far from home


Neighbors found the body Monday of a 3 year old who had been missing since her mother was attacked Saturday morning on the public roadway. The dead girl was not far from her home in Tesalia de Ciudad Quesada.

Agents already had in custody the suspect in the crime. He was identified by the last names of Rodríguez Piedra.

The man was being held on the strength of the case involving the woman, who is hospitalized. The dead girl was identified as Yudith Ariel Blandón Orozco.

The attack happened Saturday when the women with the last name of Orozco suffered a beating with fists, a stabbing and then was run down by a car.

She told investigators at the hospital that her daughter was missing, and a major search was launched. The body was found Monday afternoon.

The Judicial Investigating Organization said that mother and daughter were walking toward a bus stop when a man offered them a ride in his vehicle. After both got in, the man turned on the mother and threw her from the vehicle, said agents. Originally Ms. Orozco was thought to be a traffic victim until the knife wound was discovered.


Post service to deliver
medications for Caja


The nation's health agency is asking the postal authorities to provide messenger service.

The Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social has been running a trial program in the Esparza area in which Correo de Costa Rica would deliver medicine and paperwork.

Now Caja officials are expanding the program to the entire country.

Esmeralda Bonilla, the physician in charge of the Área de Salud de Esparza, said that postal workers have delivered some 60,000 orders of medicine to outlying areas. The postal service also has been used to deliver urgent laboratory samples to Hospital Monseñor Sanabria in Puntarenas, she said.

A new notifications law gives postal workers the power to serve legal papers, such as notices to employers that they are behind in their payments to the Caja. So postal workers will be doing that, officials said.


Old tires weigh 237 tons


The Municipalidad de San José reports that it collected 23,600 old tires during 2009. The tires weigh about 237 tons, the municipality said.

The municipality maintains 15 collection points in the city. The idea is to reduce the possible breeding places for the dengue-carrying mosquito.