Tales of two families show
results of using drugs


Twin tales of dysfunctional families in tragedies laced with drugs have emerged in the police reports.

In one case, a man faces an allegation that he murdered his brother's wife during an effort to steal items from the home.

In another, a convicted drug dealer is accused of keeping his wife a hostage in their Heredia home for eight to 10 years. He may also have held two 80 year olds, his parents.

The murder was in Barrio Brooklyn in Siquirres. A man returned home from work Wednesday to find his wife dead in their bed. The man immediately suspected who had strangled the woman and told police to find his brother.

According to the Fuerza Pública, the brother, later identified by the last names of Sandí Chinchilla, had been living on property adjacent to the couple. He was suspected of stealing household items and small appliances. They said he had been in trouble before. He is believed to have been a user of crack cocaine.

Sandí fled and avoided a police search Wednesday night. But Thursday morning officers said they found him in a vacant lot in the neighborhood of Siquirrito.

The dead woman, Cristina López, 20, was reported from informal sources to have been pregnant.

The second case was in La Lucía de Guararí. It involved a 43-year-old man with the last names of Badilla Varela. He was the subject of at least 18 complaints by neighbors.

Judicial agents, the Fuerza Pública and the Policía de Control de Drogas smashed into his home Thursday morning to arrest him as a fugitive. They said they found two elderly individuals, presumed to be the man's parents, and the woman who said she had been a captive. There also was a young woman, 17, and a baby.

The property was a shambles, and the Ministerio de Salud ordered its immediate destruction. A backhoe ripped down the building in the afternoon.

Baldilla was detained in 2000 on a drug charge and convicted in 2006, according to the Poder Judicial. So he was taken to prison Thursday to serve his sentence. Prosecutors also opened a case of possible false imprisonment involving the 31-year old woman. Her last names are Herrera Umaña. Police and judicial agents gave different periods, ranging from eight to 10 years, about how long she had been held against her will.

The two elderly parents, a woman 84 and a man 87, were hospitalized, Fuerza Pública officers said. Agents are checking to see if they have pensions and what has been happening to their money because they lacked even the most basic case, agents said.

When police raided the home they found four other men who do not live there using drugs, they said. Officers confiscated marijuana, cocaine and crack cocaine.

Edwin Retana, the prosecutor in charge of the case, said that the dwelling was not even fit for animals. The woman is being interviewed to verify her claim of being held hostage. The 17 year old and her baby were entrusted to the Patronato Nacional de la Infancia, the child welfare agency.


Mystery bridge deck malady
still puzzles road officials


Highway officials may be optimistic but they admit they have a serious problem with the newly renovated bridge over the Río Virilla on the Autopista General Cañas.

In just a few weeks the concrete is being reduced to dust and highway officials and contracts say they do not know why.

The concrete went down in and over a metal mesh. The metal is now exposed and the concrete is eroded inside the metal squares.

The Consejo Nacional de Vialidad, the road agency, will close the bridge and the highway this weekend for repairs. They are expected to authorize another coat of concrete.

The danger exists that the entire bridge deck may contain faulty concrete, and it may continue to turn into pebbles and powder.

This is the infamous platina bridge where a metal covering on an expansion joint broke free nearly two years ago and defeated all efforts to keep it down. The bridge gets that name from the Spanish word for little plate.

A television commentator noted that Chinese contractors built the new national stadium in about the same length of time that the government has been trying to fix the bridge. Eventually the government decided to rip up the entire bridge deck and install the metal mesh and concrete.