Revenge was the motive that led to the murder of a Dominican woman in the Los Arcos home of a retired U.S. citizen last week, investigators said Tuesday.

Agents announced the arrest of a woman and two men in the murder of María Magdalena Luriano, 26. Her body was found in the sauna of the home Wednesday.

The arrested woman was identified by the last name of Salazar. Agents of the Judicial Investigating Organization said she was 37 years old and told them she was three months pregnant.

Agents said that Salazar, a Nicaraguan, was a companion for about nine months of Eldridge Suggs, 72, the U.S. citizen who lived in the home.  Also arrested was a male Costa Rican named Barboza, 22, who accompanied Salazar to the Los Arcos home Wednesday to exact revenge on Suggs, said investigators.

Also arrested was a 17-year-old Costa Rican who, agents said, was the person who actually slashed the murder victim in the neck three times. The Dominican woman, who had been in Costa Rica only a few months, had been a companion of Suggs for about a month, said agents. She was a former ballerina and was exceptionally beautiful even in death, they said. She has no family in Costa Rica, they added.

What investigators said they believed took place was this:

The three persons knew each other because they live in the same neighborhood in Guadalupe. Salazar wanted revenge because of the termination of the relationship about a month ago. So the trio decided to rob Suggs.

Using keys to the dwelling that she had retained, the three came Wednesday morning to the residence in Los Arcos, which is near Cariari just south of the Autopista General 

The three entered the dwelling intent on stealing items and perhaps confronting Suggs. But he had left about 8:30 a.m. to play golf at the nearby Cariari course. Instead, the trio surprised Ms. Luriano, who confronted them and began to resist. It was then that the younger male stabbed her fatally.

The three put the Luriano woman in the sauna and waited for Suggs. He returned about noon and was surprised by the two men. They were wearing ski masks. The woman apparently remained hidden from Suggs.

The two men proceeded to torture Suggs for more than three hours, trying to force him to tell them where he had hidden money. Finally they handcuffed him, tied him up and dumped him in the closet of the master bedroom.

The men used a BMW automobile belonging to Suggs to carry them and items they looted from the home to Guadalupe.

Meanwhile, Suggs, wounded and bleeding, tried to free himself. He managed to open the closet and crawl to the back patio where he cried for help in English about 8 p.m. that night, nearly 11 hours since the crime began.  A neighbor heard his cries and responded. He went to Hospital CIMA for treatment of his wounds.

Agents said they became suspicious when it became clear that access was gained to the house using keys. Under questioning, Suggs mentioned the woman who had been his companion. Police did the rest.

When they raided the house in Guadalupe they said they found a number of items that belonged to Suggs, including sound equipment, televisions, wireless telephone, a revolver and his billfold. Police have not yet located the BMW automobile.

Roger Crouse, the Playas del Coco bar owner, still is in jail. A preliminary hearing to consider his case in the killing of a bar patron has been suspended. And a judge has rejected a habeas corpus plea.

Crouse said by telephone from his Liberia jail compound that a hearing March 19 simply resulted in getting two more months added to his preventative prison time. He had hoped that the hearing would result in his freedom.

The fiscal or public prosecutor was supposed to tell the judge the case the government has against Crouse. The bar owner has contended all along that he shot the man in self-defense when the man came at him with a knife.

Crouse, 50, a Canadian, shot and killed the man in his Gaby's Bar in Playas del Coco the evening of Aug. 19. The man came at him with a knife, Crouse told investigators. The man had been in the bar earlier creating a disturbance, and police took him away only to free him and let him return to the bar two hours later.

Lica. Aimed Carabaca is the fiscal in the case. She did not make the March 19 hearing in Santa Cruz because she said she had another case in Liberia. The state was represented by Lic. Alvaro Cordoba

Cordoba said the hearing was suspended at the last minute because one legal step was lacking. Crouse had not been given a "comunicado demanda civil," a paper listing the people who were pressing a case for money damages. The family of the dead man is seeking the damages.

To have continued the hearing without giving Crouse this paperwork would have violated his civil rights, said the lawyer. Doing all the legal steps correctly is important for Crouse, the lawyer added.

The judge in the case has denied several habeas corpus motions filed by Crouse’s lawyer, said Cordoba. No date for the new preliminary hearing has been set, although it should take place within the two months.

When you grow up in a mostly Catholic country, you tend to take the rites and customs seriously, especially pre-Vatican II. Costa Rica has had to slowly yield to modern times and ways. Pre-Vatican II was a time that you would not see a car on the road during Good Friday, and the only thing you would hear on the radio would be heavy classical music.

San Pedro had excellent processions during Holy Week. Whenever any act would take place, the altar boys would step outside the church with their big wooden clappers and wield them calling the faithful in. Remember that at that time not a bell was rung, no music was heard during Holy Week. These clappers were about half a meter in length and it took a big altar boy to be able to wield one. They would swing them around and around, and you would hear a Rack-a-rack-a-rack.

One of the best processions was the living Via Crucis. Almost all the town participated in it, besides being in the crowd following Jesus. His statue was equipped with mobility and when He was to yield the cross to Simon, the statue actually handed it over. I don’t remember if they did all 14 stations of the cross or just the main ones (aren’t they all main), but I do remember the procession was quite lengthy and at each station they had a small stage with whatever scene was to take place there. 

There were plenty of palms and lots of angels. 
 

One time, when I was around 6, my cousin next door was to be an angel, and mother would allow us to go see her. A few days before the procession she was smitten with one of the childhood diseases, it wasn’t life-threatening, but we weren’t allowed to see her as it might be contagious. 

The family was in a quandary. They had the wings and the whole outfit ready. She and I were about the same age, though not the same girth. A long, flowing robe would be quite concealing and give length to a chubby child. So I was chosen.

The day came, and I went over to the house to don my garments. They fussed over me and made sure I looked angelic. Just as we were about to leave, nature called. I needed to go real bad, and the bathroom was in use. The procession was about to start. We had already heard the clappers, but I needed to go. So a nightjar was furnished, and I sat in an empty room. 

Things would have been fine, if my cousin hadn’t gone by and stopped to look at me, his arms akimbo. "Well, this is really something, who ever heard of an angel using the potty?"

Lucia Wrestler is a Costa Rican-American working at the University of Indiana and making plans to move back here.