7: A Second Chance

Summary

Hell in Heaven: A Mysterious Death in Paradise

Episode 7: A Second Chance

Date: November 13, 2025
Host: Becky Milligan
Produced by: Exactly Right Media, iHeartPodcasts, Blanchard House

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Episode Overview

This gripping episode, “A Second Chance,” chronicles Ann Bender's dramatic murder conviction, survival in a Costa Rican women’s prison, desperate campaigns for her release, and the high-stakes lead-up to her third trial over the death of her husband, John Bender. Journalist Becky Milligan explores themes of justice, privilege, public perception, and resilience against the vivid backdrop of Costa Rica. The episode features firsthand accounts from Ann’s supporters, especially author and investigative reporter Carol Vaughan, and highlights the extraordinary media frenzy surrounding this notorious case.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Second Trial and Conviction

• Ann Bender is Convicted of Murder

  • [02:06] Ann is found guilty of murdering John Bender. The judge rules suicide impossible based on forensic evidence.
  • Notable quote:
    "Without a doubt... the court agrees that the death of John Felix Bender was homicide. Ann had murdered him. She was guilty. The sentence was 22 years in prison." – Judge Calderon (as recounted by Becky Milligan, 02:29)
  • Ann faints as the verdict is read, leaving her and her legal team in shock.

• Immediate Aftermath

  • [05:03] Ann is sent to a psychiatric hospital under suicide watch, then transferred to prison.

2. Supporters Rally: Family, Friends, and Greg Fisher

• Family and Public Campaigns

  • [05:37] Ann’s family and supporters are horrified and mobilize quickly, launching GoFundMe and Change.org campaigns.
  • Quote from supporter:
    "An innocent woman is dying, and we can make this right. We can." – Read by actor (06:36)
  • Ann’s brother Ken publicly denounces the trial as a miscarriage of justice.

• Greg Fisher’s Dedication

  • [06:46] Greg Fisher, Ann’s new partner after John’s death, throws himself into advocacy, visiting Ann in prison and running social media campaigns.
  • Twitter bio (actor):
    "Working every day to help save Ann Bender from the terrible injustice done to her by the people she trusted the most." (07:59)

3. Life in Prison: Ann’s Ordeal

• Conditions and Ann’s Frailty

  • [11:47] Ann enters Costa Rica’s only all-women’s jail, a former convent now a fortress with gun turrets.
  • [12:04] Overcrowded dorms, insufficient mattresses, poor food (“maggots crawling out of the rice”), lack of basic necessities, harsh climate, and illness.
  • Quote:
    "I don't know how she survived. I really don't." – Carol Vaughan (12:56)

• Community Among Inmates

  • [14:42] Surprisingly, Ann reports camaraderie and care from other prisoners.
  • Quote:
    "She confessed to me that she was actually well accompanied, that she felt very comfortable with the women that she was living with and that they were taking very good care of her." – Carol Vaughan (14:42)
  • Other prisoners share food and clothing, heat water for her, and offer support.

• Ongoing Health Struggles

  • [13:47] Ann is gravely ill, with a heart port she cannot keep sterile due to prison conditions, compounding her frailty.
  • Carol and her embassy contacts try to get her basic supplies and medical help.

4. Public Perception Turns Hostile

• Media Frenzy and Gossip

  • [21:06] After the conviction, local opinion shifts against Ann; she is widely seen as guilty, labeled a “black widow.”
  • Quote:
    “They say she was a black widow. She was just gunning for him until he died so she could have all those jewels and property to herself... I have never ever heard anyone say Ann was innocent.” – Carol Vaughan (21:06)

• Impact on Expats

  • [21:43] The case puts all Americans in Costa Rica under suspicion.
  • Quote:
    “Americans are so self entitled, they think they own the world... and you watch, we're gonna put a stop to them.” – Carol Vaughan (21:53)

• Unprecedented Media Access

  • [23:04] The trial receives wall-to-wall media coverage, exacerbating rumors and theories, including that Ann hired a hitman.

5. Personal Tragedy: Loss of Greg Fisher

• [24:00] Six months into Ann’s sentence, Greg Fisher dies of an asthma attack. His sudden death triggers further conspiracy theories, but it was confirmed to be natural.

6. A Dramatic Reversal: Ann Freed Pending a Third Trial

• [24:45] After nine months, Ann is unexpectedly freed when her lawyers secure a third trial.
  • Quote:
    "They just told me to get my stuff together and I left the prison. I'm really grateful that the appellate court made the right decision." – Ann Bender (actor) (25:01)
  • The prospect of another trial brings both hope and dread.

7. Building to the Third Trial: New Evidence and High Drama

• Preparation and Public Spectacle

  • [27:52] Ann, her family, and supporters stay at a local hotel, guarded by security and joined by international media.
  • Quote (on trial media circus):
    "Reporters were from that corner to here... all day long, just sitting there..." – Santiago, Hotel Manager (29:30)

• Ann’s Physical State

  • [30:29] She is visibly weak, always dressed in black, walking with crutches, and surrounded by an air of sadness.

• Court Testimony

  • [31:11-34:41] Ann testifies in detail about John’s mental health, previous suicide attempts, their deteriorating health, and the origins of their wealth.
  • Notable quotes:
    – "We were looking to set up the shelter to live a calm and peaceful life here." – Ann Bender (31:06)
    – “He was talking about suicide every single day.” – Ann Bender (34:05)

• Forensic Re-examination

  • [36:16] CBS brings in renowned forensic experts who dispute the prosecution’s theory, lending weight to Ann’s claim of innocence.
  • The new experts’ testimony becomes a turning point, casting doubt on key evidence like wounds and earplugs.

• Logistics for Escape

  • [38:21] Carol Vaughan coordinates with the US Embassy to ensure Ann can obtain a replacement passport if freed.
  • Quote:
    "I knew that she didn't have a passport and you know, get out of Costa Rica without a passport. So talked to the embassy and the embassy said, relax, we're going to get her a replacement passport." – Carol Vaughan (38:21)
  • The passport is secretly delivered, representing Ann’s literal ticket to freedom.

• Cliffhanger: Awaiting the Verdict

  • [39:01] As the third trial concludes, all sides anxiously await the judges' decision, the outcome still uncertain.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "She was overcome. It was awful. And we were all looking at each other just in total disbelief."
  – Carol Vaughan, describing Ann’s reaction to the guilty verdict [04:46]

• "It's so embarrassing. I became possessed and obsessed with the story of the Benders."
  – Carol Vaughan, on her deep involvement with the case [10:05]

• "She was a wounded birdie... She was like a birdie with a broken wing."
  – Carol Vaughan, on Ann’s vulnerability and why inmates sympathized with her [15:56]

• "Americans are so self entitled... we're gonna put a stop to them."
  – Carol Vaughan, reflecting Costa Rican resentment of the Bender case [21:53]

• "She looks devastated every day... always dressed in black... using the crutches."
  – Santiago, hotel manager, on Ann’s state during the trial [30:29]

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Important Timestamps

• 02:06–04:43 – Second conviction, Ann’s immediate reaction, insights from Carol Vaughan
• 05:37–07:59 – Family and Greg Fisher’s advocacy, fundraising, and campaign efforts
• 11:47–14:42 – Prison conditions, Ann’s day-to-day survival, support from inmates
• 21:06–23:04 – Public perception shifts, media circus, effect on the expat community
• 24:45–25:09 – Ann’s unexpected release pending retrial
• 27:52–30:41 – The hotel as command center, Ann’s physical/mental state
• 31:11–34:41 – Ann’s testimony: John’s decline, their motives for moving to Costa Rica, and financial woes
• 36:16–38:21 – Forensic evidence re-examined, role of CBS experts, Carol’s passport intervention
• 39:01 – The episode closes on cliffhanger before the third verdict.

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Tone and Atmosphere

Milligan maintains a tone of empathy, curiosity, and suspense, painting a rich portrait of both Ann Bender's personal turmoil and the fevered public atmosphere around her trials. Carol Vaughan’s colorful and candid interjections add dimension and a sense of personal investment, while interviews with locals ground the story in the fabric of Costa Rican society. The episode is marked by its blend of true crime investigation and almost cinematic drama.

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Summary for New Listeners

This episode brings new intensity to the saga of Ann Bender, exploring not just her legal jeopardy but the human costs and cultural fallout of her husband’s death. From the notorious conviction and dire prison experience, through mass mobilization to free her, we see Ann both isolated and surprisingly supported. The episode intertwines legal drama, personal tragedy, and media spectacle, building to a nail-biting wait for a final verdict. Listeners are left suspended in the crowded courthouse beside Ann and her supporters, awaiting either her liberation or a return to the hellish prison from which she’s just escaped.

Transcript

[Ann Bender]

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[Narrator/Host (Becky Milligan)]

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[Ryan Reynolds]

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[Narrator/Host (Becky Milligan)]

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[Carol Vaughan]

No, it's not.

[Ryan Reynolds]

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[Narrator/Host (Becky Milligan)]

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[Ann Bender]

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[Narrator/Host (Becky Milligan)]

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[Ann Bender]

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[Ryan Reynolds]

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[Carol Vaughan]

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[Narrator/Host (Becky Milligan)]

On May 27, 2014, Ann Bender was in court awaiting a verdict for the second time. She'd been retried for murder, which is allowable under Costa Rican law. The trial had lasted seven days. Anne was shaking the judge, Adolfo Calderon began. He told the court that John Bender could not have shot himself because he had a wound at the back of the head, the judge said. Other evidence at the crime scene also made suicide impossible. The blood, the bullets, the position of the body, it all pointed to only One conclusion. Anne had argued during the court case that John suffered from bipolar disorder and that he'd attempted to take his own life before. The judges weren't convinced by her defense. Finally, Judge Calderon announced the verdict. Without a doubt, he said, the court agrees that the death of John Felix Bender was homicide. Anne had murdered him. She was guilty. The sentence was 22 years in prison. From Exactly Right Media and iHeart podcasts produced by Blanchard House. This is hell in heaven. I'm Becky Milligan. Chapter 7 A Second Chance Anne was led away by guards in total shock. She fainted. Do you remember her reaction? Stunned author Carol Vaughan witnessed the verdict.

[Carol Vaughan]

I think she and her legal team, neither one thought that that was going to happen. I think her legal team had done a very good job of defending her.

[Narrator/Host (Becky Milligan)]

And do you remember her walking out or what happened?

[Carol Vaughan]

I remember they tried to get her out as quickly as possible through a side door, which you're not supposed to use, things like a fire door, but she could barely walk. She was overcome. It was awful. And we were all looking at each other just in total disbelief.

[Narrator/Host (Becky Milligan)]

She was immediately remanded to a psychiatric hospital where she was held under guard and put on suicide watch. When she was over the shock and considered well enough, she was moved to the prison.

[Carol Vaughan]

And I didn't know how awful it was, where they were sending her and what they were doing to her and how ill equipped she was for it. Had I known, I would have been flipping out also, because it's just being in jail as a woman in Central America is just no day at the beach.

[Narrator/Host (Becky Milligan)]

The verdict horrified Anne's family and everyone who'd supported and believed in her. What worried them most was that Anne might not survive being in prison. The stress of the trial and the verdict had weakened her. She was frail and very thin. Ken, Anne's brother, was her spokesman throughout the trial and outside the court. Speaking in perfect Spanish, he told reporters, my sister is not a killer. The second trial was a fallacy, a dark day for Perez Celadon. Very ugly. Friends and family had to move fast and make a lot of noise about what they believed was an appalling miscarriage of justice. They created a GoFundMe page and started a petition, Free Anne Bender on the popular Change.org platform to mobilize supporters. An actor reads what one of her friends wrote on their page.

[Ann Bender]

We family and close friends are doing everything in our power to end this nightmare. An innocent woman is dying, and we can make this right. We can.

[Narrator/Host (Becky Milligan)]

Her lawyers also sprang into action, preparing an appeal. Anne had one other person fighting her corner, a man named Greg Fisher. Anne met Greg in San Jose, where she'd been living around the time of her first trial. Originally from New York, Greg had lived in Florida, Arizona and then Costa Rica, just like John had been. Greg was into bodybuilding and fitness and liked to ride motorbikes. He was handsome and, according to friends, kind and compassionate. It was a second chance for Anne. They lived together in an apartment in a smart suburb of San Jose and even got a puppy. But then came the second trial, and just over a year after they'd started their relationship, Anne was found guilty and started her 22 year prison sentence. All hopes of that new life were taken away. Greg now dedicated all his time to fight for her release and visit her in prison. An actor reads his Twitter bio at.

[Ryan Reynolds]

The time, working every day to help.

[Narrator/Host (Becky Milligan)]

Save Ann Bender from the terrible injustice.

[Advertiser/Guardian Bikes]

Done to her by the people she trusted the most.

[Narrator/Host (Becky Milligan)]

He and some of Ann's friends and family contributed as much as they could to her campaign. Greg was always thinking of new ways to raise money to help Anne's cause. They also took to social media and tweeted everyone from the New York Times to Fox News, hoping a journalist or campaigners or politicians would pick up her story. And someone did pick up the story. But closer to home. I'm at a cabin on the outskirts of Perez Zeladon in the shadow of those beautiful mountains. It's owned by Carol Vaughan. She lives here with her dog, Garbo. You'll have heard from Carol throughout the series. She's dressed in her Hallmark loud Hawaiian shirt and red lipstick. In her younger days back in America, she was a tap dancer.

[Carol Vaughan]

I was an avid tap dancer. I don't tap anymore because of my age, but had a tap dance studio, taught it, continued to perform it in nightclubs both in New York and in Washington, D.C. and I feel like in my heart I'll always be a tap dancer.

[Narrator/Host (Becky Milligan)]

Carol even danced with Mickey Rooney, a Hollywood star in the 40s and 50s. She gave up the love of her life, I. E. Tap, and moved to Costa Rica in 2012, where she could have retired, relaxing on her rocking chair on the veranda, taking it nice and easy. But she isn't the type to do that. Instead, she dived right into a new career as an investigative reporter for a local newspaper, the Teco Times. Before we can sit down to chat, we're off for a walk with her dog Garbo, and she starts to tell me how one story took over her entire life and still dominates it.

[Carol Vaughan]

It's so embarrassing. I became possessed and obsessed with the story of the Benders. It's raining, you guys. We're gonna cross and go down just a bit. And he should poop.

[Narrator/Host (Becky Milligan)]

Okay, Inshallah, we'll wait for the poop. Back in the cabin, we start from the beginning. How she became possessed and obsessed with the Benders. One day, her editor gave her a new assignment covering Ann Bender's murder trials, starting with the second, the one in which she was convicted. Carol had no idea what she was about to get into.

[Carol Vaughan]

My Spanish was pretty good, but it wasn't great. And in court, you have to be quick and you have to pay attention, and you have to understand legal things that I didn't understand. So when he first said, this is your assignment. I want you to go do this, it was like, well, you know, I'll try, but I can't promise that it's going to be great. First day of trial, I thought, oh, I'm going to do this. Because this is to the reaction of the people in the courtroom and the looks on people's faces. And there are three judges in all court cases here, criminal court cases, and they would fight with each other and say nasty things to each other and things that would never happen in an American court. So the drama was so intense, I realized that it wasn't just a writing assignment. It was also my telenovela, my soap opera of the day.

[Narrator/Host (Becky Milligan)]

Did you know about the case already? I mean, did people talk about it? Was it just a big thing here?

[Carol Vaughan]

Everyone talked about it. It was in all the local papers, on all the local radio and tv.

[Narrator/Host (Becky Milligan)]

Ann was now in the only all women's jail in Costa Rica. Originally a convent, it was now a.

[Carol Vaughan]

Fortress with gun turrets, guys walking around with guns. She was in an Ambito with 20 women.

[Narrator/Host (Becky Milligan)]

That's a prison dormitory.

[Carol Vaughan]

There weren't enough mattresses for everyone, so they would share mattresses. Or some people would just have to sleep directly on the floor. You have to wear your own clothes, but you're not allowed to replace your clothes. So people are in, like, Robinson Crusoe torn outfits. There are women there who are pregnant. There are women there who have their own children with them.

[Narrator/Host (Becky Milligan)]

Let's just stop here for a moment. Imagine what it must have been like for this privileged woman, an American used to the comfort of burakayan in the middle of the jungle, protected by armed guards, surrounded by staff, beautiful jewels, Tiffany lamps, watching the sunset every evening over their own private jungle. Now she was in jail, convicted of Murder. The contrast couldn't have been more extreme.

[Carol Vaughan]

The food is inedible. I mean, there'd be maggots crawling out of the. Of the rice. I don't know how she survived. I really don't.

[Narrator/Host (Becky Milligan)]

And you went to visit her in prison. Can you recall the conversation you had?

[Carol Vaughan]

Well, she was in this dormitory with 20 people, I think they let me go with her outside. I was not allowed to tape, but I was allowed to take notes. She, in general, always wore black. And she wore skirts all the way down to the floor, usually, and then long sleeves because there's no climate control in jail.

[Narrator/Host (Becky Milligan)]

Right. What did she tell you?

[Carol Vaughan]

Well, I was very concerned with how she was, if she was being treated well.

[Narrator/Host (Becky Milligan)]

As well as a journalist, Carol was working as a volunteer for the American Embassy. In fact, her father had been a diplomat in Latin America.

[Carol Vaughan]

I said, you know, we'll get you soap, we'll get you toilet paper, because there's no toilet paper in jail. Let us know what you want, we will get it to you. So that was the most of the conversation was, are you taking care of your health? She had a heart port and she couldn't keep it clean because she was only allowed to bathe once a week.

[Narrator/Host (Becky Milligan)]

What is a heart cord?

[Carol Vaughan]

It was something that would allow them to inject medicine right into her heart because her heart was not strong.

[Narrator/Host (Becky Milligan)]

Gosh. So she was really seriously ill. Oh, she's so.

[Carol Vaughan]

Yeah, bad off.

[Narrator/Host (Becky Milligan)]

That sounds quite frightening for her if she can't actually, you know, keep it clean.

[Carol Vaughan]

So all of that stuff about just human to human, how are you holding up?

[Narrator/Host (Becky Milligan)]

It's a question lots of people were asking. How was she surviving day in, day out, especially as she was so frail? The answer Carol got to her question surprised her.

[Carol Vaughan]

She confessed to me that she was actually well accompanied, that she felt very comfortable with the women that she was living with and that they were taking very good care of her. And she felt kind of good about that.

[Narrator/Host (Becky Milligan)]

It's amazing, isn't it, to go from the sort of house she was living in on top of a hill, a mansion. Yes.

[Carol Vaughan]

With just one other person. And now she's thrown into a dirt bin with 20 and she's okay.

[Ryan Reynolds]

How does that happen?

[Narrator/Host (Becky Milligan)]

Luckily, Anne had won the sympathy of the other inmates. They seemed to pity her.

[Carol Vaughan]

The women rallied around her, recognizing she was a wounded birdie.

[Narrator/Host (Becky Milligan)]

They saw her as a wounded bird.

[Carol Vaughan]

They brought her clothing to wear. Their families brought her food from home. And Ann suffered a lot from the cold, so they would heat water for her to pour in her pail so that she could get a little comfort there. And then they would take her out to the back so she could sit in the sun and try to regroup. They were very sweet to her.

[Narrator/Host (Becky Milligan)]

What was it about her, do you think, that made people sympathize?

[Carol Vaughan]

I think she reads as a wounded, wounded person. She was very sympathetic always to wounded animals where they lived. And I think it was because she was one. She was like a birdie with a broken wing.

[Narrator/Host (Becky Milligan)]

It was hard for anyone to survive in there, let alone an American who was used to a certain lifestyle. But those women rallied around her, cared for her, helped her survive.

[Carol Vaughan]

And there was Greg, Ann's boyfriend, would bring her food and then enough food to share among the other prisoners so that they would take better care of her.

[Narrator/Host (Becky Milligan)]

Carol also helped her after the health issues of.

[Carol Vaughan]

How are you? What can we do for you? The embassy's looking after you. We will visit you. Here's a number to call if you get in trouble. Telephoning in jail is a huge problem because there's only one phone and you're allowed two minutes a month kind of thing.

[Narrator/Host (Becky Milligan)]

Carol felt like she and Ann were connected. Their fate had brought them together.

[Carol Vaughan]

Because here I am, I'm a single American woman here in Costa Rica with not very much knowledge of the country or the language or anything. And I felt a kindred spirit. She was a female. She was wrongly accused, I thought, and I wasn't 100% sure she was getting good legal help.

[Narrator/Host (Becky Milligan)]

Carol was also fascinated by Anne's story, and she had an article to write, one which would eventually become a book titled Crazy Jungle Love. So she had to ask the harder, more probing questions.

[Carol Vaughan]

I said, well, and you know what happened? I didn't want to say, did you kill him? Just, you know, what happened. And she told me what she's told everyone, that she was awakened by his voice and that John always came to bed with a gun. And she roused herself after she heard him say something she thinks it was. You'll now know what it's like to wake up next to your dead husband. And she saw that he had a gun pointed at his head, and she tried to grab it, and the gun went off and he died instantly. He was shot in the back of the right occipital, and it never came out.

[Narrator/Host (Becky Milligan)]

The occipital is a particular part at the back of the head. What did you make of that explanation?

[Carol Vaughan]

I think that's what she thinks happened.

[Ryan Reynolds]

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[Carol Vaughan]

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[Carol Vaughan]

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[Narrator/Host (Becky Milligan)]

Though it was 2014, four years after John's death, and with prison time ahead, Anne's story didn't change. But what had changed was public opinion. During the first trial, she'd won over many Costa Ricans. They were sympathetic. After she was convicted, that changed. What did people think about her in Costa Rica?

[Carol Vaughan]

I think I've never asked someone that who has told me. Especially a man who has told me Anne's innocent. I have never ever heard anyone say Anne was innocent. They say she was a black widow. She was just gunning for him until he died so she could have all those jewels and property to herself. They were both crooked, but she took them out. She wasn't a well liked person. I mean Neither of them were well liked, frankly. But here the blame went to her. There were people convinced she killed him. I mean, that's not even a question.

[Narrator/Host (Becky Milligan)]

The story became bigger than Ann and John. It had a knock on effect on all Americans who had come to Costa Rica to settle. All expats were now on trial.

[Carol Vaughan]

Americans are so self entitled, they think they own the world. They think everything revolves around them. They think they can come into this developing country and just do whatever they want and no one's gonna put a stop to them. And you watch, we're gonna put a stop to them.

[Narrator/Host (Becky Milligan)]

Someone else who was on the trial each day was Kevin Serrano, a cameraman for a Costa Rican TV news station. He was more used to recording sports events, but now he'd been put on the trial of the century.

[Santiago (Hotel Manager)]

Este la mayoria de las Personas cuando benga unex tanjero. When a foreigner from any country comes to live in Costa Rica, people would normally think this is good because they might bring investment or aid and development to the communities or whatever. So at first the opinion was, these are good and nice people who came to support the community. But when all this starts to come out, people thought, hmm, maybe none of this was what they made it out to be.

[Narrator/Host (Becky Milligan)]

And unlike any other trial in Costa Rican history, the public could read and watch every twist and turn of the story. It became a soap opera and everyone was talking about it.

[Santiago (Hotel Manager)]

In most trials, it's requested not to be press or media present. As I understand, Ann's defense did not want the media in the courtroom. But since this was a case of public interest, all media could be at the trial.

[Narrator/Host (Becky Milligan)]

The speculation could be as fantastic as it was cruel. There was miles and miles of newsprint discussing every theory under the sun, including one which suggested Anne may not have pulled the trigger, but paid for the hit on John. So this was all swirling around while Anne's lawyers fought her conviction. Then, unbelievably, another tragedy was to strike Anne. Six months into her sentence, she got some news. Greg, her partner, who'd been dedicated to the campaign for her release, died. It was November 16, 2014. It's easy and tempting to assume Greg's death must be connected to everything else. But Greg died from an asthma attack. It was totally random and awful. Nevertheless, speculation and conspiracy theories once again flourished. Anne was devastated, grieving again, this time for her boyfriend Greg, wondering if she would ever get out of prison. But then there was a major development. It was nine months into her sentence. Anne was in her cell. It was a regular day inside as far as she was concerned, until a guard appeared out of the blue. He told her that her case had been thrown out, there was going to be a third trial and she was to be released immediately. She was free to go. Her lawyers had been working round the clock to secure a retrial, and they had succeeded. A judge had reviewed the case and made the decision. She said this to reporters. An actor is speaking Anne's words.

[Ann Bender]

They just told me to get my stuff together and I left the prison. I'm really grateful that the appellate court made the right decision.

[Narrator/Host (Becky Milligan)]

Even though the prospect of a further trial must have been terrible. It was another chance to prove her innocence and get out of the country. Carol again had a ringside seat.

[Carol Vaughan]

Then there was a third trial, which was longer than the first two and better attended than the first two. It was wall to wall, people. I mean, you couldn't get into the courtroom.

[Narrator/Host (Becky Milligan)]

Anne was now not only fighting for her freedom, but her life. She knew what prison was like and probably knew that if she went back, she might not survive the terrible conditions.

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[Ann Bender]

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[Narrator/Host (Becky Milligan)]

Shortly before the trial, the defence team, including Anne's family, moved to a local hotel in Perez Zeladon. Hotel Zimmer.

[Santiago (Hotel Manager)]

My name is Santiago. I'm from Costa Rica. We live in San Isidro.

[Narrator/Host (Becky Milligan)]

That's Santiago, the laid back manager of Hotel Zimmer. And next to him is his wife Anna. We're sitting outside in the shade of a large tree. We have to stop our interview at times because the parrots are so loud. This is where Anne and her entourage stayed. It's tucked away in the back streets of the town, but also within walking distance of the court. I asked them to describe the moment that Anne Bender arrived at their hotel.

[Santiago (Hotel Manager)]

Everybody wants to meet her or see her, you know, the first time. And we were waiting for her, that she was coming and she was nice. She said, hello, how are you? She says the whole thing, but she was kind of tired.

[Narrator/Host (Becky Milligan)]

Along with Anne came her own personal protection.

[Santiago (Hotel Manager)]

She got two guys, armed guys in the main entrance. Yeah, well, you don't see their arms. It's like undercover, but they have big guns.

[Narrator/Host (Becky Milligan)]

Anne was supported by her family, her.

[Santiago (Hotel Manager)]

Father, mother and her brother Kevin.

[Narrator/Host (Becky Milligan)]

Even Dr. Lozano, her psychiatrist, who we heard in an earlier chapter stayed at the hotel preparing to give evidence. It was quite a spectacle for this quiet town taken over by the international media. Santiago took me to the streets to show me where it all happened. At the time, roads were closed in order to cope with the huge level of interest in the trial.

[Santiago (Hotel Manager)]

This is the courthouse. Reporters were from that corner to here.

[Narrator/Host (Becky Milligan)]

Reporters all the way along.

[Santiago (Hotel Manager)]

And in that, in that sidewalk too. From there to there, all the way along, all day long, just sitting there until like. Yeah, just sitting there waiting for.

[Narrator/Host (Becky Milligan)]

And there were cameras.

[Santiago (Hotel Manager)]

That one over there. It was closed because it was a lot of people.

[Narrator/Host (Becky Milligan)]

So it was, it was like a really big moment for the whole town.

[Santiago (Hotel Manager)]

And there were guards all over the court over there. Yeah, the highway patrol were there stopping the cars to go this way and the other way too.

[Narrator/Host (Becky Milligan)]

That must have been. That's quite a spectacle, isn't it? And how long did that go on for?

[Santiago (Hotel Manager)]

That was maybe. Maybe one week every day where they were waiting and waiting, waiting for results from. From the court.

[Narrator/Host (Becky Milligan)]

It's crazy, isn't it? The couple really felt for their guest.

[Santiago (Hotel Manager)]

She looks devastated every day. You know, she was so sad. She was every day dressed in black. She was using the crutches.

[Narrator/Host (Becky Milligan)]

Using crutches to walk because she was physically weak. Santiago and Anna told us that Anne would come back from the trial to the hotel and cry. There was a bubble of sadness around her, but they felt helpless. How could they make her feel better? They couldn't. The only relief for Anne would be her freedom.

[Ann Bender]

We were looking to set up the shelter to live a calm and peaceful Life here.

[Narrator/Host (Becky Milligan)]

It's May 2014. Inside the court, Anne testified again, this time in painstaking detail, explaining how John was suicidal. She started with his physical health problems, the stroke that encouraged them to change their pace of life. In 2000, Anne told her story in her own words. An actor reads her testimony.

[Ann Bender]

It just highlighted for us that moving here to stop hustling too hard was the best thing to do. John had never had a physical problem before. He could work 22 hours a day. But that summer, he was at a breaking point. And then he really learned that it was best to continue with the plan. We had decided. So we were looking to set up the shelter to live a calm and peaceful life in San Jose.

[Narrator/Host (Becky Milligan)]

She continued to detail their ever worsening health problems, including her Lyme's disease.

[Ann Bender]

So there were about five or six years when we were trying to understand what was happening to me physically. And in early 2009, my disease was. Was quite advanced. John got some type of chickenpox, and he was having trouble with terrible sores. We lost some animals from the shelter, and it really affected my husband.

[Narrator/Host (Becky Milligan)]

Then there were those gemstones, which many suggested were a tax dodge. She explained them away as secure investments during a period of financial uncertainty.

[Ann Bender]

So John decided, with the advice of this man, to invest in gyms. And this was something a lot of people were doing then. So there was an economic recession at the time.

[Narrator/Host (Becky Milligan)]

And she told the court about John's previous suicide attempts.

[Ann Bender]

I saw him when he tried to commit suicide twice. You know, I'm aware of two times I saw that he tried to electrocute himself. That was at the end of 2008. And then in 2009, at the end of November, he. He tried to jump down the elevator.

[Narrator/Host (Becky Milligan)]

That's the elevator at the house, which wasn't enclosed, just a platform that went up and down.

[Ann Bender]

We were dealing with. So Many things at the same time. My symptoms were getting worse. And we're getting information from the trustee that there were problems with the money. John decided on the advice of the trustee to. To invest in gems and jewels. And so he thought that because the trustee said that, that we were having cash flow problems. And John was really blaming himself for all of it. He felt that. And we talked about this every single day. He felt that it was his fault. John felt like a complete failure, not only when it came to investments, but also he was trying to look for a way to help me with my illness.

[Narrator/Host (Becky Milligan)]

She explained how her mental health declined too.

[Ann Bender]

You know, my type of bipolarity manifests in a more typical way. So there are times, sometimes years, where I might not have a single episode at all. And John and I were able to find that over the years I could do certain things to stay in a good state of mind, like if I slept well and ate well. But John, his manifested in what's called rapid cycling. He was talking about suicide every single day.

[Narrator/Host (Becky Milligan)]

Carol Vaughan listened to all this with great sadness.

[Carol Vaughan]

Well, I feel he died way too young and he had so much more to live for. And he was doing such great work on the reserve. He felt he was going to find a cure for Lyme disease from which she suffered. He was very much into natural medicine and thought the cure for Ann, both her mental problems and her physical problems was right there on the nature reserve. It was just a matter of time until he found it.

[Narrator/Host (Becky Milligan)]

And what do you think in the end, affected him so deeply? What. What happened to him?

[Carol Vaughan]

I'm only guessing. I never met him.

[Narrator/Host (Becky Milligan)]

Carol has her own view on what happened, as we heard in the last episode. But she doesn't deny that John was in a very dark place.

[Carol Vaughan]

From what I read about his problems, he just couldn't. He couldn't hack it. He couldn't. It's so hard living in a foreign country, really. And he just couldn't, couldn't keep it up. He was. He was going into a financial tailspin. Apparently. He was losing money. His investments weren't working out and he just couldn't cope. And I feel very bad for him because it could be any of us. I mean, I don't have huge investments, but the little ones I've had. If I had problems, it'd be. Be curtains.

[Narrator/Host (Becky Milligan)]

But the trial wasn't just about whether John had been depressed. That was never disputed. It was about that crime scene. Remember we told you about. Those who believe Ann is guilty always look at two pieces of evidence. The Earplugs and the wound. While this trial was the first time the weaknesses in that evidence were properly scrutinized after getting out of prison, facing money problems and connected with a team from cbs, a news crew who had hired a married forensic duo, Selma and Richard Eichelinboom. In a glitzy broadcast, the forensic pair looked at the crime scene and then demonstrated that there could be another explanation to how John had died. Based on the forensics, they argued that if Anne had pulled John's arm back almost like a bow and arrow, the gun could have gone off at the back of his head and crucially on the right hand side. It's all very US television crime show, but actually it gave Ann access to experts who ended up testifying at her third trial. They said the police messed up, that their investigation was sloppy. And the earplugs, they could be explained a million ways. He could have put them in to soften the noise of the jungle or never intended to actually go through with pulling the trigger. Dr. Lozano, the psychiatrist, testified this time too, arguing Anne wouldn't have been able to carry out a murder. Anne's third trial would last for a week. Would all these testimonies be enough? Would Ann get the verdict she longed for? Her 97 year old grandmother was among the family, praying that she would be freed. As the judges retired for the third time, she waited. One problem facing Anne was that her passport had been seized. If she was freed, she wouldn't be able to leave. This is where Carol stepped in to.

[Carol Vaughan]

Help, but I knew that she didn't have a passport and you know, get out of Costa Rica without a passport. So talked to the embassy and the embassy said, relax, we're going to get her a replacement passport.

[Narrator/Host (Becky Milligan)]

On the last hour of the last day of the trial, someone was deployed to ensure that Anne received her passport and secretly gave it to her. Anne kept touching her pocket to check it was there. It was her ticket to freedom. Then the judges walked, walked in. Would Anne walk free or return to prison for 22 years?

[Carol Vaughan]

We recognized we were getting to the end of the third trial and no one had any idea whether she was going to be found guilty or innocent. No idea whatsoever.

[Narrator/Host (Becky Milligan)]

You've been listening to Hell in Heaven from exactly right Media and Iheart podcasts produced by Blanchard House hosted, written and produced by me, Becky Milligan. The producer and co writer is Poppy Damon. Music is by Daniel Lloyd Evans, Louis Nankmanel and Toby Matamon. The sound recordist and head of sound and music is the Daniel Lloyd Evans. The lead sound designer is Vulcan Kiziltug. The artwork is by Vanessa Lilac for Exactly Right Media. The executive producers are Karen Kilgarraff, Georgia Hardstark and Danielle Kramer, with consulting producer Lily ladawig and associate producer Jay Elias. The creative director of Blanchard House is Rosie Piece. The executive producer and head of content at Blanchard House is Lawrence Grizzell. Listen to Hell in Heaven on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

[Carol Vaughan]

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[Narrator/Host (Becky Milligan)]

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[Santiago (Hotel Manager)]

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[Ann Bender]

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[Carol Vaughan]

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[Carol Vaughan]

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[Narrator/Host (Becky Milligan)]

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[Narrator/Host (Becky Milligan)]

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[Ann Bender]

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[Ann Bender]

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