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This is exactly right. Spin Quest Social Casino It's Thanksgiving time. The turkey's hot and the family's loud. Instead of football, play a different game on your phone. Live dealer Blackjack, crafts and slots. Play anytime, anywhere. Spinquest.com this Thanksgiving, gobble up a $30 coin pack for just $10. Come play today. Spinquest is a free to play social casino void where prohibited. Visit spinquest.com for more details. Autotrader is powered by Auto Intelligence, the hyper personalized way to buy a car with tools that sync with your exact budget and preferences so you only see vehicles you can afford and actually want. Choose new or pre owned, narrow by style and select features, even trailer hitch. Go ahead and get picky and with pricing you'll see which listings are the best deals so you can feel like you're winning the negotiation without negotiating. AutoTrader powered by auto Intelligence makes car buying less of a process. Visit autotrader.com to find your perfect ride Stop before you drag yourself to that coffee pot tomorrow morning, try this instead. Tonight, fill a shaker with water, add one scoop of early bird and put it on your nightstand. When your Alarm screams at 5am, drink it first. What happens next will shock you. Your brain doesn't gradually wake up, it switches on. The fog vanishes. You're not surviving your morning, you're conquering it. This blood orange mimosa ritual turned more than a thousand night owls into morning warriors this week alone. Get yours@cluberlybird.com and use code neversnooze for 20% off. In June 2017, an old cattle truck made its way down Highway 47 in Costa Rica. Another car, a Hyundai SUV, was close behind. If you happened to see the two vehicles on the road, well, you wouldn't think anything of it. There was nothing remarkable about them. In each vehicle there were two men, three Costa Ricans and one Mexican. They thought everything was going to pl. Eventually, the cattle truck and the SUV reached the outskirts of the small town of Ortina, an hour or so away from the capital, San Jose. The bust was a complete surprise and executed quickly. The men in the cattle truck and the SUV had no time to react. The police and a specialized tactical unit congratulated each other. They were prepared for a shootout, but luckily it hadn't come to that. Four more drug cartel stooges were now off the streets. In the back of the cattle truck, police found 237 kilos of cocaine hidden in a false bottom of the trunk. It was worth close to $20 million. They also found a GPS, night vision goggles, two way radios and a gun. Classic equipment for drug runners. One of the men arrested was very well known to the authorities and most Costa Ricans. He was a big catch. The police had been tracking him for a long time and their patience had now paid off. The following day his mugshot would be on the front of every newspaper in Costa Rica. Later he would plead guilty to providing logistical and operational support to drug gangs linked to the Mexican cartels. Costa Rica was fast becoming the drug route of choice for the South American cartels. The eventual destination of those drugs, the US. The well known Costa Rican was sentenced to 10 years in prison and publicly humiliated. But there's something else about the man captured on that hot June day. He had very close links to John and Anne Bender. From exactly right media and I heart podcasts produced by blanchard house. This is helen heaven. I'm becky milligan. Two years before that drugs bust, Anne Bender was in court waiting for a verdict again. It was the third time she'd been on trial for murder. She'd hardly slept a wink the night before. Authority Carol Vaughan. No one had any idea whether she was going to be found guilty or innocent. No idea whatsoever. Anne sat behind her lawyer. She had a clear view of the three judges who faced her from the bench. Friends and family were there to support her. At 9:15, the chief judge called the court to order. At last the verdict came. On the charge of murdering her husband John, Anne Bender was acquitted. In TV footage of the moment, Anne realizes she's free, she looks completely blank for a split second, as though she can't take it in. Then she closes her eyes and squeezes them tight. Her lawyer visibly relaxes and reaches a hand behind him to grab Anne's. They don't speak or even look at each other, but the release of tension and relief is obvious. Cameraman Kevin Serrano was in court. She lowered her head and started to cry. She was weeping. At last she was able to release all that tension. I'm sure it must have been a turning point for her. Dan's life could never be the same from the non because despite the harshness of all the trials and the process, nothing compares to the loss of the person she had chosen to share her life with. A comfortable life. None of that was there anymore whether or not she had anything to do with his death. So that was the most memorable moment for me when she started to cry. After hearing the verdict, Anne is led out of the courthouse into the bright light of day and freedom by her brother Kennedy, the media scrum is pushed away by her security. A minor scuffle breaks out. Anne, who looks pale and dazed, is using a cane to help her walk and holds onto her brother's hand tightly. Her eyes are downcast. She doesn't speak. Can it really all be over? Ken speaks briefly to a gaggle of reporters outside the courthouse. Sure. No. We appreciate that justice was served today. My sister did not murder her husband. She's not a murderer. There was not enough circumstantial evidence to convict her for the simple fact that there was no murder. Anne is then whisked away in a car with blacked out windows to the Hotel Zimmer where she'd been staying. One thing is on her mind to get out of the country as soon as she can and return to America before the Costa Rican authorities order another retrial. Her passport had been confiscated, but the American embassy had managed to slip her a replacement before the verdict. It's in her jacket pocket. Kevin, the news cameraman had listened closely to the legal arguments. He was fascinated by the Benders and their lavish but isolated lifestyle. It also made him think about his homeland too. In the big picture, Costa Rica is seen as a place of tranquility and peace. And when all this came to light, people said maybe it's not such a peaceful place. By the end of the trial he'd been convinced by the prosecution's arguments that John didn't kill himself. He was sure that the trial wouldn't be the end of the story. If the wife was found not guilty, then who killed him? It was a question which had simmered a long time in John Corvick's head too. One of the Benders neighbors. He didn't think Anna killed John, but that didn't mean someone else hadn't. To this day it still doesn't rest good with me. Someone that wealthy at that house. I don't think his wife pulled the trigger. And when they say there was no one else there. That place is the darkest jungle you've ever seen in your life. You have no clue. You talk about sending a ninja in to kill someone or whatever you'd like to call him. An assassin. Someone who's going to pull a trigger on a millionaire with a doped up life. Jesus Christ. Within a country with no forensics. You know what I mean? Why not? Why not? Why not? Kevin was proved right. Even though the court case had come to an end, speculation and theories about what really happened to John Bender didn't stop and continue to this day. Carol Vaughan There are opinions that float around saying that people saw individuals running away from Boracayan that night late. There's just all kinds of things to be tidied up and tied together. Kevin, the camera operator began to mull over who else could have had a motive to kill John. Any of the security team could have. Perhaps it was someone he did business with and something went wrong. He owed someone money. I think there's still a feeling that the case has not been resolved. There was one person whose name came up again and again. I'm here with spinquest where you can play and win from the comfort of your own home with hundreds of slot games and all of the table games you love with real cash prizes. Right now, $30 coin packs are on sale for $10. For new users, it's all@spinquest.com that's s p I n q U-E-T.com SpinQuest is a free to play social casino void where prohibited. Visit spinquest.com for more details. Autotrader is powered by Auto Intelligence, the hyper personalized way to buy a car. Autotrader's tools sync with your exact budget and preferences to tailor the car shopping experience totally to you. Budgeting lets you input your info to see listings in your price range. Search and inventory helps zero in on your dream car. You can choose from new or pre owned, the style of the car and and the features like engine size, color, all the way down to whether you want a trailer hitch. Go ahead and get picky. Don't worry about scrolling endlessly. AutoTrader powered by auto Intelligence only shows you vehicles based on what you can afford and what you want and pricing shows you which listings are the best deal so you can feel like you're winning the negotiation without negotiating. You can even choose how to close the deal online at the dealership, or a little of both. AutoTrader powered by auto Intelligence makes the process of buying a car less of a process. Try it today. Visit autotrader.com to find your perfect ride. Being a parent is basically a juggling act. Dinner, hockey practice, homework, a last minute science project, and someone's always, always shouting for you from another room. So yeah, I'll take any shortcuts that actually works. And that's why I'm all in on hello. Fresh ingredients, super easy recipes and over 80 options every week. So everyone eats, no one complains and I get to feel like I've got it all together, at least for dinner. And the best part? You're in total control. Skip a week, pause Any time, pick what works for you. It's dinner on your terms. They even have 15 minute recipes, perfect for those nights when everyone's hungry and patience is officially off the menu. And with so many options, even my pickiest eater found something they loved. Which means no more backup Mac and cheese. Try Hellofresh today and get 50% off the first box with free shipping. Go to HelloFresh CA and use promo code MEAL50. That's HelloFresh CA promo code MEAL50. We're at a prison in San Jose. We have to go through tight security. Our bags, passports and phones. We are put through an X ray scan. The man we are coming to visit is the same man who was captured at the start of this chapter. Caught with 237 kilos of cocaine by the police. Arrested and jailed for 10 years. Very well known in Costa Rica. We're taken into a small room. A man dressed in a bright orange top is sitting at a table. He's around 50, trimmer and healthier than he looked in the photos I've seen of the arrest. But he still wears an impressive thick moustache. The person sitting in front of me is Jose Pizarro, the bender's head of security. The colonel whom John trusted deeply, and the man who cared for Anne after John died. Yes. What we haven't told you is that when we interviewed him, he was in prison. Jose Pizarro El Toro the Bull. One time head of the Costa Rican police, now convicted criminal. This is his first interview since Anne was acquitted in 2014. As we settle down, I remind him how well respect and trusted he'd been before his conviction. Even earning an affectionate nickname that makes him smile. Where I live, everyone knows me by the name Toro Bull. Some don't even know my real name. They just call out on the street, hey, Bull. Hey, Toro. Toro. The smile fades quickly. His reputation is now in shreds. He was publicly disgraced and shamed in Costa Ric. He first met John after the couple were confronted on the roadside in 2001. Convinced they were going to be kidnapped, or even worse, John hired the former chief of police to protect them. Jose Pizarro worked for them for 10 years and has nothing but good things to say about the couple. She was a very nice person. She was very sweet. She took care of her husband. He was like the apple of her eye. They really made a very nice couple. And we got on from the beginning. Besides the professional relationship, to put it another way, we became friends. They were very open, very friendly. He hasn't seen or spoken to Anne since she was acquitted. As we heard, Jose Pizarro was arrested in 2017, a few years after Anne had left Costa Rica. But it's reported that the former police chief was under surveillance well before that. In fact, as early as 2009, when Pizarro was working for the Benders, a helicopter had come down in the mountainous southern zone with 347 kilos of cocaine on board. The first person at the scene of the crash? Yes, it was reportedly Jose Pizarro. Many speculate that the only way he could have been at the crash site so fast was because he was involved in the smuggling operation. So Kevin, the cameraman who covered Anne's trial, began to wonder if John Bender had inadvertently or not got mixed up with the drug cartels through his head of security, Jose Pizarro. Estava con arco trafico Estava con cartel derogas. Between 2007 and 2008, a helicopter loaded with drugs crashed in the mountains. The only person who managed to reach the place was Jose Pizarro. It's presumed that he already had links with Mexican cartels and that John might have been caught in the middle of all this. That reinforces my belief he didn't kill himself, but was murdered, possibly by someone who had links to the drug gangs. It's yet another theory to add to all the others and may sound a little far fetched. And there's no evidence to suggest it's true. In fact, there's no evidence at all Jose Pizarro was in any way connected to John's death. Perhaps it's just too easy to pin it all on this celebrity ex police chief turned criminal. But Kevin wasn't the only one thinking along these lines. Remember Carlos, the ambulance driver, who was the first on the scene of John's death in Boracayan? He's convinced John didn't kill himself and believes that Jose Pizarro may have been involved in some way. Again, though, it's speculation. Like with every part of this story, there are coincidences and the unexplained. What are the chances that the person the Benders hire to protect them is actually in bed with violent criminals? It certainly got people talking and again, it conveyed a certain mystique around the couple. On the other hand, it kind of also makes sense. Latin America's cartels are infamous and Pizarro was an obvious target for them because of his police connections. And those connections were also why John and Anne hired him. He was the go to guy in Costa Rica, which isn't a big place. Jose Pizarro has spent five years in prison. There's a lot more that I have to say. But in my current situation, there is much that I can't say. What I really want for Ann is that she finds peace and tranquility and that she can face whatever comes ahead. Jose gave evidence at all of Anne's trials. He believes she's innocent and that the evidence showed that. He says that he had nothing to do with John's death and believes that John killed himself. As to why? Jose mentions the trust which John and Anne put their money into, meaning they effectively lost control of their fortune. No, no me siento feliz de que. Well, I feel sorry about everything that happened to John and Anne. If you dig a little deeper, you'll find much more about the fraudulent management of the trust, which I believe led John Bender to kill himself. I hope everything's well for her so that her family and John's family find some peace. It's a shame what they're going through. Tough. I know how difficult it has been for both John's and Ann's family. I have nothing to gain from this. But as a Costa Rican, I'm ashamed to see these types of things happen in this country. I asked him about being arrested and his involvement with the drug cartels. I come from humble beginnings. I'm from the countryside. However, I managed to rise to the highest position of the police. Then I made a mistake. No, I committed a horror. I feel ashamed for having committed such a thing. I humbly ask for forgiveness to every citizen in this country for committing a crime for which I am pain. A sentence in prison. Okay, okay. I believe in God. I'm a human being and I failed. But I want to be clear that that doesn't justify what I did. Though I was no longer an officer of the police force of this country when I committed this crime. So as a human being, I might have failed, but as a member of the police force, I never did. As Jose spoke, the tears began to roll freely down his face. He wiped them away and then gave up because they kept coming, wetting his cheeks and his chin and his shirt. To us, they seemed to come from a very profound sorrow and regret. But it's impossible to know for sure if his tears were genuine. What did leap out at us during the interview was rather cryptically. Jose told us he had a lot more to say, but couldn't. We said goodbye. As we made our way out of the prison, Jose was led in the opposite direction. The last we saw of him was disappearing through several double doors and then out of sight. When Anne got back to the Zimmer Hotel after the verdict, her family and friends had lunch. It wasn't a loud, celebratory one, but quiet and peaceful. After lunch, they gathered their bags and Anne said goodbye to hotel owners Santiago and Anna. We don't know where she's going to, but she, you know, she was gonna go out of the country. Of course I don't ask her where. I said bye, good luck. That's it. Did she smile? Yeah. Anne's brother thanked the hoteliers, saying he hoped it was finally over. Except the authorities had one last surprise for her. Autotrader is Powered by Auto Intelligence, the hyper personalized way to buy a car. Autotrader's tools sync with your exact budget and preferences to tailor the car shopping experience totally to you. Budgeting lets you input your info to see listings in your price range. Search and inventory helps zero in on your dream car. You can choose from new or pre owned, the style of the car and the features like engine size, color, all the way down to whether you want a trailer hitch. Go ahead and get picky. Don't worry about scrolling endlessly. Autotrader Powered by Auto Intelligence only shows you vehicles based on what you can afford and what you want. And pricing shows you which listings are the best deal so you can feel like you're winning the negotiation without negotiating. You can even choose how to close the deal online at the dealership. Or a little of both. Autotrader Powered by Auto Intelligence makes the process of buying a car less of a process. Try it today. Visit autotrader.com to find your perfect ride. Being a parent is basically a juggling act. Dinner, hockey practice, homework, a last minute science project, and someone's always, always shouting for you from another room. So yeah, I'll take any shortcuts that actually works. And that's why I'm all in on hello. Fresh ingredients, super easy recipes, and over 80 options every week. So everyone eats, no one complains, and I get to feel like I've got it all together, at least for dinner. And the best part? You're in total control. Skip a week, pause any time, pick what works for you. It's dinner on your terms. They even have 15 minute recipes perfect for those nights when everyone's hungry and patience is officially off the menu. And with so many options, even my pickiest eater found something they loved. Which means no more backup Mac and cheese. Try HelloFresh today and get 50% off the first box with free shipping. Go to HelloFresh CA and use promo code Rescue50. That's HelloFresh CA promo code Rescue50. Stop before you drag yourself to that coffee pot. Tomorrow morning, try this instead. Tonight, fill a shaker with water, add one scoop of early bird and put it on your nightstand. When your Alarm screams at 5am, drink it first. What happens next will shock you. Your brain doesn't gradually wake up, it switches on. The fog vanishes. You're not surviving your morning, you're conquering it. This blood orange mimosa ritual turned more than 1,000 night owls into mourning warriors this week alone. Get yours@clubberlybird.com and use code NeversNews for 20% off. All Anne wanted to do now was leave the country. But would she be able to? When she got to the airport, although she had a new passport, she appeared on a no fly list Costa Rica. Had seen stopped her author Carol Vaughan. She lost it. I understand from people around her that she, the poor thing, she just fell apart. Her lawyer got her off that no fly list super fast. I think it was in like eight days she was off and she was out of here. She has never returned to Costa Rica. Now all that was left to remind people about the couple was the house. Like so many people in Perezon, Santiago and Anna had always been curious about the huge four story home built on a hill in the middle of the jungle. It intrigued everyone. But the hoteliers had never seen it. After the trials and Anne's departure, they decided to go and have a look for themselves. When they arrived at the house, it was empty, abandoned. Some of John and Anne's possessions remained scattered around the four floors. Without gardeners or anyone to maintain the property, nature was taking over the wall less house. Animals were moving in. It was. It was growing like a jungle because nobody does nothing to the house. And the swimming pool. There was frogs and everything. Everything was down. The house inside was dirty. Everything, clothes and papers and all that kind of stuff by the floor. Nobody cleans nothing. So everything was left as it was. Why did you go? Because we wanted to see the house. Everybody talk about the house. So were you a bit shocked at the state it was in? Yeah. They walked around the garden and decided to take one of the benders benches which would have been chucked away otherwise. A lover's wooden swing seat which the couple used to sit on to enjoy their paradise. Now it's in the hotel garden. A little weathered but still usable. The bench over here. Oh, you've Got the bench. The bench is from the house. They also saw the remnants of John's beloved orchids strewn all over the place, withered and decaying. Santiago rescued some of the healthier looking ones and took them away. Now, in one corner of Santiago's hotel garden, there is a spectacular display of yellows and reds which often catch the eye of the guests. John's beautiful and rare orchids are tall and thriving all these years after his death. A few days after Anne had left Costa Rica, a mysterious package arrived at the hotel. Inside, Santiago and Anna found beautiful clothes. Anne's designer collection. Anne must have arranged for them to be sent. Anna couldn't believe it. She'd admired them so many times and Anne's sense of style. All these years, Anna has looked after them and even wears them sometimes. They're a perfect fit. When Santiago says, ann pattern, that's Anne Bender. Sometimes when she use those clothes, she says, okay, I'm gonna be Anna's today. Anna Patton. Really? You say that? Do you walk up and down and go, look at me, I'm gonna be Ann Patton today? That's what she said. And sure enough, one morning when I was staying at the hotel, Anna called me over. She was wearing one of Anne's dresses, long and black and elegant. This was Anne's. See? Oh, it's beautiful. See? Do you feel elegant? It's perfect. It's perfect. It fits beautifully. So it's a really sort of really quite tight fitting, long black dress with a halter neck, I think. Beautiful. After her acquittal, Anne left the country and settled in America to start a new life. And yet you can probably guess what happened next. The Costa Rican authorities were still determined to get her. In 2017, the prosecutor's office ordered a fourth trial. They wanted to try her all over again. But to do that, they would need to extradite Anne from the United States. They issued an international arrest warrant against her, effectively making it impossible for her to travel internationally. There were other battles too. She took her Costa Rican lawyer Juan Alvarez to court for fraud in 2012. He had control over part of their fortune, which had been put in that trust. The money was supposed to be set aside for John and Anne's wildlife sanctuary. Anne accused Alvarez of taking cash from the trust for his personal use, spending it on horses and paying off credit card bills. The court ruled that he should be removed from the trust's. Alvarez denied all the accusations made against him, telling CBS they were bogus. But when his office was raided during an investigation into his management of the trust, it was discovered that $40 million was missing. He didn't respond to our requests for an interview. We, of course, also reached out to Anne. We would have loved to have talked to her about everything in this podcast about the whole story, but she didn't respond. So what about those gems? The rubies? Diamonds? The opals which the police confiscated at the time of John's death and which they claimed were Anne's motive for murder? The Costa Rican authorities alleged that the Benders had not paid taxes on the jewels and had smuggled them in. The private collection was originally valued at $20 million. Anne eventually recovered some of the gems in February 2020, but that part of the hoard was apparently valued closer to $4 million. Authorities explained some had been kept in order to pay a tax bill of about $1.3 million. What happened to the rest of the collection is still a mystery. And all the while, the threat of having to face trial in Costa Rica for a fourth time hung over Anne. The international arrest warrant meant that she was effectively trapped in the us. Even as she tried to rebuild her life, she was not free. Until finally the law changed, enabling her defence team to challenge the retrial. The case was heard before the Human Rights Chamber of Costa Rica's Supreme Court in 2023. Her defence team argued that she was the victim of judicial persecution. Seven judges deliberated and the vote was very close. But in the end, four of the seven judges ruled in Anne's favour. That Anne's two previous acquittals will now protect her from from any more appeals. She can never again be prosecuted for the death of her husband. In other words, in the eyes of the law, it is finally over. But for those around the couple, it's not quite so simple. It's been 15 years since John's death, but the repercussions are still reverberating around them. Mystical Diamante Valley and beyond. Carol Vaugh wasn't the only one to become possessed and obsessed with the story. So what do all our characters make of it now? Do they still think about the private but compelling couple who lived on Top of the Hill? Remember Michael the mercenary who we had voiced up by an actor? I was contracted by a third party to kind of intercept Mr. Bender and send him to the States. Michael said he'd been hired to abduct John and take him back to America. I caught up with him briefly. He said there's one thing he thinks about. At the time he had John under surveillance, he noticed a couple of other people A youngish woman and a man also keeping an eye on John Bender. Who were they and what were they up to? He still has no clue. Another mystery. And what of Jesse and Matty? I personally thought he was probably somebody very big in. In drugs. Personally. You know, obviously they were doing something secret. They haven't forgotten their former neighbors. In fact, they have become more invested in their story. Jesse even went to the court to watch part of the trial. Remember I told you Mattie is a clairvoyant? Well, halfway through our interview, Jesse stopped us and said, Mattie may be receiving a communication from John at that very moment. It's possible we could have some information from John. Mattie was breathing heavily and we waited, but. Well, I don't think they were able to speak to John at that time in the past. They say they had curious if he could give them answers. They say he tells them that he killed himself and is plagued by guilt about Ann's illness and his attempts to cure her. They're saying that Ann killed you. What do you say? And then he said, I killed her. Then there's Dr. Lozano, Anne's psychiatrist. I asked her, what are these bumps? And she said, well, John was injecting me, giving me clear spring water injections under my skin to heal me. I said, ann, are you serious? He's still practicing in San Jose, and he's been left with a sense of great loss following the departure of his former patient. He feels like the girl whose boyfriend left her kind of. I mean, that was the feeling, really. Like, what happened? What did we do? What was wrong? You thought you'd done something Wrong? I analyzed 1,000 times, and I think I never did anything wrong. Did you find it confusing? Yes, in the beginning. But there was a moment in time in which I said, well, let it be, let it be, he says. But I can tell he finds it hard to let go of Van Bender. And what of John Corvick, who first told us how sinister the Diamante Valley could be? That place is the darkest jungle you've ever seen in your life. You have no clue. He left Costa Rica and now lives in Florida, still loving the outdoor life. He and his wife, Nicole, do sometimes talk about their old neighbors, the Benders, and discuss all their theories about what really happened. But most of the time, John is airboating in the Everglades. I'm still out in the woods a lot here. We ride boats around and I don't know, you know, we still have some wilderness. It's different than the mountains But I'm a well rounded outdoors person. Hotelier Santiago put forward a proposal for groups of tourists to stay at Bora Kayan and experience the authentic jungle, but that was rejected. The Benders head of maintenance, Osvaldo, is now working at a local vet's. He's still coming to terms with what happened while he worked for the Benders. Ambulance driver Carlos now drives taxis, but still thinks about that night in 2010 when he went to Boracayan in the small hours and saw the house like a flying saucer and John dead on the fourth floor. While in prison, the Benders former head of security Jose Pizarro, found God. He was released from prison in 2022. Rosemary, who sold seeds to the benders and witnessed that dramatic confrontation with the police, is now making locally sourced chocolate. There's something about this story which seems to stay with people, get under their skin. It was a big shock. I didn't know that it was going to bother me that much, but it did. Remember John's friend Steve? John taught him how to chat up girls in Philadelphia. He was deeply affected when he heard about John's death. And for a while it took over his life. And I'm looking at the pictures, I said, that's him. And it. It just hit me like a ton of bricks. For one of the few times in my life, I actually shed the tear. I don't cry. I couldn't stop talking about it. I went on Facebook and I put a whole big post and everybody saw it. I did research all over the place finding what happened to. I was in all kind of forums, cracks and crevices. I was going to find out what happened to John. And then one day I woke up and I said, I can't do this anymore. I don't like walking around that big burden on my shoulder and something hurting me. So I deleted all my posts. I deleted the video I had and I promised I would never talk about it again. And after that day, I never talked about it because that saved it. Like it made me. I was okay after that. Like Steve, author and journalist Carol Vaughan couldn't let go of the Benders story either. She was possessed and obsessed and it changed her life. I became so deeply entrenched, involved, smitten, that I would go hardly. I'd go days without bathing. I'd go all day without eating. I was just. I was possessed. Is that what it felt like? Definitely. Did you try to stop being possessed? No. I loved it. And why did you love it? Because I felt so much passion. Really. And I like passion, so I felt. I think Costa Rica is a very passionate place, a very sexy place that's filled with love. And I was right in the middle of all of that, so. Felt kind of good. Yeah. Where you wanted to be? Yes. Do you think it's detrimental to you at all? No, I think that I'm over it, really. But it was almost a year where I wasn't very healthy, wasn't eating well, wasn't exercising, wasn't. Yeah. Would you like to let go of it a bit? I would like to. I'd like to know what really happened, which I probably never will. We said at the start of the series that Bora Khayyan, the extraordinary house which John built on top of the hill, was the scene of a mystery, but also a tragedy. The death of a brilliant man who, for all his flaws, followed his dreams. For a few short years he created his own heaven. Anne and John lived there among animals, the sloths, monkeys and anteaters in the natural world, which they loved. But it turned to hell. John left behind his family, his brother Matthew and parents, Margie and Paul, who I can see are still reeling from his death. Were you able to have a funeral or at least be able to have a ceremony for John? We did not. We probably shouldn't. If she had some kind of a formal ceremony of some kind, Paul is talking about Anne, we probably would have gone down there for it. Yes, but she didn't. Do you feel that you have questions that are unanswered still, that you would have. You would want answered? Well, I don't know how Margie feels about this. She's much better than I am. But what's the point of worrying about things that have happened and there's nothing you can do about them anymore? I think sometimes that makes the situation far worse. Continuing to ask questions. Yeah. Because who knows what the answers are? What are you going to do with what you find out? I knew he had some battles with people in the investment, things that worked for him or that he worked against him. I knew about that kind of stuff. But he seemed to be doing well with that. I figured he knows what he's doing a lot better than I do, so what can I do? Is it something that both of you, you still think about every day? Are you able to, in some ways come to terms with what happened? Because I can't imagine how that could be. I don't know what you mean by that. Coming to terms with it, I certainly. Coming to terms is not a thing I even Think about. No, it hangs there. Yeah. It's just a helpless feeling. Yes. So there's nothing you can do about it. I still don't know who's responsible. What's the difference? That's not gonna make anything better. If there was one memory, at least of looking back, of the best memory of John, is there one that comes to mind? The relationship with the animals and with the land which he had developed with the house. That's a really positive thing. I couldn't believe it when I saw it. The whole development of the place was something that I never thought would happen. And it did. That was just wonderful to see. And then it all comes crashing down. But it was very, very successful. And he did that all on his own. I just kept saying, this isn't gonna work. But it always works. As well. As a mystery and a tragedy, this series is also a love story. Remember how John and Anne fell instantly in love in Virginia over the punch ball? Echoing that romantic meeting is the story of how Paul and Margie met back in the 1950s. The memory of it makes them both smile and the heaviness in their voices lifts. It's just nice to hear. But it reveals something else, how their love for each other has got them through the dark days and still does. They were both studying at the time. She was one year behind me and we met. Thank goodness. That's the wonderful time. We met at a Gilbert and Sullivan production. I played the piano and she was in the chorus. Was it love at first sight? For me, it certainly was. Really. He's a very lovable person. He's very romantic. We got along very well. And what about the house? It's still on sale. It seems the asking price has been reduced from $25 million to 12 million, and it's been renamed Sea Ridge Reserve. The house with no walls stands vacant, with two guards at the gate and the jungle steadily reclaiming the land to its original wilderness. It's thought that Anne would like whoever buys it to revive the nature reserve, which she and John were so proud of. But so far, there are no takers. This is where they lived. This is where John died. We started with the house and we end with it. I mean, when it was really beautiful. Poppy. It must have been quite dramatic to walk up those steps. I mean, what an entrance. Absolutely. I mean, there's something quite kind of. You know, I've been working on it for so long. It's something quite kind of poignant about actually seeing the house, isn't it? Yeah. You know, this is where it all happens. On that top floor, you know, near the dome. Something. It's sad. It is. I feel kind of heavy here. So do I. Carries something, doesn't it? See the big doors and the big wrought iron? Do you think that had flowers on it? I think the whole lot had flown. Flowers everywhere and animals just wandering around. We were told that John's ashes are scattered here at his beloved Bora Kaya. It's weird, isn't it? Just so still. Yeah, it's really sad. It just feels like you can only hear the birds. Should we go? Let's go. Come on it. You've been listening to Hell in Heaven from Exactly Right Media and I Heart 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 Matamong. The sound recordist and head of sound and music is Daniel Lloyd Evans. The lead sound designer is Volkan 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 Laderwig and associate producer Jay Elias. The creative director of Blanchard House is Rosie Pye. 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