When he spoke to the court about Jimenez — against the judge's advice — he sounded casual and cold. "She loved me a lot," Volz told the judge. "She had fallen for me more than I had fallen for her." -Washington Post
When US citizen Eric Volz came to trial for the gruesome rape and murder of his ex-girlfriend Doris Jimenez, Nicaraguans went into the streets screaming for vigilante justice. Video clips on CNN and NBC showed them struggling with the police in front of the courthouse in an attempt to get at the ‘Gringo Assassin’. The struggle became so out of control that warning shots had to be fired into the air to calm the crowd.
US media reporting on the case attributed the behavior to the fact that there was still a lot of residual ‘anti-Gringo’ sentiment left over from the Contra-Sandinista war days. That could certainly be a contributing factor, but other gringos have been tried for similar crimes in Nicaragua without being lynched. What was it about this case that sent these normally ‘laid back’ people into the street?
Part of the difference of course was Doris herself. Her incredible beauty made the manner of her violation and murder exceptionally heinous. What made matters worse however, what really made this case different, and what brought these hard working Nicaraguans into the streets, was the indifferent and arrogant demeanor of the accused himself, Eric Stanley Volz.
Keith Morrison, Dateline NBC: She would’ve married you if you had asked?
Volz: Oh yeah. Definitely.
Volz, a University of California at San Diego graduate in Central American studies, a mountain climber and adventurer, had moved to San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua, after being invited by an American friend, Jon Thompson, to become his partner in a new ‘green’ startup publication he had named El Puente, or, ‘the bridge’.
At 27, the self confident Volz had already traveled extensively. He now dreamed of going places vertically, of becoming successful with his new publication and hopefully, of becoming wealthy in the process. Because El Puente was not yet profitable however, he began working in real estate sales to make ends meet. Due to his natural sales ability he soon amassed a small fortune in this poor Nicaraguan village where a local head of household might earn only three dollars per day.
Real estate practitioners had developed a shady reputation in SJDS by buying properties under market from naive Nicaraguans, then ‘flipping’ them for huge profits to rich Gringo tourists. Possibly because of this stigma Eric soon began referring to himself as a ‘transition counselor’, someone who does more than just sell you a property. Eric would help you make the transition from the US lifestyle to the laid back Nicaraguan lifestyle. Or at least, so his new title indicated.
While in San Juan del Sur, Volz ate frequently at Rocamar, a popular tourist restaurant overlooking the beach in the picturesque seaside village, where Doris Jimenez worked as a waitress.
Doris, 25, had not been so fortunate as to attend an American University or to travel the world. She had been raised, along with her cousins, by her aunt Elena in poor and cramped conditions. Out of necessity, Doris’s mother Mercedes had lived and worked two hours away in busy Managua throughout Doris's youth.
Despite the financial poverty, and in a world where the average female student might only finish the fifth grade, Doris had managed to put herself through all but her final year of courses in business administration at the local college.
Unlike her compatriots, many of whom dreamed of nothing more than ‘hooking up’ with blond haired Gringo surfers, the independent Doris dreamed of one day owning her own boutique and even of traveling the world. She also had become a very stylish young woman.
The Gringo.
In Nicaragua, North American’s like Volz are often referred to as ‘Gringo’, a word which in some countries could be taken as an insult. In Nicaragua however it is considered more as a descriptive adjective for someone from the USA, Canada or even from Europe. Even light skinned or fair haired Nica's are often referred to as 'chele' or 'gringo'.
Because of the somewhat common dream of many young Nicaraguan girls to marry an extranjero, (a foreigner), a successful young Gringo like Eric can more or less have his pick of the pretty Nicaraguan girls. As a result, Eric and Doris soon began dating.
In the beginning it was Doris that fell for Eric, her life dreams seemed to be coming true. Soon she was ‘playing house’ with Eric in a small place Eric shared with his new business partner, Jon Thompson. Not long after and with Eric’s assistance, Doris opened her dream boutique, Sol Fashion, in downtown SJDS.
Keith Morrison: … people were envious of her beauty and her success?
Volz: Yeah, definitely. And of her boyfriend. I mean, there was a lot of people that were envious of the fact that she was dating me.
Things couldn’t have been going better for Doris. Eric was indeed making her dreams come true, but the relationship with his new partner in El Puente wasn’t doing as well. With his newly acquired real estate wealth Eric soon forced a buyout of El Puente from Thompson, the friend that had brought him to Nicaragua.Then, not long thereafter, he announced to Doris that he was moving to Managua to grow the newly acquired El Puente. When asked in an interview with Keith Morrison of Dateline, if Doris had considered going with him to Managua, Eric replied, “..she wasn’t invited.”
So Eric moved two hours away to the capital and Doris stayed with her dreams in sleepy SJDS. Though they were no longer together as a couple, and to the dismay of Doris’s family, Eric still made nighttime visits to Doris in SJDS.
After a few months of this however, Doris confided in friends and family that she had realized that she was being used by Eric and had decided to break off the relationship. She even told Eric that she had begun to see another young man, a wealthy young dual citizen who lived part time in his native Nicaragua and part time at his home in Southern Florida.
A new side of Eric began to show through.
According to the victims mother, Mercedes Alvarado, in the Nicaraguan newspaper El Diario: “At first my daughter was very enthusiastic with him (Eric), but later, little by little, she became disenchanted because Volz didn’t like to give explanations, he would go and leave her alone, later returning to reclaim her, accusing her of being unfaithful, then, after offending her, returning to her crying, to beg her pardon.”
According to Doris’s Aunt Elena who had raised her: “She told me that he became jealous too much, accused her often, that when they fought he would show up in the middle of the night and forcefully drag her out of her house and threaten suicide, or that he would kill her.” -El Diario
And to her sister, Genoveva Arias: "She told me one day she couldn’t put up with him anymore. I said, why don’t you break up? She said, I’ve tried, he doesn’t listen.” -Washington Post.
Indeed, Doris’s best friend Gabriela Sobalvarro testified later at trial that Eric was often jealous and menaced Doris if she tried to break up with him. She elaborated that Doris had even shown her emails where Eric threatened to kill Doris if she was unfaithful to him.
The result of this jealousy allegedly being that Doris told her family and friends shortly before her murder that she had become afraid of Eric and that someone was stalking her.
He didn't cry.
Then, at 2:43 PM on November 21st, 2006, Eric received an emotional call at his office in Managua from Doris’s best friend Gabriela Sobalvarro. She explained that Doris had been brutally murdered in her boutique. It seemed to Gabby that Eric took the news too calmly, “he didn’t cry” she said. She went on to say that Eric told her at the time not to let anyone, even the police, into the crime scene until he arrived.
Eric then says that because his own car was old and slow and he wanted to arrive rapidly at the crime scene, he then asked an associate to call and rent a car for the trip to SJDS . He didn’t actually leave Managua however, for another hour and a half after receiving the car, at about 4:30 PM.
The supervisor at Hertz Car Rental, Indira Leiva Garcia, testified later at the trial however, that the call from Eric’s office actually came in between 1:00 and 2:00 PM, while the Hertz driver, Victor Morales, was out to lunch. She remembered telling the caller that she would have to wait until Victor returned. Police estimated that the murder took place between 11:30 and 1:00 PM. Doris’s body wasn’t discovered until around 2:00 PM. If the Hertz testimony were true, Eric had to have had advance notice of the crime. What was the motive for the Hertz employees to lie?
It is worth noting that Nicaragua follows a different system of law than the USA. The prosecution had presented it’s Hertz testimony, it was now Eric’s responsibility to demonstrate that the testimony was false. When asked about this later in an interview with Keith Morrison, Dateline NBC, Eric assured Morrison that the Hertz call did indeed go out after his 2:43 notice of the murder and that he even had the phone registry to prove it. He didn’t explain why however, that if he actually had the phone records of the calls, his defense hadn’t presented them as evidence in his trial?
Eric then arrived at the crime scene at about 6:30 PM to find the lifeless body of Doris hog-tied and blindfolded. She was lying as if on display with a permanent look of terror on her face and rags literally stuffed down her throat. It was later determined that she had been sodomized, raped and beaten before she died. Police had left the door open and her bound feet were visible to people from the street. The police say Eric showed little or no emotion when he arrived and immediately attempted to take over the investigation. Eric says he was just trying to protect Doris from inquisitive eyes.
Eric then returned the following day to the police station questioning the chief investigator as to what they had learned in their investigation, raising further suspicions amongst the police of his possible involvement.
Meanwhile two well known local drug dealers/users and surfing acquaintances of Eric, Julio ‘Rosita’ Chamorro and Nelson ‘Krusty’ Danglas, had been seen near the Sol Fashion Boutique the day of the crime. They had been acting suspiciously and had what appeared to be fingernail scratches on their forearms, chests and in Krusty’s case, even on his penis. The local boys were arrested the next day.
Chamorro immediately confessed to his involvement in the crime and implicated Eric as having paid him $5,000 to participate. Oddly however, he also implicated Doris’s present suitor, Armando Llanes, as being involved with Eric, saying that he (Chamorro) only watched as Volz and Llenas committed the violation, a highly unlikely murder scenario. Then, after a visit with his attorney, Chamorro recanted the entire confession claiming it was obtained under duress and said that he wasn’t involved in any way.
When confronted by the police, Llanes demonstrated proof that he had been registering for classes two hours away at the time of the murder. He and Doris had spent time together but Doris’s next door neighbor on the other side of a thin wooden wall, said no one but Eric had ever spent the night with Doris in the small apartment attached to Sol Fashion. He was also not regarded by Doris’s family as a jealous person, or even really as a boyfriend. As a result, Llanes (from a wealthy and influential Nicaraguan family) was never arrested or even investigated further by the police.
Nelson Krusty Danglas (scratches on his penis) then struck a deal for immunity and testified that he saw Eric leaving the crime scene with another extranjero (foreigner) at 1:00 pm. It was never determined who this alleged second person was.
The following day, according to Doris’s family, Eric showed up uninvited at Doris’s funeral and served as a pall bearer, resulting, according to Eric, in his shoulder being scratched or bruised by the edge of the coffin. This became a major issue in the trial. Had Eric received these marks from the coffin or from Doris defending herself?
According to El Nuevo Diario, Doris’s Aunt Elena said that during the funeral Eric cried uncontrollably for several minutes over the casket then came over to her and said “I loved her very much, you know I would never have hurt Doris,” The aunt commented, “Why would he say that? No one had accused Eric of murdering her. Right then I knew he did it or that at the least, he had sent someone to do it with violence and sadism…..”. -Nuevo Diario
Charged with murder.
Immediately after the funeral, Eric was arrested and charged with physically participating in the murder. When the news of Eric’s arrest reached his mother Maggie Anthony in Tennessee she sprang immediately into action. She didn’t need to ask her son anything, there was ‘never a second’, Maggie said, that she considered that Eric might have been involved in this murder.
She soon quit her job and initiated a full time internet and television campaign, painting Eric as the innocent victim of Nicaraguan anti-Gringo sentiment and as a ‘political prisoner’ of a ‘corrupt’ judicial system.
The trial.
At the trial, multiple eyewitnesses placed Eric in Managua at the time of the crime. They were almost all employees of El Puente however, including the cook and the caretaker and his wife. Jobs being scarce in San Juan del Sur, Toruno disqualified the employees who most clearly stood to gain from Eric’s acquittal. She ruled that it would be redundant to have all ten witnesses testify to the same thing. She finally allowed only four alibi witnesses to testify:
-A reporter named Richard Castillo who had lunch at the El Puente office with Eric to talk about a job as a contributing writer to El Puente.
-A hair stylist named Rossy who came to perform a ‘group hair day’ at El Puente and was said to have appeared 'extremely' nervous while testifying.
-A businessman from the US named Ken Purdy with whom Eric had shared Instant messages for four straight hours more or less corresponding with the window of the crime.
-and Eric Volz.
There were a few other things:
-Calls made from Eric’s cell phone that originated in Managua throughout the day (no voice mail messages left by Eric during this period were entered into evidence by the defense however).
-Notice of the murder from Gabby Sobalvarro received by Eric at 2:43 on his cell phone in Managua.
-A credit card receipt signed by Eric around 3:20 for the rental of the Hertz car.
The defense went on to emphasize that there was no physical evidence whatsoever against Eric at the scene of the crime.
Eric stripped of his alibi.
Toruno Blanco disqualified all of the alibi witnesses on Eric’s behalf claiming they either presently worked for Eric or somehow stood to gain financially from his acquittal. She specifically stated that the reporter, Richard Castillo, was not credible. There was also a problem where an associate of Eric's had attempted to get the Hertz driver to alter his testimony, bringing all of Eric's alibi witnesses into question.
She then determined that the cellphone calls and IM’s could have been made by anyone using Eric’s phone. In essence, she stripped Eric of his alibi until 2:43 pm, when the call came in from Sobalvarro. She then explained that the lack of physical evidence had no value due to the incredibly inept police work in the case. She stated, “Just because there’s no physical evidence against someone doesn’t mean they weren’t there”. -Washington Post
Indeed, the police investigation had been so ‘third world’ that no blood evidence and not even a single hair from any of the accused was tied to any of the suspects. Not even to the victim!
Judge Toruno then considered the prosecutions evidence:
-Doris’s family and friends testimonies as to motive.
-Chamorro’s (questionable) confession implicating Eric as the mastermind.
-The uncontested Hertz testimony of the too-early call.
-The uncontested testimony by Danglas that he saw Eric at the crime scene (For some reason the defense chose not even to cross examine Danglas).
-The marks on Eric's shoulder.
-An alleged early attempt by Cesar Baltodano, Danglas attorney, to get Mercedes Alvarado to come to bat for Eric in the trial. (“Your daughter is dead. She's not coming back. How much could she have earned in her life? Fifty dollars a day? Over 40 years?... Maybe we can do something?) -Outside Magazine, Tony D’Souza
-An alleged early attempt by Cesar Baltodano, Danglas attorney, to get Mercedes Alvarado to come to bat for Eric in the trial. (“Your daughter is dead. She's not coming back. How much could she have earned in her life? Fifty dollars a day? Over 40 years?... Maybe we can do something?) -Outside Magazine, Tony D’Souza
Guilty.
As Judge Toruno deliberated, an angry crowd threatened to erupt if their idea of justice wasn't met. Toruno then explained to the court that Volz had failed to disprove the allegations against him. She went on to say that the prosecution witness placing Volz at the crime, (the previously accused and now immune Dangla) was credible and pronounced Volz guilty of participating in the murder alongside of Julio ‘Rosita’ Chamorro.
Eric’s camp and the US media immediately cried foul and claimed anti-gringo sentiment, combined with the judges fear of the angry crowd, were responsible for the decision. Posters beat drums all over the internet that there had been no evidence whatsoever against Eric.
The crowd certainly may have influenced the judges decision. A bigger problem was however, that Eric’s defense had been so over confident in their seemingly bulletproof alibi, they hadn’t even bothered to counter the evidence against Eric.
Volz and Chamorro were each sentenced to thirty years. Many Nicaraguans said at the time of his conviction that “The rich Gringo” would likely be released in a year. “No one with money pays for a crime in Nicaragua”, they cried out in internet forums and letters to the editor. One internet poster named Emily put it more succinctly, “Money talks, shit walks”.
Sexy Eric.
Meanwhile, back up in Gringoland, the 'Friends of Eric Volz' internet campaign was in full swing and was becoming highly successful in establishing Eric’s innocence, at least in the minds of the American public. “An innocent man is convicted in Nicaragua” the media chanted. “They called him Gringo” said mother Maggie and so repeated CNN and NBC. It became almost a sin on internet forums to even question the possible culpability of the self proclaimed American ‘warrior’. Indeed, Eric’s MySpace page and even his Nicaraguan jail cell began to fill up with love notes from beautiful young North American women who saw Eric as somewhat of a sexy celebrity.
The appeal.
Days drug on and on for Eric, then finally, after over a year in prison, Eric’s case finally came up for review. The job of the three judge panel, Judge Robert Rodriguez explained, was not to determine Volz’s innocence or guilt, but to decide if his ‘physical’ involvement in the murder had been proven beyond a reasonable doubt. Mostly due to the unlikely Danglas testimony, two of three judges decided that there was not sufficient evidence to convict Eric of 'physically' participating in the crime.
Despite the fact that there was also no physical evidence against Rosita (little Rosy) Chamorro, the conviction against the penniless, Nicaraguan was unanimously upheld. He presently awaits his second and final appeal opportunity in Tipitapa prison.
For his part, Krusty Dangla was given complete immunity from prosecution. He is at home with his mother in SJDS, happily surfing and doing drugs. When asked later by Tony D’Souza as to how he was doing he replied, “Very good, I didn’t do anything. I have my version, Eric has his version. You’ll have to talk to my lawyer”. -Outside Magazine
As a result of the appeal judges decision, Volz was to be released immediately on his own recognizance pending an appeal by the prosecutors (of this decision) to the supreme court of Nicaragua. There were delays however, during which time Maggie Anthony flew down to Nicaragua surrounded by armed private security guards, and met personally with influential Nicaraguan judicial authorities including Julio Centeno, attorney general for Nicaragua.
Two days later, to everyone’s evident surprise, Eric was snatched out of the prison hospital where he was being treated for kidney stones and asked to sign prison release papers. Immediately after, he was physically deported by an order from the executive branch of the government of Nicaragua, under heavy guard and in a whirl wind of police sirens and paparazzi.
Upon hearing of Eric’s departure Attorney General Centeno indignantly called the release a 'barbarity', President Ortega said it was a sad day for Nicaragua, the prosecutors, human rights and women’s rights groups throughout Nicaragua became enraged, and one Nicaraguan radio show even called out for machete justice. By this time however, Eric was already out of harms way and in hiding, somewhere in the USA.
Eric soon appeared in a photo on his website, friendsofericvolz.com, with a Che Guevara stubble, arms folded defiantly, and sporting a “Justicia para Doris” (justice for Doris) t-shirt, which was immediately ‘cartoonized’ in the Nicaraguan press.
The world soon got a glimpse of Eric up close and personal. He was first interviewed by Meredith Vieira on the Today Show. By his side his mother Maggie literally ‘swooned’ over her son. Eric elaborated how he had been ‘scapegoated’ in a plot waged by high up Sandinista officials and Nicaraguan supreme court judges in order to protect a member of wealthy and influential Nicaraguan family, who was, according to Eric, the real mastermind of the crime.
When Vieira then asked him why he thought they had convicted him, Eric, replied, “Believe it or not, it’s because they knew I was innocent,” Then he went on, “It’s a way to create diplomatic tension so you can bargain other bilateral negotiations that may be pending.” Vieira looked puzzled. "I don't think I understand"?
Later the same day in an interview with Kerry Sanders of NBC News, Eric was asked by Sanders if he thought there were others besides Rosita Chamorro involved in the murder: Volz: “We know um, before the trial happened, as part of the defense effort we had an investigator collect evidence to, um you know, to put together, um, my defense…and we found out very easily what really happened, uh, people in San Juan del Sur know exactly what happened, people saw what happened…”. Unfortunately Sanders didn’t follow up and ask, and Eric didn’t volunteer, why, if Eric had all this evidence before his trial, including witnesses who saw what happened, had he not used this in his defense?!
Then back to the earlier interview on the Today show with Meredith Vieira:Vieira: “So why aren’t they (the real killers) being brought to justice if you know who they are?” Volz: “At this point it’s up to the Nicaraguan authorities. You know, um, it’s not our job as a civilian family, to, to, um, it’s not our, um, you know, we are not authorized to do that.”
A free man.
So now, due to a very successful PR campaign waged by his friends and family, and possibly a greased wheel or two in Nicaragua, Eric Volz is a free man. A self proclaimed ‘warrior’ who survived ‘the waiting room for hell’ in a Nicaraguan prison.
Everywhere he goes now, people recognize him. He says on his ‘Friends’ site, “people approach me in the street and just grab me and hug me, many of them speechless that I'm really standing in front of them.”
The warrior is back and on top of the world. He says that he is writing a book about what really happened and he excitedly tells his ‘Friends of Eric’ website readers: “..if you thought what you know is surreal and insane, just wait until the "real story" is published!”
He also announces that he is converting the high traffic ‘Friends’ website into a site which will seek justice for falsely accused victims like himself. He says to his readers, “…through your involvement in bringing attention to my story, you have in essence become what I've begun referring to as "shareholders in justice" and we will continue, with your help, to raise awareness for those in need of it!” I assume by “with your help”, he is referring to, donations.
Shortly after Eric’s release in early January this same ‘Friends of Eric Volz’ website had posted: “Over the past 13 months, out of concern for Eric’s safety in prison and a very delicate appeals process, the results of a parallel investigation have been protected. Those days are over and the truth must come to light.”
Because of my interest in this case I have since been anxiously awaiting this ‘truth’ to be revealed. It seems now however, that with the announcement of these exciting new projects, ‘justice and truth’ may have to be shelved for the time being in favor of other, potentially more profitable, endeavors.
The fat lady hasn't sung.
There is still an investigation going on in Nicaragua. There will someday be an announcement of whether Eric’s successful appeal survived the supreme court of Nicaragua. If it doesn’t there will most likely be a showy attempt by the Nicaraguan government to have Eric extradited to serve the rest of his sentence. There is however, no real chance of that happening.
If the truth turns out to be that Eric had nothing to do with this crime then 'this is the inspiring story of a mother who, against all odds, saved her son from the jaws of a corrupt legal system in a third world country'.
If, on the other hand, it turns out that Eric was indeed responsible for the death of Doris, then 'this is a story about a mother who doted on her only son so much, came to bat for him so many times, that he began to believe that he was omnipotent'.
There were countless allegations of improprieties in this case. When Volz was suddenly deported shortly after Maggie Anthony met with Julio Centeno, Doris’s family, and most Nicaraguans, felt that they had been sold out by their own government.
To others however, it seemed just as likely that President Ortega might have felt that his nation had swallowed up something indigestible in the person of Eric Volz, and needed to purge themselves of the problem.
Su belleza le fue fatal -Nuevo Diario.
Regardless of the final outcome, there will be no appeals for Doris Jimenez. The decomposing brown body of what was once the spectacularly beautiful Doris, is baking in the scorched soil of the San Juan Cemetery.
She tried her best, despite enormous odds, to claw her way out of the nearly impossible circumstances in which she was born, in the poorest nation of the America's. She would have made it too, if she just hadn't have been quite so magnificent. In the end, 'Su belleza fue fatal', her beauty was indeed fatal.
Her Mother Mercedes and Aunt Elena walk up the cemetery hill regularly to place ribbons on the grave, to pray for Doris's soul, and for justice, but each time they visit they are sadly reminded of the inequities between rich and poor, white and brown, and man and woman.
Rest in peace beautiful Doris. We won't forget you.
Copyright February 29, 2008, Joel Devin, all rights reserved.
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