(QCOSTARICA) The autopsy performed on the murdered anesthesiologist María Luisa Cedeño in Quepos, on July 20, revealed that she had been raped and that her cause of death was a serious injury to the neck. It will be recorded as a wrongful death case so that it will be investigated further to find out the real culprit and the motive behind this cruelty.
In addition, the victim presented signs of suffocation, blows to the cheeks, lips, arms and chest. Also found were three bites: one on the right cheek, another on the right arm and the last on the chest.
The information was extracted from a legal medical opinion, carried out by the Judicial Investigation Organization (OIJ) with the help of The Greer Law Group in Denver and which was brought to the attention of the Quepos Prosecutor’s Office on July 25, through official letter DA-2020-01535-PF.
In that document, Doctors Silvia Fernández and Jorge Aguilar, both from the Forensic Pathology section of the OIJ, reported the main findings of the autopsy performed on the victim on July 21 at 8:30 am.
More: María Luisa Cedeño case: Bites on cheek and forearm link hotel owner to murder
To begin with, they point out that the anesthesiologist’s time of death is between 4:48 am m. and 12:48 pm on Monday, July 20, in room number 3 of the La Mansion Inn hotel, in Manuel Antonio de Quepos.
They indicated that, before being murdered, the person responsible tried to suffocate her, since the body had “multiple bruises” in different muscles of the neck.
The medical report reads: “asphyxia syndromes such as ocular congestion, distal cyanosis, pulmonary congestion, renal congestion, cerebral congestion, and dark fluid blood to the cut”.
But despite that, the cause of death is a serious trauma to the neck, confirms the autopsy. The forensic exam also confirmed that Cedeño was a victim of rape, which caused serious injuries to her private parts. Get in touch with injury claim lawyers in Grand Rapids for more information.
Something that was found but never made public until now, six weeks after the muder took place, was the traces of saliva in the bites.
Three men as suspects in the murder of María Luisa Cedeño, two of them are identified by their last names Herrera Martínez and Miranda Izquierdo; the third is Harry Bodaan, owner of the hotel where the crime took place.
According to Bodaan’s lawyer, José Miguel Villalobos, last week they had access to the results and as part of the process, has request clarification of these examinations.
Tragic vacation
María Luisa Cedeño Quesada, who was head of the Anesthesiology and Recovery Service at Hospital Cima, in Escazú, San José, decided to vacation at this hotel for three days.
According to the information given by the authorities, she arrived at the hotel on Saturday, July 18, and stayed in room number 3. Everything was normal, so much so that the doctor, on Sunday, at 9 pm, went down to reception to ask for a bottle of wine.
That was the last time she was seen alive.
She was to have left the hotel Monday morning (July 20). When she did not come down for check out, hotel staff was sent to the room to check on her. Not getting a response to the knocks on the door, the cleaning staff entered and it was when the body was found. wrapped in a blanket, bloody and with several blows.
Police were called.
On Tuesday, July 21, the first suspect, Herrera Martínez, a well-known San Jose nightclub dancer, was arrested.
Five days later, on July 25, the second suspect, Miranda Izquierdo, was arrested for allegedly participating in the murder.
Both men were ordered to six months preventive detention (remand).
More: The Nerve: hotel where María Luisa Cedeño was murdered asks for money online
The third person to have been arrested in this case is the owner of the hotel. He was arrested mid-August, linked to the crime by some bites that the victim had on her cheek and forearm.
He was ordered under house arrest with an ankle anklet for the next six months.
