QCOSTARICA – The owner of the Hotel La Mansión, Harry Bodaan, accused of the femicide of anesthesiologist María Luisa Cedeño in July 2020, was imposed preventive detention (jail), at least until April 22, by order of the Quepos Criminal Court, as confirmed by the lawyers in the case.
Bodaan, 71 years old, one of the three suspects in the murder of Cedeño Quesada, had been under house arrest since August 2020 and the preventive detention was ordered because the suspect changed his address without prior notice to the Court. The new residence of the accused is in La Garita de Alajuela.
“The request was based on the existence of a flight risk, since he changed his address without judicial authorization,” said the Quepos Prosecutor’s Office in a statement.
José Miguel Villalobos, Bodaan’s lawyer, criticized the judges, as he affirms that since November they have been processing the change of address and they have not resolved the request.
Villalobos indicated that his client, who lived in the La Mansion Inn hotel, in Manuel Antonio de Quepos, sold the property and therefore moved to a house in La Garita, Alajuela, has never breached the precautionary measure since 2020 and has only requested permits for medical matters.
“Don Harry (Bodaan) had to move to an address in the Garita on December 15 or 16, by that date the hotel had already been sold and he had to leave there. Since November of last year, both the Quepos Criminal Court and the San Ramón Criminal Court of Appeals had been informed of the address, the telephone number, with whom he is living, and other details in order to be located.
“Since then, permission has been requested for him to go to get vaccinated, to go to medical treatments that they have given him and he has returned to that place, to our surprise yesterday (Wednesday) the Prosecutor’s Office indicates that three weeks ago don Harry no longer lived there in Manuel Antonio and therefore requested that his house arrest be revoked and that he be arrested, it is rather curious because everyone knew where Harry was (…). He never made an escape attempt, he never disrespected the house arrest, he always remained available to all the Courts and Tribunals that heard the case, “explained Villalobos.
Cedeño Quesada, 43, was found dead on July 21, 2020, at the La Mansion Inn hotel. Her body was inside room 21 wrapped in a blanket, bloodied and with several bruises. Bodaan and two other men with the surnames Miranda and Herrera are being prosecuted for this crime.
Read more: María Luisa Cedeño case: Bites on cheek and forearm link hotel owner to murder
That day, Herrera, who was an employee of the lodging, was arrested. At the time of the arrest, police saw scratches on his body, one of several key elements for his capture.
Five days later, Miranda, who was staying at the hotel, was arrested, followed by the arrest of Bodaan, who was linked to some bites that the victim had on the cheek and forearm.
