Q COSTA RICA — In the early hours of Saturday, July 4, 2026, the canton of La Cruz, in Guanacaste, Costa Rica, located in the far northwest of Costa Rica, right on the border with Nicaragua, became the scene of a violent crime that has shocked the public and raised serious concerns about security in the region.
Gabriela de los Ángeles Sanarrusia Chavarría, a well-known 28-year-old Costa Rican content creator and influencer, was shot and killed along with her partner, Jorge Isaac Agüero Corea, 30.
The attack occurred while they were sleeping in a house located in an area with a history of serious crimes. According to preliminary reports, the crime was carried out with an alarming level of planning and violence when several heavily armed men forcibly entered the property and went directly to the couple’s bedroom.
Without saying a word, the attackers opened fire indiscriminately and viciously, inflicting multiple gunshot wounds that caused their immediate deaths at the scene. After the shooting, the gunmen quickly escaped, taking advantage of the darkness of the early morning.
OIJ hypothesis and the money trail on social media
The Organismo de Investigación Judicial (OIJ) immediately took over the scene to collect evidence and begin the corresponding investigation.
Due to the extreme violence of the attack and the way it was carried out, the main hypothesis being considered by Costa Rican judicial authorities is that of revenge or a settling of scores.
However, investigators are not ruling out other lines of inquiry, including the possibility that Sanarrusia was deliberately silenced for having been a key witness in other violent incidents in the area. As of the most recent reports, the judicial police have not made any arrests related to this double homicide.
Meanwhile, law enforcement agents have focused their attention on the digital activity of the content creator, who had amassed over 100,000 followers on social media and whose last post was registered just one day before the fatal assault.
The investigation seeks to delve deeper into the lifestyle that Sanarrusia regularly displayed on her platforms. The OIJ (Judicial Investigation Agency) is meticulously analyzing the origin of these financial resources to determine if there was any connection to or funding from criminal organizations dedicated to drug trafficking operating in the province of Guanacaste.
For authorities, Gabriela’s tragic end is not an isolated incident, but rather the culmination of an extremely violent environment in which the young woman had been immersed for the past few years.
According to police records, the influencer had already miraculously survived several attacks and shared connections with people murdered in similar circumstances.
The first major blow to her life occurred on April 30, 2024, when her ex-partner and the father of her daughter, a man named Juan Carlos Cruz, was gunned down in a triple homicide perpetrated in the very same neighborhood where she would lose her life two years later.
Subsequently, on July 28, 2025, Sanarrusia survived a shooting in the street in the town of Liberia. On that occasion, gunmen on a motorcycle opened fire on the group she was with, killing another woman who was with her, while she escaped unharmed.
The danger escalated even further on May 12, 2026, just weeks before her death. Sanarrusia was traveling in a vehicle that was intercepted and riddled with bullets at least 30 times.
Although a man who was with her died in the car from the gunfire, the influencer once again emerged completely unharmed, an event that increased police suspicions that she was a priority target for criminal groups in the area.
Beyond the police and judicial ramifications, the crime leaves a deep scar of family and community grief.
Gabriela was the mother of a nine-year-old girl.
After the couple’s deaths were confirmed, the Patronato Nacional de la Infancia (PANI)—National Children’s Welfare Board – intervened immediately to ensure the child’s safety. The public institution reported that, following the corresponding risk and environmental assessments, the girl was formally placed under the care and protection of her maternal relatives.
The content creator’s remains were laid to rest yesterday, July 7, 2026, in the community of Santa Cecilia de La Cruz, amidst expressions of grief from family and neighbors.