Q COSTA RICA — A woman identified as Xiomara stated that she received a phone call from a man—who is now the primary suspect in the murder of a mother and her 10-year-old daughter in Liberia, Guanacaste—in which he allegedly asked her to notify the police so they could recover the bodies from the home where the incident took place so they wouldn’t decompose.
This statement was captured by Noticias Trivisión in an interview conducted after the victims were discovered in their home.
According to Xiomara’s account, the conversation took place around 3:00 p.m. “He had already called earlier to ask that the bodies be collected so they wouldn’t decompose, but no one believed him,” she recounted.
According to her, the perpetrator asked her to contact the police—specifically requesting that at least three patrol units be sent—to recover the victims. The suspect insisted that the authorities needed to be notified. “He said that if I didn’t believe him, then he would have to call the Fuerza Pública [national police] himself—but he asked me to do him a huge favor and make the call instead,” she stated.
The man stated that he would not return to the home.
During the conversation, Xiomara asked him where he was. According to her account, the suspect replied that he was no longer at the residence and had gone far away.
She asked if he had left Costa Rica. “I haven’t left the country—I’m still in the country—but I’m very far away, and I’m not going back there,” the individual responded.
Woman and 10-year-old daughter found dead
According to local media, including CRHoy.com, the alleged attacker—identified as Antonio Rafael Valdez Garcia, a Nicaraguan national—attacked Jasmina López and a minor, Valeska Valdez, with a machete before fleeing the scene.
The man being sought is believed to be the woman’s romantic partner and the girl’s father.
The woman and her 10-year-old daughter were found dead on Saturday, October 17, inside a home in the Bella Vista neighborhood, near the “Puente de Lata” (Tin Bridge) in Liberia, Guanacaste province. Both had sustained multiple stab wounds.
In a video, the Director General of the Fuerza Pública, Raúl Rivera Bonilla, announced that an operation is underway “across the entire country with the goal of capturing the assailant and handing him over to the appropriate judicial authorities.”
Costa Rican Red Cross personnel arrived at the scene after receiving a report and confirmed that both victims were already dead. According to information published by Teletica, both had sustained multiple injuries.
History of domestic violence within the family
In the aforementioned interview with Noticias Trivisión, Xiomara stated that the couple had been dealing with a situation of violence for nearly four years.
“They had been living with domestic violence for four years,” she declared.
She noted that people close to the victim were aware of the conflicts in the relationship, though she added that the woman had asked them not to involve the police. “You cannot call the police; this is between us—him and me—no one else should get involved,” he reportedly said.
This account will need to be verified by investigators, who have not yet released an official hypothesis regarding the motive for the attack. It is also unknown whether there were any formal complaints, protection orders, or prior interventions by state institutions concerning potential domestic violence.
Authorities have issued an alert at border crossings in case he attempts to leave Costa Rica.