By Wendy Anders

A 65-year-old German woman had her home in Quebrada Azul, Tilarán broken into by four masked, armed men on Tuesday evening, said Michael Soto, press spokesperson for the Judicial Investigative Agency (OIJ).

The woman, Cristina Caglass, a legal resident of Costa Rica, was alone in her house at the time. The house is situated on a farm on a road leading from Tilarán to Arenal in this rural, sparsely populated region in Costa Rica’s northwestern Guanacaste province , said Soto.

The men apparently poisoned two of her dogs, reported La Nación, Costa Rica’s main Spanish daily, before breaking into her home at 8:30 p.m. and proceeding to tie her up. She was not found to have any bruises or to have been hit or injured, but was very shaken up by the event, said the OIJ.

The men made off with cash, jewelery, and weapons valuing CRC40 million (around US$72K), said the OIJ.

There were no eyewitnesses nor any security cameras to provide any clues as to the identities of the men or their means of transportation. So far, no suspects have been found relating to the case.

Cristina managed to unbind herself about an hour-and-a-half after the men left her property, and then she notified 9-1-1 of the break-in.

The OIJ office in Cañas, Guanacaste is handling the case.