Walter Espinoza, Director of the Judiciary Investigative Police (OIJ), offered a press conference this Monday morning with regards to the progress made in the case of the murder of a Spanish tourist last August 4th in Tortuguero, Pococí, Limón.

On August 5th, OIJ arrested a man of Nicaraguan nationality who is in the country illegally as the main suspect in this murder; the man identified as Albin Diaz, was, however, released by the Criminal Court of Pococí (decision that was appealed) to the Custody of the General Directorate of Migration due to lack of enough evidence.

Espinoza had stated back then that authorities were awaiting the technical and scientific evidence which depended on laboratory results of biological fluids and tissue that will help confirm or rule out Diaz as the author of the crime; the Director of OIJ also mentioned that they were doing everything in their power to get the results as soon as possible since they had to present additional evidence before the suspect’s deportation process is completed which is a maximum of 30 days.

According to Espinoza, not all evidence has been processed yet, but they were able to compare already the DNA of the saliva found on the victims’ breasts to the DNA sample gathered from the suspect and both samples are a match.

“This means, that without any doubt, the suspect had contact with the body of the woman killed. I refer more precisely to the man identified as Albin Diaz”, commented Espinoza.

“In addition to this, we were able to gather evidence of tissue from under the victims’ nails, which is usual in cases were the victim has tried to defend herself/himself from an attack; we also found evidence of scratches on the suspect; the DNA of the tissue samples also coincide without a doubt with the suspect”.

Espinoza also mentioned that there are still other samples that require analysis and that will be concluded in the next days. The investigation continues, but the evidence gathered at the scene along with the lab results obtained so far are very conclusive.

“In fact as a courtesy and to ensure the transparency of the process, we will meet today with police officers from Spain that came to the country and need information on this case”, concluded Espinoza.