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An update on the case of missing Canadian businessman Ryan Craig Piercy Bate was recently reported by a daily tabloid. As reported by Manuel Estrada of Diario Extra, Mr. Piercy’s family has made a payment 136 million colones (more than $250,000) to the alleged kidnappers. This payment was allegedly made in exchange for proof of life, and could signal an upcoming release of Mr. Piercy.

As previously reported by The Costa Rica Star, an investigation on the disappearance of Mr. Piercy began on Wednesday, January 21^st:

Canadian businessman Ryan Craig Piercy is believed to have been taken hostage by captors demanding 272 million colones as ransom payment, which is more than $500K in today’s currency exchange rate.

The 46-year old Mr. Piercy received a mysterious phone call at noon on the day before his disappearance was reported to the police. He drove his Nissan Tiida somewhere outside of San Jose; said vehicle was found abandoned in a coffee farm just outside of Santo Domingo in Heredia.

The proof of life reported by Diario Extra seems to be a video of Mr. Piercy, who allegedly speaks to the camera and expresses his well-being. He was reportedly sitting down and wearing casual attire. His beard was reported to have grown significantly in the last couple of weeks, and the background of the video is generally dark. Still, reports Diario Extra, detectives from the Office of Judicial Investigations (Spanish initals: OIJ) believe that the video may have been produced before Mr. Piercy’s disappearance, and that the site appears to be somewhere in the Caribbean region of Costa Rica.

If the alleged payment in exchange of proof of life was in fact made, it would correspond to approximately 50 percent of the ransom demand. Our previous report on this situation indicated that the kidnappers demanded about $500K to be paid in Bitcoin, which is a very volatile digital currency that is not not as anonymous as many believe. The use of Bitcoin is not widespread in Costa Rica; its complex encryption system makes it anonymous only to a certain extent. Anyone with a modern Internet browser can track the chain of transfers and payments of Bitcoin, which could help law enforcement agents, which in this case include also Canadian authorities, to eventually locate the hostage takers or accomplices.

Just a couple of days following the disappearance of Mr. Piercy, national newspaper La Nacion interviewed Mario Segura, Director of the OIJ, about situations of missing persons in Costa Rica whose cases have turned cold. Director Segura explained that Mr. Piercy’s case was suspicious and atypical, and thus his police agency is highly interested in it:

“There is always some other crime behind it. This is a case in which a person disappears in a suspicious manner and then we never learn anything again about their whereabouts.”

Furthermore, the latest report from Diario Extra cites information provided by unofficial sources about a potential hostage release, which may take place near the Zurqui tunnel, which is located in the Coronado canton and connects vehicular traffic from San Jose to Limon. Additional information reported by Diario Extra on the case seems to suggest that the kidnappers are foreigners, but no supporting explanation was provided in this regard.