Former Wall Street millionaire John Bender was found dead from a gunshot wound to the head in bed in his Costa Rican jungle mansion in the early hours of 8th January 2010. His wife Ann was wrongly convicted of his killing on two separate occasions, though both verdicts were overturned on appeal, and she then faced a third trial for the same crime, according to CBS.
The Benderdome and the Nature Reserve
The couple's residence in Boracayan, a nature reserve they established within a dense Costa Rican rainforest, comprised four storeys and was built entirely to their own specifications. The 50,000 square foot property had no conventional walls, relying solely on screens to keep insects at bay and protect their pet sloth and bird, reports the Daily Star. It also served as the operational base for the park they founded.
The millionaire had relocated just two years into his marriage, and their 2,000-hectare nature reserve was flourishing. The mansion was dubbed The Benderdome by disgruntled locals, according to Becky Milligan, who travelled to Costa Rica to interview virtually everyone involved for the Hell and Heaven podcast. One neighbour said that "a lot of people go kind of crazy."
Mental Health Struggles and Folie à Deux
Behind closed doors, their marriage was deeply troubled. Both had been battling mental health difficulties at the start of that year. Ann's psychiatrist at the time concluded that both she and John were psychotic, diagnosing them with folie à deux, a condition in which two people reinforce one another's mental illness until it becomes untreatable within the community. Ann also suffered from Lyme disease, and John dismissed conventional treatment in favour of injecting her with water drawn from a nearby stream.
John had written emails expressing a desire to die in the weeks beforehand, yet he was shot in the back of the head, while in bed and wearing ear plugs. The initial crime scene photographs were not captured to the same standard as those of American law enforcement and were illuminated solely by the 500 Tiffany lamps Ann had amassed.
Trials and Acquittals
Ann tipped the scales at a shocking 38kg when officers arrived at the crime scene and bore a resemblance to "someone who had just walked out of a concentration camp," as one of her friends recalled. Some of her jewels, valued at nearly £12million, were nowhere to be discovered following her husband's death.
Carol Vaughn, who authored Crazy Jungle Love about the case, said: "First, she was acquitted. Then, she was found guilty on all counts. The third time, she was acquitted again due to lack of evidence, but then immediately the prosecutor put in for a fourth trial." Vaughn, who was the representative for the American embassy, added: "I snuck her a new emergency passport the day she was acquitted. I was sitting right behind her. I slid it under the chair. She put it right next to her heart, and was gone two days later. I mean, she was out of here and she'll never be back. She's lost her money, her property, her jewels, everything. She's wiped out."
Unresolved Mystery
The case continues to baffle investigators. Co-host of the podcast Poppy Damon said: "The reason it hooks people in is because, if you pull a thread, more seem to come out. There were things we just kept chasing, like a mercenary who we planned to meet, and he stood us up." Milligan said: "John is forever fascinating. So is Ann. They tried so hard to create something beautiful, and do something good. What stays with you is how it all went wrong."
Vaughn revealed that the absence of closure continued to trouble her: "That's what's tormented me because I can't honestly say what happened that night, and I've read everything that can be read about it. When I visited Ann in jail, I found a woman so not playing with a full deck of cards that I didn't even ask her, because I don't think she knows. I honestly don't think even she knew what happened that night."
Damon said: "I almost always return to the key things that jump out. Both of them were mentally really unwell, so it was a pressure cooker. I think it's strange that he had a gun. It's also very strange that he had his earplugs in. The details are strange and bizarre." Milligan added: "There are so many details where you can say, 'Oh, this means that, and that means this,' but no, it doesn't. You go backwards and forwards, yo-yoing all over the place. Maybe we will never know. Let's just tell the story and talk about the love, the tragedy and the paradise they tried to create. That is their legacy."
