Jairo Mora murder informant leaves witness protection program

An informant in the investigation of the murder of sea turtle conservationist Jairo Mora has left the witness protection program, Channel 7’s Álvaro Sánchez reported Thursday.

Mora was murdered on May 31 on the Caribbean’s Moín Beach after a night patrolling the beach to save turtle eggs. He was captured along with four foreign women who were volunteers. The women escaped unharmed. Six suspects are currently in preventative detention awaiting trial for the murder.

The informant, known by the pseudonym “El Prieto,” had been a member of the same criminal gang as the murder suspects. He said the detainees had confessed the crime to him and now they want to kill him.

“I know every single one of the members of the gang,” he told Teletica, “One of them told me everything that happened.”

El Prieto said after he was called in for questioning by the Judicial Investigation Police he became an informant and was moved out of the Caribbean for his safety. Though police promised to help him make a new life, the informant said he was only given ₡23,000 a month ($46) for food.

For more details about the murder, see The Tico Times’ in-depth report on the case: Why Jairo died.