The main suspect in the killing of American Marc Walter Fleming in Playas del Coco remains at large more than three weeks after his death, as new details emerge about what security cameras recorded inside his building. According to investigation details reported Monday, a camera captured Fleming’s cries for help from his apartment during the attack.
Agents of the Judicial Investigation Agency (OIJ) have identified the suspect as a 22-year-old woman with the last name Ortiz. Investigators believe she struck Fleming with the glass jar of a blender. Agents did not find her when they raided an address in La Capri de Desamparados, south of San José, on Oct. 16.
Footage from the building’s cameras shows a young woman matching her description in the hallway outside the sixth-floor apartment, appearing agitated and holding a phone, according to the investigation. She then took the elevator and left the building alone on foot. Fleming, a U.S. citizen from California, was found with multiple head injuries on Sept. 27 in his apartment in the Sardinal district of Carrillo, Guanacaste. He had bought the apartment in March.
A second woman, identified by her last name Zeledón, was arrested Oct. 16 in San Miguel de Desamparados. Investigators suspect she picked Ortiz up after the killing and that both women later used the victim’s bank cards at several businesses. The Liberia Criminal Court has ordered Zeledón held in preventive detention for three months while the investigation continues, according to details reported Monday. Neither woman has been convicted, and the Prosecutor’s Office has not announced formal charges.
The purchases gave investigators their first solid leads. Fleming’s cards were allegedly used at supermarkets in Playas del Coco and Brasilito, at a hotel in Flamingo and at a store in Abangares, tracing a route toward San José, as credit card records offered new leads in mid-October. The OIJ released a photo of Ortiz on Oct. 16 and asked the public for help. The case has since drawn coverage from media outlets in the United States and Britain.
Anyone with information about Ortiz’s whereabouts can call the OIJ’s confidential line at 800-8000-645.
