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An American's Kafkaesque Encounter With Nicaragua's Justice System
Eric Volz was convicted of the murder of his ex-girlfriend after a three-day trial in which an alibi and the lack of physical evidence were disregarded.
(Courtesy Of Volz Family)
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Upon hearing the news, readers of El Nuevo Diario celebrated.
"Kill that gringo," one reader wrote in a posting on the paper's Web site. "Hopefully he'll be raped in La Modelo."
A fluent Spanish speaker, Volz had moved to this funky hamlet of seaside restaurants and Internet cafes in 2005. He surfed. He sold real estate for Century 21. And he dated Jiménez, a lithe, black-haired beauty who owned a small store called Sol Fashion.
Though the relationship ended amicably six months before Jiménez's death, Volz said the two remained close. He moved last year to Managua to start a glossy magazine about ecology and sustainable development.
Then on Nov. 21, Jiménez was slain in her store, between 11 a.m. and noon. Volz said that he was alerted by one of Jiménez's friends about 2:45 p.m. and that he then rented a car from Hertz and drove to San Juan del Sur. Two days later, after serving as one of four pallbearers at Jiménez's funeral, he was arrested.
Later, Jiménez's relatives told police and reporters that they had never trusted Volz and that he had an obsession with her that hinted at darker motives.
"She told me one day she couldn't put up with him anymore," said Genoveva Árias, 31, Jiménez's sister. "I said, 'Why don't you break up?' She said, 'I've tried. He doesn't listen.' "
Jiménez's mother went further. "She told me, 'What happens is Eric is very jealous and tries to control me,' " she recounted. " 'And I'm afraid, Mama, that Eric will kill me.' "
The nature of the relationship he had with Jiménez became a major point of contention in court, where Volz's manner -- considered by Nicaraguans to be brusque, even disrespectful -- cost him points with the judge, Ivette Toruño.
When he spoke to the court about Jiménez -- against the judge's advice -- he sounded casual and cold. "She loved me a lot," Volz told the judge. "She had fallen for me more than I had fallen for her."
The defense, meanwhile, failed to deflect prosecution evidence. The prosecution showed a photograph of scratch marks on Volz's back; Volz said they were caused by the weight of Jiménez's coffin. Toruño scoffed.
"Carrying a coffin would never -- but never -- leave those scratch marks on anyone," Toruño said in court.
