Birthday Trip To Costa Rica Ends In Murder: What Happened To Carla Stefaniak?

Hello, everyone, and welcome back to another episode of True Crime with Kendall Rae. Thank you so much for joining me today. And if you're new to the show, then welcome. I'm so happy to have you here. And make sure to click subscribe so you never miss an upload from me. Okay, guys, so I'm sure whether or not you personally like to celebrate your birthday, we all know someone who does and, you know, really likes to celebrate their birthday. I must admit, I am one of those people. But I bring that up because in today's case, which is a really heartbreaking one, I'm going to be telling you guys about an amazing woman named Carla Stefaniak. And she was someone who loved celebrating her birthday. And she was so super passionate about traveling. She's honestly living such a dream life, in my opinion. And so for her 36th birthday, she had planned a trip to Costa Rica. However, when the morning of her birthday came, of course, her loved ones all reached out to her and expected to hear from her. And when they didn't, they became extremely worried about her, rightfully so. And the way things unfolded and it being. so close to her birthday is just devastating beyond words. I think Carla's story needs to be told. More people need to hear it for many different reasons. And I also just really want to highlight what a genuinely cool person Carla seemed to be. Obviously, I never got the opportunity to meet her or anything, but just hearing her loved ones, seeing all the pictures of her and living the. seeing the way, I should say, that she lived her life was just, you know, really inspiring to me. And with that, let's go ahead and get into this case. So let me start out by telling you about Carla. She was originally from Venezuela, and she was born on November 28th, 1982. She was the oldest sister to two younger brothers, Carlos and Mario, who seem like wonderful people. And when she was 18 years old, their family immigrated to Tampa, Florida. The rest of her family only ended up staying there for about five years before deciding to go back to Venezuela. But Carla decided to stay. Her brothers say that she. adjusted quickly to living in the United States and that she was very much the type of person to be adventurous and take that risk. And everything seemed to work out really well for her living here in the time that she did and really was going in her favor. From the time that Carla was a kid, she was outgoing. She was charismatic. She was friendly. She just seemed to have a very warm energy about her. You can just tell by looking at pictures of her. I mean, really just radiates off of her. Had such a beautiful smile. And the way that her friends speak about her, you can tell that she was just the light of their lives. And speaking of which, making friends, you know, for someone like that is often very easy. And it was very easy for Carla. She loved to have fun. She loved to be the center of attention. And her network of friends that she built really celebrated those parts of her. Her brother Mario says that when he thinks of Carla, he thinks of love and that she was someone who was genuinely open. Always smiling and happy. And it certainly looks that way from photos. She approached life with a real appreciation for everything that it had to offer. And she took advantage of any opportunity that she could get her hands on, travel especially. Carla loved to explore. And she was very brave with exploring. And that was something that she really did a lot of, which is comforting in a way that she seemed to have lived such a full life in the time that she did have. And at the time, she was living on Hallandale Beach in Florida. But she never passed up on an opportunity to see the world. New York was one of her favorite cities to visit. And I totally get why. I just went to New York for the first time. So cool. I can't believe it took me so long to go. But she planned trips there annually. And she went to places like Spain and Iceland and Cuba. I mean, she really went all over. And what's also really cool about Carla is she was an aspiring travel blogger. She worked in insurance as her day job. But on the side of that, she was also an aspiring travel blogger. She was really working hard to grow her following so that she could eventually do travel blogging full time. And it really seemed to be her dream. Her Instagram profile is public. And I definitely recommend taking a look at it. Her pictures are just so beautiful. And it's cool to see how she documented all of her adventures. And she had almost 10,000 followers. And like I said, I feel like the photos on her Instagram really give you such a great sense of her energy. And they really show you how carefree she was. I know I have a lot of photos of her, but I don't know if you have a lot of audio-only listeners. But if you get the chance, you should look up her Instagram. It's Carla underscore Margarita. And I'll also have it linked in the show notes. Now, this is her last post. And, you know, it definitely is eerie to see someone's last post. But I'm happy that she had such a beautiful last couple days of her life. This photo is her laying by the pool in Costa Rica. It has the caption, I'm going to miss this place. Hashtag I love Costa Rica. Hashtag visit Costa Rica. And she actually posted, several times while she was there, which makes sense. You know, trying to build her travel blogging career. First, a photo on November 22nd at the airport where she looked so excited to be traveling. You can see her standing next to her two suitcases with the caption, rumbo a Costa Rica. She posted again on the 23rd. It's a photo of her sitting on a table looking at a beautiful view with the caption, future resident of Costa Rica. And then there's a post on the 24th where she is standing in her room and that's captioned, imagine if your bedroom had this view. I always love when I get to speak about someone who had such a strong social media presence because I just feel like it kind of helps you get to know them a little bit better and connect with them more. But anyway, as you can see, Carla was a very free spirited person living her life to the fullest. And as I mentioned at the beginning of this episode, she was someone who loved her birthday. And with her 36th birthday coming up in 2018, she wanted to celebrate by taking a trip. And the trip ended up being a six day adventure in Costa Rica with her sister-in-law, April. And what a gorgeous place to celebrate your birthday. I mean, truly, I love Costa Rica myself. Such a beautiful country filled with such wonderful people. And overall, it's considered to mostly be a safe place to travel. And based on her social media, it looked like the start of that vacation was everything that she had hoped for. They explored, they ate good food, they took many Instagram worthy photos for her to post. But on her very last night there, the day before her birthday, Carla's dream vacation turned into a nightmare that no one could have seen coming, especially not her. Now, it all started on November 27th. And that day, her sister-in-law, April, was going to be flying back home. She had a prior commitment going on, and so she needed to leave a day early. But Carla was going to leave the following day, the 28th, which was her birthday. And honestly, from what her friends and family had to say, she was such an independent woman, and she was excited to have the opportunity to have some time by herself to explore. So after she dropped April and their rental car off at the airport, she decided to go on a vacation. And so she went on for a few hours, and then around 5pm, her taxi driver took her to the Airbnb villa that she rented in an area called Escazu. Now, this was an apartment-style Airbnb called Villa Buena Vista, which was supposed to be really nice. Escazu is a very affluent area. It's sometimes even referred to as the Beverly Hills of Costa Rica. So Carla had high expectations. And what was nice about it, too, is it was gated, and it had a security guard, so she didn't have to worry about it. And she didn't have to worry about it. So she didn't have to worry about it. So it felt like there was this extra layer of security. And not that she was the type of person to get afraid easily, but, you know, it's nice to have that peace of mind, for sure. Especially being alone as a woman. So yeah, everything upon her arrival there sounded like it was completely fine. And based on everyone that she spoke to that night, nobody had any reason to be concerned about her. And like I said, she was texting Mario when she got there, and she was also talking to her roommate about dinner plans for the following night when she returned home. And she was also talking to her roommate about dinner plans for the following Since that would be her actual birthday the next day, they were talking about going out to dinner to celebrate once she landed. And Carla's last contact that night with anyone that she knew was with her friend Keith, who lived back in New York. They actually were on FaceTime around 7.20 p.m., and she mentioned that she was debating going out one more time to check out this jazz bar that was close by. But she decided to stay in instead. She told Keith that she was just too tired, plus a huge storm had rolled in. So she said that she was just going to stay in for the night. And apparently, it was a pretty wild storm. Not much freaked Carla out, but when the light started flickering and then eventually the power went out, she texted April that she was feeling pretty uneasy about it. She said, oh my god, it's raining so hard we lost power. She also texted her saying it's pretty sketchy here, and that was in reference to the area outside of the Airbnb. Like I said, though, she did have peace of mind because of the security guard in the gate. Plus, the power did return at some point. Which we know, because she sent a text that it was back on. She said, okay, it's back, and actually sent a picture with the lights on. In that time, she also mentioned to Keith that she was thirsty and rather than go out in the rain and try to get a bottle of water herself, she was just going to ask the security guard if he could get her one instead. And I mean, that's what's so difficult about this case too. She was definitely exercising caution while being alone. While she was FaceTiming Keith, a group text with her friends was blowing up and everyone wanted to know what she was planning to do for her last night in Costa Rica. Her friend Laura said Carla Margarita, any plans for your last night in CR? April said it's birthday celebration time. Another friend Shulu said dinner question mark, dancing question mark. But in the spirit of caution, Carla decided to stay in. Even her dad said that she texted him telling him how safe that she was being throughout the trip, which, you know, is something that any parent wants to hear no matter how old your child is. And honestly, I think the only moment of concern from anyone else was that night around 9 p.m. when she was on FaceTime with Keith and the call cut out. Either her phone died or her connection went out or something, but, you know, that didn't seem like a huge deal in the moment at all. It wasn't until the next day, Carla's birthday, when her friends and family realized that they had a reason to be worried. And it started with the fact that Carla wasn't responding to anyone's birthday wishes. Both of her brothers sent her nice messages and both of them felt confused that she didn't respond. She wasn't posting any messages. She wasn't posting anything on social media. And one of her friends said that, you know, she was that type of person that would always post a birthday selfie or post something on her birthday, and she didn't. And they all thought that was strange. And mind you, she was glued to her phone 24-7. I saw an interview with her friend where she was talking about how her phone was the first thing that she looked at in the morning, the last thing that she looked at before she went to bed, which is, you know, the case for so many of us. And, yeah, it was surprising that she wasn't responding. She wasn't responding to anyone or posting anything, especially with it being her birthday. But her friends and family knew that it was a travel day. So it sounds like they kind of temporarily brushed it off, thinking that she would get back to them once she landed. Maybe she was busy or flustered with the traveling. And speaking of her landing, Carla was scheduled to touch down at 5.30 p.m. that evening. And like I mentioned earlier, the plan was that she was going to go grab dinner with a few friends once she landed to celebrate turning 36. And what was really cute is, a bunch of her friends, as a surprise, were going to go to the airport to pick her up and then all go to dinner. And they were waiting there, but then Carla never showed up. She also wasn't responding to any of their text messages asking where she was, you know, did you make the flight, that kind of stuff. Which, for a few minutes, they thought maybe she just got caught up in customs or something. And, yeah, I'm really talking a few minutes. It didn't take long until they started panicking because they learned that she never actually boarded. So that's when her friends decided to contact her family to see if maybe they had any information, maybe they had heard from her, but they were all just as confused. And because of that, a group text with about 60 people was started, which, first of all, just tells you how loved and cared for she was. But everyone in this group started to take on different roles to see if they could figure out what was going on. I mean, they really jumped into action. Some groups were tasked with contacting the authorities, while others were on social media duty and contacting the authorities. April, for example, was in charge of reaching out to the Airbnb host to see if he could maybe give them any information. And he told her that he would speak with the security guard and then get back to her. Meanwhile, Carla's family worked on contacting local Costa Rican authorities. And the issue with that is, this is always so frustrating, but their concerns were not taken seriously. They were told the same, you have to wait 48 hours bullshit that we hear so often in these cases. They were even told that a lot of people come, you know, to Costa Rica, tourists, and they drink. And sometimes people will go missing when they're drinking or, you know, relaxing on a vacation, and it's just for a few days, but they always show back up. So it was all super dismissive and super unhelpful. But thankfully, her loved ones did not accept that as an answer. They conveyed the seriousness of this all, and eventually the local authorities did decide to send a patrol car over to the villa, who found no trace that she had been there. No Carla, no luggage, nothing. And just like the host said that he would speak with the security guard, the patrol officer said that they would speak to him as well. And as her friends and family are waiting to hear back, they continued with their own efforts. They knew that there was huge power in using social media to spread the word, so that's exactly what they did. For starters, a big group of people started posting online with the hashtag Find Carla, as well as posting a missing persons poster. And within a day, her face and story hit local news outlets. Also, in that first day, her family was able to get a hold of some of her phone records, and through that, they were able to see the last person in Costa Rica that she had contact with, and that was the taxi driver who had taken her around San Jose on the 27th. And when they got in contact with this guy, he told them that Carla had actually scheduled a ride with him to the airport on the 28th. He was supposed to pick her up at 8.30 in the morning, and when he got there, she was nowhere to be found. Now, I think if any of us were in her family's shoes, we would be pretty suspicious of that. I think in their minds, since he was likely the last person to have physically seen her, they thought it was possible. that he may be involved in her disappearance. But it wasn't long after learning that, that they got a new piece of information that made them question everything. And that was information that came from the security guard. According to him, Carla got in a different taxi driver's car and headed for the airport around 5.10 in the morning. The issue with that, though, is everyone knew her flight wasn't until that afternoon. Now, considering how much travel she had done in the past, and the fact that she wasn't a morning person, nobody could understand why she would have gone to the airport that early in the morning. It just made no sense, especially knowing that that other driver was scheduled to pick her up only a few hours later. So they're just feeling really confused. I mean, none of this is adding up. So her brother Carlos and his friend Greg actually decided to just go ahead and fly out to Costa Rica themselves. Being from Venezuela, her brothers have said that they know that different parts of the world can be more dangerous. And they said that, you know, they're very familiar with that, because Venezuela, in their words, can be a very dangerous place. And even though Costa Rica, like I said earlier, is considered to be pretty safe, there was a level two travel advisory for people to exercise increased caution during this time. And so they wanted to go ahead, go down there, see where she was staying and talk to the people that she last came in contact with for themselves. And so that's what they did. They flew down there a few days after she went missing. And one of the first things they did was go to the airport, and they met the security guard. And he seemed really cooperative. He shook their hands. He took them into the unit so that they could take a look around themselves and see if anything looked, you know, out of the ordinary to them, if anything stood out. But nothing did. And like I said earlier, all of her luggage was gone. And there didn't seem to be any signs of a struggle, which is what the authorities determined as well. And law enforcement had also spoken to some of the other staff on the property and said, you know, nobody remembered finding anything to explain where she was or what may have happened to her. The only tip that they could really, you know, work off of was the security guard's story about the taxi. So that meant trying to track down whoever this driver supposedly was. Now, meanwhile, Carla's friends and family, her supporters were all continuing with their online efforts. They had been emailing the governor's office, their local FBI field office, as well as Senator Marco Rubio for support. And, you know, on December 2nd, one of their wishes came true. As we know, they had already gotten some of Carla's phone records from her phone provider, but now they had access to more information. They learned that after her phone died around 9 p.m. on the 27th, it remained off for several hours. And it only reconnected to the internet once more around 12, 17 a.m., but then it shut off for good. They also learned that her phone never appeared to leave the property, which was huge because, if her phone was there, surely Carla had to be somewhere close by, right? And that's what authorities soon realized. After digging into this 5 a.m. taxi theory, they realized that it could not have been true. There weren't any cameras on the property or anything, but I guess they were still able to figure out that she never got into anyone's car, which means that the security guard was lying all along. However, of course, proof was needed to back that up, and obviously the proof that they were going to be looking for was Carla's body. Her loved ones were really, really hopeful that she would be found alive, but unfortunately, that was not the case. On December 3rd, 2018, just five days after going missing, the media pressure from her family reached the U.S. Embassy, which shows you how important it is to, you know, create that online buzz. But they then put pressure on the Costa Rican government, and that day, Costa Rican officials utilized the help of scent tracking And they managed to find Carla's remains only a few hundred yards away from her Airbnb. And this is horrible, but she was found severely decomposed, wrapped in plastic. And nearby, they located her phone, her passport, her laptop, and one of her suitcases. And those same dogs also alerted to the presence of blood in the Airbnb. And chemical testing confirmed that a violent attack had occurred there. And they determined that the reason the room first appeared to be clean was because someone attempted to sanitize the place with bleach and vinegar. And based on the autopsy, they determined that her murder was sexual in nature and that she likely fought her attacker. She had two broken vertebrae, blunt force trauma to her head. And stab wounds all over. It's hard to even come up with the words to really emphasize how horrible this must have been for her. I mean, to think about how horrific the end of her life probably was is just terrifying and devastating. Carla seemed to really be someone who saw the good in people, that she was trusting to some degree, you know? And to have someone take her. Her life in such an inhumane way when all she wanted was a bottle of water is just. It makes me feel sick. And God, her poor family and their friends, the interviews of them speaking about it all are just so devastating, especially interviews with her brother just tore me up. I mean, the pain that this has caused all of them. It's horrible. They really were holding on to hope. And their hearts were. Shattered when they found out what actually happened to her. On the day that she was found, her brother was told to just wait in his hotel room, which had to have been agonizing. And what's really upsetting, too, is the fact that when he made two attempts to go identify her body, both times he was turned away. And I don't really get why, seeing as they did need a family member to make that identification, but they did obviously end up confirming that it was her. Thankfully, though, authorities wasted no time in arresting her. The security guard was a guy named Bismarck Espinoza Martinez, and it turns out that he had been living and working in Costa Rica illegally. He was originally from Nicaragua, and part of why they arrested him so fast was because they were worried he was a flight risk. That being said, I don't think anyone had doubt that he was the one responsible. Based on Carla's FaceTime with Keith, they were certain that Bismarck was the last person that she had spoke to. Based on Carla's FaceTime with Keith, they were certain that Bismarck was the last person that she had spoken to. Because he was the one that she was going to go ask for a bottle of water from. Plus, he had access to the cleaning supply closet, and that contained all of the materials that he would need to have cleaned up all the evidence. And DNA did eventually confirm his guilt. What shocked me, though, is that Bismarck might not have acted alone. This is not confirmed, but Carla's loved ones believe that three or four other people, may have been involved. In a Facebook post, her family quoted a Costa Rican news article, which reads, According to sources close to the page, the results of the forensic examinations led investigators to believe that more people are involved in her murder. In fact, The doubt extends to that there may have been up to three or four possible people involved. Authorities are not revealing much. This conclusion is based on the forensic analysis of the body. And if you think about it, it is hard to believe that one person could have done all of that by themselves. Carla was not only killed, but she was moved, concealed, and the Airbnb was cleaned exceptionally well all in one single night. Plus, there were no signs of drag marks, so she had to have been carried out of there. And it's hard to believe that Carla was not only killed, but she was moved, concealed, and the Airbnb was cleaned exceptionally well all in one single night. And it seems like there's a very low possibility that Bismarck could have done this alone. But he was the only person that they arrested and charged. And don't even get me started on the sorry excuse for a trial he was given. Even though this man violently assaulted and murdered Carla, a three-panel judge found him guilty of simple homicide, which I had never heard of. It's the Costa Rican equivalent of second-degree murder in the United States. The max sentence for that charge would have been 18 years, but they only gave him 16. I know, I'm sure a lot of you just had your jaws fucking drop, because that is just so offensive, so unbelievable. I cannot believe that this was the outcome of this trial. And just wait till you hear the reasoning why they considered this to be simple homicide. They said that the circumstances, quote, weren't gruesome enough. To qualify for the Costa Rican equivalent of first-degree, which is just actual insanity to me. In Costa Rica, first-degree murder depends on whether the prosecution can prove certain legally defined aggravating circumstances. This includes things like premeditation, killing for payment, killing by means considered especially treacherous. And if these things cannot be proven beyond a reasonable doubt, first-degree murder isn't even on the table. Just mind-blowing. I mean, wow. And obviously, her family's attorney is filing an appeal on their behalf, and they've also sued Airbnb as well as the owners of the villa she rented because they believe that her murder was preventable. Specifically, they argued that they failed to vet the staff associated with the property. Definitely agree with that. And that the negative reviews on the villa were hidden, which would have prevented Carla from booking it if they weren't. Now, I'm not sure. I'm not sure what the outcome of this lawsuit was or if they've even reached it yet, but I do know that Bismarck was ordered to pay their family about $53,000 in compensation, although no amount of money will ever make up for this, will ever bring her back. Her family has described the outcome of all of this as sickening, and I cannot think of a better word myself. It is absolutely sickening. It is sick beyond words that her killer was only given, 16 years. Just, I cannot believe that. And not only will he one day be free and walk this earth as a danger to society, but Carla will never get that chance ever again. I mean, that is over for her, and he gets to just 16 years? What? I mean, I was so shocked hearing this, especially because the way that he did this and how gruesome it all, was, I mean, oh my God. And it also just disgusts me and gives me absolute chills that he was able to interact with Carlos in Costa Rica. The fact that any person could murder another human being and then days later act totally normal like it never happened to shake the hand of their brother, that is a level of evil I will never understand. This whole case, just makes me so heated and honestly terrifies me. It's just hard to even put into words how infuriating and sick the outcome of all of this actually is. Now, in the end, Carla's remains had to be cremated in order to be brought back to the United States. And this was not her family's first choice, but due to her advanced state of decomposition and the fact that it made transportation easier, the cremation was performed. And I did want to talk about, the celebration of life that her family put together for her. I think this is exactly what she would have wanted and a very beautiful way to celebrate her life. Her loved ones gathered at the beach to spread her ashes. I mean, she loved the ocean. This seemed like the best place to honor her. And her dad says that he will always remember how much joy she brought to their family and how she filled every room with laughter. Her brother Mario has said that even for the people who didn't know her, he believes everyone can see something special in herself, a smile. And before I even saw that he had stated that, that's exactly how I felt about her smile. You can just see the liveliness in her, the kindness in her. She just, she was stunning. And her smile, yeah, it just warms you by looking at her. It makes you want to smile. Now, I think Carla's case is so important to talk about because it certainly highlights the vulnerabilities that women face all the time. But especially when you travel, especially when you travel alone, which is horrible. I wish so badly that that wasn't the case because it is such a freeing experience to do things and adventure on your own. It's so frustrating too that Carla really was doing this safely. I mean, she was doing everything right on her trip and was being as safe as she could, being as cautious as she could. And it was the last day. She was like, she was only by herself for that one day. And I just hate that someone can do everything right and still be met with such violence. I wish there was a solution. I wish I could, you know, give advice to other people. other women that would guarantee safety. But unfortunately, being a woman and being a person in this world is just dangerous. There's so many dangerous people out there and so many terrifying monsters walking among us. And I think if we can take anything from Carla's case, even though, like I said, she really did do everything right, it's just remembering how important it is to take those safety precautions, like any extra safety precautions that you can think of when especially traveling alone. And even though she did all of that, it wasn't enough to save her life. But that reminder of what she went through and her story could be enough to save someone else's. So it's still worth telling. And it's just so depressing, honestly, that the responsibility has to be on ourselves to keep out. of harm. But that is the world that we live in, especially as women. I mean, you guys know the statistics around murders, and most of the time, it is women at the hands of a man. So it's just God, it's so heavy. Cases like this are just so difficult to talk about. But like I said, so important as well. And also just because I wanted to share what a genuinely cool person Carla was. person she was. And, you know, I feel that her family and her deserve for more people to know her story and to know that she was so much more than what happened to her. That is going to be it for me today, you guys. Definitely want to hear your thoughts on this one, especially the outcome of this trial. My God, it's so fucking insane. But anyway, before I keep going ranting about that, I'm going to wrap up today's episode, but I will be back next week. Next week, of course, to discuss another case. But until then, stay safe out there.