Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Nicaragua: Gay US citizen murdered, authorities suspect 'crime of passion'

Nicaragua's El Nuevo Diario reported on Saturday that 45 year-old Jackson Briceño, a former US resident who had moved to the Central American country two years ago "to enjoy his savings, after a life of work in the United States", died on the way to a hospital after being found at home with five stab wounds ("When love kills", Dec. 13, 2008).

Authorities interviewed a 16 year-old nicknamed "La Chilo" who neighbors identified as the Briceño's partner but released him and said that he had not been at Briceño's residence on the night of the attack. The teenager, who lives in a poor rural area 15 miles away from Briceño's residence, was said to have been dating the man for eight months, often staying overnight.

“There was blood on the pillows, on the bed's mattress and all over the floor in the house," said an anonymous witness, "the scene was horrible, since it looked as if they had spilled red paint everywhere. When we were able to see that the man was being taken out by firemen and the police, we saw that he had wounds and blood all over his body."

The forensic unit has revealed that a bloody knife was recovered near Briceño's home and that they also found strands of hair belonging to a man at the scene of the crime and have ruled out that a woman might have committed the crime. The police is investigating the killing as a possible "crime of passion." The first, they say, that they have seen between individuals of the same gender in more than eight years.

"Whoever killed him tried to make sure that he wouldn't be left alive," said Sergio Cano, the forensics expert.

Nueva Ya reports that Briceño operated a foreign currency exchange business.

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