Remaining murder victims discovered in clandestine mass grave identified

November 6^th, 2015 (ICR News) Costa Rica’s Judicial Investigative Police (OIJ) have managed to identify all three of the murder victims discovered in a clandestine mass grave on Sunday, the OIJ announced on Thursday.

One of the victims, a 40-year-old married father of four was identified earlier this week as Roy Alexis Acuña Loría.  Acuña reportedly worked as a driver for a tourism company specializing in “day tours” for mostly North American tourists to and from Nicaragua.

The OIJ on Thursday identified the remaining two victims as 42-year-old Kenneth Cruz Montiel, a Nicaraguan national, and a 17-year-old minor identified by the last name Potosme.

Cruz had a criminal history including charges of human trafficking, drug trafficking, fraud, theft, and receiving stolen property.

The 17-year-old minor had no criminal history, according to the OIJ.

According to the OIJ, all three victims knew each other and had met sometime in 2013 when Acuña was attempting to open a hotel in Peñas Blancas, on the northern border with Nicaragua.

The OIJ said it suspects the three victims had connections with a criminal group.

Authorities believe that all three men were killed execution style at the scene, and that the 6-feet deep grave had actually been dug and prepared at least one day prior.

Some 30 9mm bullet casings were recovered from the scene.  All of the victims had been shot multiple times in the head and chest.

Lime or caustic soda had also been added to the grave to accelerate decomposition of the remains, according to forensic investigators.  Authorities believe that the victims had been killed only 18 to 30 hours prior to the discovery on Sunday.