His method of operation was laughably simple but effective: William Dathan Holbert, a North Carolina native living in Panama, made a habit of befriending affluent fellow Americans far from home.
Then he killed them for their possessions and buried the corpses in his backyard in Boca del Toro, western Panama, a tropical archipelago of turquoise seas, white-sand beaches and sea-front houses on stilts.
Mr. Holbert, a body-building white supremacist and Hitler fan, and his wife, Laura Michelle Reese, repeated this formula several times before local authorities were alerted to the disappearance of seven gringos.
Two wealthy Panamanians were also reported to be among their victims.
Their career of crime came to an end last week when investigators discovered the bodies of Cheryl Hughes, 53, from St. Louis, and Bo Icelar, former owner of a gallery in Santa Fe, N.M., buried in the grounds of a hostel she once owned.
Ms. Hughes had not been seen since March, Mr. Icelar since November. In both cases, Mr. Holbert, who was known to neighbours as "Wild Bill," claimed he had bought their property in Panama.
Angel Calderon, an assistant prosecutor, said the man had confessed to killing seven people. He posed as a potential investor and wormed into their confidence before gunning them down.
"He explained what he did, how he did it and why he did it," Mr. Calderon told The Associated Press.
They were not the first victims. Three years earlier, it is alleged Mr. Holbert murdered Mike Brown, an American, his wife and small son. Mr. Brown, who was wanted in the United States on drug charges, was living under an assumed name — nobody was likely to report him missing.
Police in neighbouring Nicaragua caught up with them on Monday as they tried to enter the country illegally from Costa Rica. They were travelling as William Cortez Reese, a Dutch citizen, and Jane or Jeane Cortez, their usual aliases in Central America.
Ariel Barria, a spokesman for Panama’s police, said the fugitive was cooperative.
"He appeared very friendly, like a film artist who is greeting his fans," he told the British newspaper The Guardian.
In contrast, Ms. Reese has refused to talk without a lawyer. It is not clear what role, if any, she played in the murders.
Back home in North Carolina, the only surprise is that Mr. Holbert, an alleged fraudster wanted in at least six states, felt the need to kill.
Marie Hoover, who employed him to manage a fitness centre she owned, said he stole US$25,000 by writing unauthorized cheques and forging her signature.
"You know that HBO show The Sopranos?" she told the Citizen-Times in Asheville, N.C. "He wanted to be Tony Soprano for a while – he’s got that mindset."
awordsworth@nationalpost.com
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