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Where to next? Goodbye. Goodbye. Hello! We are very excited today because we just released our newest limited series from our partners over at Blanchard House, and it's called Hell in Heaven.
00:02:15
It's a true crime story about a rich American couple who escaped to the Costa Rican jungle to build their dream home, complete with armed guards and a bedroom lit by 400 Tiffany lamps.
00:02:26
But their dream turns into a nightmare as isolation and paranoia leads to a mysterious death.
00:02:31
And we're lucky to be talking to the award-winning investigative journalist who tracked this story down.
00:02:36
You know her from her 2024 podcast right here on Exactly Right, The Butterfly King. It is Becky Milligan.
00:02:42
Hello, Becky. Hi. Hi, Georgia. Hi, Karen. Really nice to be here. Great to see you again. We haven't seen you since the Butterfly King premiere.
00:02:52
I know, a bit of time away, but, you know, I've been working away, been off to Costa Rica and doing this story, which has been amazing.
00:03:01
How did you find this story originally? Well, it was actually a while back and I was sort of reading through a few stories
00:03:08
and then a friend actually said, did you hear about this story? I read it and I thought you might be interested.
00:03:14
And then we found much more detail about it. And then we found a book and we just thought, oh, this is just incredible.
00:03:21
It just has everything. And we thought we'd pursue it then and just see what we could do with it.
00:03:27
Yeah. It's so dramatic when you make the trek to the actual compound, essentially, in Costa Rica.
00:03:33
And there are security guards and they're filming you. Was there ever a point where you were afraid for your lives?
00:03:39
Well, I was a bit of a scaredy cat. Same. Same. Yeah. When I see guns, I just think, let's get out of here.
00:03:48
But I was obviously with Poppy Damon, the producer, and our sound recordist, Dan,
00:03:54
and they were really busy sort of chatting and just seeing what was going on. And I was the one who was suddenly saying,
00:04:00
listen, guys, there's a guy with a gun. It's actually pointed towards it. We've got to get out of here.
00:04:05
So yeah, there were times when I get a bit frightened. I don't think it was actually threatening,
00:04:11
but it is a bit scary when you see that. Yeah, that's so intense. I love that you're saying you're a bit of a scaredy cat, except for that you're an investigative journalist. What a contradiction.
00:04:22
Well, not really. I never want to go to really scary places, but I just sort of end up being there.
00:04:28
But anyway, I try and avoid it. But this was an amazing jungle. I mean, you know, our couple wanted to escape
00:04:34
all the sort of people and sounds of the city and set up a sort of utopia of paradise with wildlife.
00:04:41
But I tell you what, being there in the jungle, it is so noisy. And you'll hear it in the show, these howler monkeys.
00:04:49
I'm sure you know them, but they were new to me. And it's like through the jungle howling like a dinosaur.
00:04:55
It was just so incredible to be there and see their incredible house. How much do you think that either the house, the compound or the jungle itself, how much of a role do you think that played in the story?
00:05:09
Do you think their story would have played out the way it did had they not, you know, had the circumstances that they did?
00:05:15
I think the house is really important because it's kind of central to the story.
00:05:19
When we got there and we got through the jungle and, you know, eventually found this hilltop with what looked like a spaceship on top of it, you know, four stories, it just felt so symbolic and symbolic of the story.
00:05:32
And the way they built it, the way that they wanted the animals to interact with the house and the jungle around it and bring it back to its natural state.
00:05:41
It feels as though nature sort of played its part, as did the house, almost how they were almost in conflict, but not.
00:05:49
So I think the fact that the house was isolated on a hill there were these wonderful couple in lots of ways who wanted to create something beautiful I think the house really played a part in it It was sort of just both beautiful but also isolated and a bit of a threat
00:06:09
There's so many good interviews in this podcast. I really love that. There's people really bringing color to the story and real perspectives,
00:06:17
like people that were there trying to explain this kind of outrageous and outlandish true crime story.
00:06:23
How do you find people like that? Is that just you tracking people down? Do you ever do it in the moment, like when you're on scene?
00:06:31
Oh, all the time. You know, what was really special about this is you can set up interviews and read loads and all of that and write something and do a few interviews online or whatever.
00:06:42
But when you go somewhere and you're actually sitting down with people, they tell you about, hey, have you spoken to Joe down there or so and so over there?
00:06:52
They have a story to tell. And we found that all the time. It just whatever you fix up, serendipity steps in when you're on the ground.
00:07:02
And it's great because you feel like you're doing the proper job because you're actually just knocking on doors and saying, hey, what about this?
00:07:10
What about that? And we did with the characters. were just so much fun to meet. And obviously there were gaps that people had
00:07:17
in the knowledge of the story. And so they filled it with gossip and with their own theories.
00:07:23
And it kind of almost drifts on the air as you're going through the jungle. So yes, absolutely.
00:07:28
And you do, you just stop people in the street. They sort of know the story. So you quickly chat to them and see whether they know enough
00:07:35
to be able to add to the story. It's amazing, really. Yeah, wow. So ultimately, this is a true crime story.
00:07:42
It's a mysterious death. What do you think it is about those stories, like The Butterfly King as well, that draws you, Becky, to those stories?
00:07:51
Well, for me personally, it's the idea there may be a little mystery. The idea that there are people who are involved in it who are able to tell you what really happened.
00:08:02
And underneath it all, the real story, there's a human story. And there's this sort of bigger theme that when you think about John and Anne,
00:08:12
it was their desire to find peace, to find a utopia. And they did this together to get away from people
00:08:18
and searching for a place where they could exist with nature. And so I think it just makes you think about we all want that.
00:08:28
You know, we're all there with them. And it turned into a dreadful tragedy. But there's something that we can all connect with,
00:08:35
with every single person we speak to. I hope. But also just to what really brought it down to earth. I don't want to say exactly
00:08:42
who we spoke to, but not to give too much away, but we did meet the parents of one of the couple
00:08:49
and what it did, it just brings you straight down to earth at that point. Because it is terrible,
00:08:54
terrible grief and a grief that isn't over and it never will be. And I think that, you know,
00:08:59
seeing that couple hold their hands, reach for each other's hands under the table to grip on for
00:09:06
dear life when they're talking about the story, it makes you really realize that this is a very
00:09:12
human story. And I hope told with sensitivity and respect for all their family and friends.
00:09:19
Well, I'm sure it is because, Becky, you're the best in the business. I mean, it's such an honor to be able to work with you and to be able to, you know, show everybody your
00:09:28
work because you're incredible. And this podcast is so good. Everybody at the network that has to
00:09:34
listen to it for whatever department, whatever reason, everyone is blown away. You did an amazing job. Can we just ask you one final question, which is what's the scariest
00:09:43
thing you saw in the jungle? Did you see a snake? Did you see a giant spider? Did you ever fall into quicksand? Anything?
00:09:52
Anything at all. I think the scariest thing was we did stop off at this waterfall and we were
00:10:03
sitting there and I was, I don't know why, but I always felt I was the sort of mother of everyone
00:10:08
there. And they were all climbing up and Poppy was beginning to sort of strip off and whatever,
00:10:12
it was very hot. And then I looked over and I saw this shadow, black shadow. And I started to go,
00:10:19
oh my God, it's a lion. I mean, not a lion. I didn't know what it was. But anyway, it was this
00:10:24
animal. I was really scared. And I turned to Poppy, she'd seen it. And she said, don't worry,
00:10:29
It's just like a cat. And it's like the cat that John had as a pet. It's fine. And then it disappeared, slithered away.
00:10:36
So I didn't see a snake. I didn't. I mean, there were really terrible things, you know, things that could kill you with one bite.
00:10:41
But I just I stayed on the on the paths. Religiously. Yeah. Sounds like the smart way to handle the jungle.
00:10:51
But thank you very much. I'm so glad you enjoyed it. And, you know, it was it was an absolute privilege to do.
00:10:58
Thank you. so much, Becky. Thanks for talking to us today. And we're so excited to share the podcast with
00:11:03
everyone. Thank you so much. It's great to see you guys again. Great to see you.
00:11:08
All right. Now it's time to listen to the first episode of Hell in Heaven. When you're done, episode two is waiting for you over at the Hell in Heaven feed.
00:11:16
And while you're there, please don't forget to like and subscribe and give it a five star review
00:11:19
because, of course, it really helps. New episodes of Hell in Heaven drop every Thursday on the
00:11:24
iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Now please enjoy episode one of Hell in Heaven.
00:11:31
Goodbye. January the 7th, 2010. We're outside the house of John and Anne Bender,
00:11:46
a young American couple who've built an extravagant home and wildlife refuge in the middle of the Costa Rican rainforest.
00:11:54
John made a multi dollar fortune on Wall Street Anne is his bright and glamorous wife
00:12:07
It's now one in the morning. The emergency call came in an hour ago. A shooting.
00:12:19
And a casualty. That's the voice of Carlos Mora He was the ambulance driver who was on the scene that night
00:12:28
I've tracked him down Now, he's attended hundreds of violent incidents over the years
00:12:36
But this one stands out He's never experienced anything like it before or since And he's not alone
00:12:44
All the people I've found while reporting on this story Remember it in vivid detail
00:12:50
I'm Becky Milligan I broke stories for the BBC for almost 30 years and I've reported on some pretty strange events
00:13:00
but this one is the strangest of all So back to that night Carlos enters the Bender's house
00:13:09
and he gets in the elevator and just like everything else in this house this is no ordinary elevator
00:13:18
It's a round, open platform that rises up through the building. Carlos grips onto the handrail.
00:13:29
He sees each floor as it passes. The house is incredible, he says. He's never seen a place like it.
00:13:42
It's like an enormous spaceship. Inside, it's all stainless steel and shiny black floors, reflective like pools of water.
00:13:52
There's a lot of money here. Who could own such a house, he asks himself. A drug trafficker?
00:14:04
Carlos is anxious. Guards and security are everywhere, armed with heavy caliber weapons.
00:14:12
They're speaking to each other in hushed voices. He's been told he has to go up to the fourth floor, the master bedroom.
00:14:21
He passes the first floor. The second floor, a vast kitchen. The third floor. The fourth floor, the bedroom.
00:14:39
And on the bed, a body, curled up as if asleep. But as Carlos gets closer, he takes in the horror of it all.
00:14:50
The gunshot wound at the back of the head. The victim's left arm dangling off the bed.
00:14:57
Blood dripping from it, forming a pool on the highly polished marble floor. And near it on the floor, the gun.
00:15:07
A semi-automatic. At first, the police will assume this is a suicide. but not for long.
00:15:18
And here's why. The gun seems to have dropped from the victim's left hand, yet the entry wound is on the right side of the head.
00:15:31
Not only that, the bullet was fired from behind. From Exactly Right Media and iHeart Podcasts, produced by Blanchard House, this is Hell in Heaven. I'm Becky Milligan.
00:16:14
Chapter 1. The House of Secrets. Our story begins and ends with a house, built and owned by Anne and John Bender.
00:16:30
This place is their dream home. When they first move here, they're both in their 30s.
00:16:37
He's made his millions and now he wants to put them to good use, to enjoy them by creating a wildlife sanctuary.
00:16:45
So our couple are young and they're in love, completely in love, devoted. It seems they live only for each other
00:16:54
and all the beloved animals they've rescued. John also has his rare orchids and Anne has her collection of Tiffany lamps,
00:17:04
hundreds of them. So Anne and John have everything they need right here in their house in the middle of the jungle,
00:17:12
a house unlike any other, and which will, in time, be the scene of a terrible tragedy and a mystery.
00:17:23
So I land in Costa Rica to investigate this story. And by coincidence, my 18-year-old daughter is already here
00:17:32
working on a conservation project elsewhere in the country. She's been messaging me, telling me all about protecting turtle eggs on pristine beaches,
00:17:41
relaxing in camp as monkeys play in the trees, and about how she showers in the open air as hummingbirds hover close by.
00:17:50
Paradise. But as I arrive in the country and discover more about this story about the dark side of life in Costa Rica the more I start to worry about my daughter and worry about myself turning into some sort of internet meme
00:18:07
a hysterical, overprotective mother convinced her daughter is about to die. Not only that, I'm not coping too well with the climate either.
00:18:18
Gosh, it's quite tiring, isn't it, in this heat? Whoa. Scotland in autumn is more my thing, and that's a lot cooler than it is here.
00:18:28
My producer Poppy and I have driven four hours from the capital, San Jose, a hair-raising drive around hairpin bends with sheer drops on either side.
00:18:38
But we're now deep in the rainforest, searching for John and Anne Bender's house.
00:18:45
First, through a slight clearing, we come upon the Diamante waterfall, which gives this valley its name.
00:18:53
Oh, wow. That's it. Oh, my goodness. Is that it? It's so high up. I've seen the cliff face.
00:19:03
Water tumbles from a high ridge down the cliff face and is swallowed up by the forest below.
00:19:11
Blue, green and yellow birds flutter above our heads and the noise is intense and strange roars echo in the distance like dinosaurs.
00:19:23
Sounds enchanting, but the truth is we're already on edge. We've been spooked by a phone call we made just before we set out.
00:19:33
It's like warm in the daytime, kind of cool at night, crystal clear spring water blowing out of the mountains.
00:19:40
Fruits and vegetables grow real easily, nice vegetables, tomatoes, bananas. We never thought we were coming back.
00:19:46
That's John Corvick, who knows the area and used to be the Bender's neighbour. And John had a warning.
00:19:53
It was my wife and I, and that was about it. So you're alone on this giant farm in the deep jungle most of the time.
00:20:01
It's a strange thing. Sounds morbid, but a lot of people die off there. And a lot of people go kind of crazy.
00:20:11
They lose it. They actually lose it. struggling with anything in the jungle, you're going to face your inner demons.
00:20:19
John's words really unsettle us. There's folklore about the Diamante waterfall. I'd be damned if all the people
00:20:26
that move in and out of there don't go that shit. You know, the hippies have some theory of the vortex of energy
00:20:32
that spins off the waterfall. Indians say it's a curse because they were run off their land. Any way you cut it,
00:20:38
the families go nuts, they fall apart, people die. I don't know anyone who's lived facing that waterfall that just set up shop and enjoyed this majestic view and just soaked it in.
00:20:51
Long term. I really don't. Sometimes I think it's from isolation. You know, cabin fever, they go nuts.
00:20:58
You could have cabin fever. My wife asked me, she says, are you ever going to put clothes on again?
00:21:03
I would go three or four days in my rubber boots. You know, I didn't see anyone.
00:21:08
It sounds like an exaggeration that people go mad and lose it. But by the end of our story, you won't think so.
00:21:17
Shit, that place is the darkest jungle you've ever seen in your life. You have no clue.
00:21:28
We leave the waterfall behind and walk even deeper into the jungle in search of John and Ann Bender's house, which they called Boracayam.
00:21:39
OK, I'm seeing some barbed wire fence, so I think we're getting close. That even looks like cut lawn.
00:21:45
It does. Right up the slope there. We see the slopes of the gardens first, and then through the trees and foliage.
00:21:54
Oh, my God! That's really it. It's just enormous. It's like a spaceship's landed on the top of a hill in the middle of the jungle in Costa Rica.
00:22:07
It's like four stories with this dome at the top. It's constructed from huge concrete slabs and columns and 50,000 square feet,
00:22:19
around the same size as a soccer pitch. And it's round. Imagine that on a jungle hilltop, rising way above the tops of the trees,
00:22:28
and you get an idea of what it looks like and how out of place it is. The views are incredible.
00:22:35
In the evening, John and Anne would sit and look out across the jungle, enjoying the glorious sunsets, enjoying each other's company.
00:22:43
In the daytime, they'd zoom around on their 5,000 acres of land on a quad bike, busying themselves with their wildlife refuge,
00:22:52
caring for all the animals they'd saved. a great black hawk, a jaguarundi, which is a wild cat on the verge of extinction.
00:23:01
And Anne also had her dog, a German shepherd called Millie. It really is an astonishing place.
00:23:09
But being here now, there's a sinister edge to it all. I can see why they loved it.
00:23:16
It's completely isolated. But there are gates here, a couple of guards, and there's no entry.
00:23:26
There's just no way we can get in and even at the top I can see a guard sort of walking the perimeter.
00:23:36
I think he is filming. In fact, he was filming us. They're getting a bit tense all the guards.
00:23:41
OK, good to know. We'd asked permission to go inside weeks before and hadn't received a response.
00:23:47
But just as we're leaving... A man turns up in fatigues. Orlando or no? Making a documentary about Anne and John, but it's not possible to go inside, is it? No.
00:24:04
He puts his hand up and shakes his head. Well, thanks so much for your time. Have a good day.
00:24:09
Bye. Hasta luego. The house is up for sale, empty. And there's a sadness about it.
00:24:18
Almost like the structure holds memories of what took place here. My name is Osvaldo. I live in the Barrio Los Ortes.
00:24:27
20 years ago, Osvaldo Rojas had been preparing to meet his new boss. He knew nothing about him apart from his name, John Bender,
00:24:36
and that he'd bought up some land in Diamante Valley. He ended up working for the Benders for 10 years.
00:24:45
Osvaldo was grateful for the job, and grateful too to his former boss, also an American.
00:24:53
Jim had sold his farm to the new arrivals, John and Anne, but made sure his young maintenance man wouldn't lose his well-paid job,
00:25:01
which were pretty hard to come by in Paris. I understand there was a clause in the contract where Jim, the previous owner,
00:25:10
specified that I had to continue working on the property when the sale was made.
00:25:16
I stayed to take care of the property until John Bender arrived. Back then, everyone in town was gossiping about the new gringos moving to the valley.
00:25:24
Gringos is what Costa Ricans call Americans. Most foreigners are gringos. The locals are called Ticos.
00:25:31
What was clear was that they were rich gringos. Nobody knew how rich, but then nobody really knew who this couple were at all,
00:25:40
least of all as Valdo. He remembers the day they arrived very clearly because he was a bit nervous and wasn't sure what to expect.
00:25:49
Before the house was built, the new couple were staying at a place in town. I remember being surprised when they show up in the little car.
00:26:00
They were mostly reserved people, especially John. He didn't like to interact much with others.
00:26:05
He would prefer the mountains, and he said something like, I hate this property. I've been deceived.
00:26:12
He never realized that the house was so close to the center of town until they arrived.
00:26:18
We didn't realize how young they were. We expected to see an older couple. He was a big man. She was thin and pretty.
00:26:27
Bonita. That was the word everyone used to describe Anne. And John, at six foot five, was built like an American footballer,
00:26:35
a guy who clearly worked out. Hugely muscular, gorgeous, blue eyes, dark hair. Carol Vaughan, an ex-pattern author who moved to the town a few years later,
00:26:50
was taken by how glamorous the couple were. Just handsome, movie star handsome. She was petite, delicate, moved like a ballerina.
00:27:04
She reminded me a lot of Audrey Hepburn. Despite his physique, John was a gentle soul.
00:27:11
He was kind to all animals, even the tiniest insect. Back home in the US, he'd taken in dozens of stray cats,
00:27:20
and he was incredibly smart, good with numbers. Anne, meanwhile, had been the most popular kid at school.
00:27:28
No doubt they were a striking couple. There's a photo of them taken on their new property.
00:27:34
John is standing behind Anne in shorts and a t-shirt, one arm wrapped around her chest, the other around her waist, in a protective way.
00:27:42
He towers above her, and Anne, in jeans, is holding onto his arms and leaning back slightly against him.
00:27:50
Their dream is taking shape around them. They look happy and relaxed. The perfect couple.
00:27:58
It's hard to look at that photo now, knowing everything that would happen. If you spend all day waiting to take your bra off, it might be time for Third Love.
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00:31:09
Goodbye. John and Anne arrived in Costa Rica with a reported $600 million, an eye-watering fortune, which would in time be bitterly fought over.
00:31:27
But that comes later in our story. All anyone knew at this time was that they wanted land
00:31:33
and they had the money to pay for it. Author Carol Vaughan. And when the word got out, people were desperate
00:31:41
to make a killing off Americans because it happens a lot. And the benders found their mailbox just stuffed with people's deeds,
00:31:51
saying, here it is, pay me. Is that right? Yeah. They were so desperate. They just wanted the money.
00:31:57
They wanted the money, yeah. And they didn't want to be the only one in the neighborhood
00:32:02
who didn't make a fortune off the gringos. I mean, if Raul is making $100,000, I should make $100,000.
00:32:10
I've got a deed here. Pay me. In total, the benders bought up 5,000 acres from expats like Jim, locals and small farmers
00:32:21
Some of whom had grown coffee on their land for generations It was in a perfect position
00:32:27
From the top of their hill, they had great views of the jungle The Diamante waterfall and the sea beyond
00:32:35
A romantic setting to watch the famous Costa Rican sunsets turn the sky to a burning red, orange and yellow.
00:32:44
This was where they would build their enormous house, which they would christen Boracayán.
00:32:49
You're probably wondering what that means. We wondered too. Apparently, it's the name of a local plant.
00:32:57
Construction work began. John Bender had a vision for his new property, to create a new way of living, unconstrained by normal rules.
00:33:08
Building a house on this scale, in the middle of the jungle, well, it was a huge undertaking and massively ambitious.
00:33:15
But then, John was like that. Hi there. Hello. I was wondering when we were here for you. Come on in.
00:33:27
Thank you so much. I met John's parents in Phoenix, Arizona. We'd already talked quite a bit online before I met them in person.
00:33:35
You know what's amazing is seeing you on Zoom and now being here. John's mum is a teacher.
00:33:43
John's dad is an eminent law professor and worked in the Clinton administration.
00:33:48
This was the first time they'd invited journalists to their home to talk about their son.
00:33:55
Their love for John is plain to see. they hold hands under the table as they talk about him.
00:34:01
But they couldn't really relate to John's life making millions on Wall Street. Money isn't important to them, and they worried about the path he'd chosen.
00:34:11
So when John decided to set up the wildlife sanctuary, I get the feeling they were relieved he was leaving the world of high finance behind.
00:34:20
Though when John told his dad about the plans for their enormous house, Paul was pretty surprised.
00:34:27
Well, he was going to build this high-tech thing in the middle of the jungle, basically.
00:34:33
And it seemed to me impossible to do that. And the way he did it was to decide where he wanted to put it
00:34:40
and then have the people come there and build it. So he had like an army of people building this thing.
00:34:47
And what you've seen, what turned out, it has nothing to do with the jungle, but it was exactly what they wanted.
00:34:53
I have a lot of pictures that we took down there. Paul fired up his computer and scrolled through,
00:35:02
showing us photos of the house being built. In the photos, the structure was up, but not much else.
00:35:08
It was an empty concrete shell. OK, there is that. That's the house. Oh, gosh. We haven't seen...
00:35:14
Is that under construction? Yeah. Oh, my goodness. Paul showed us more photos when the new floors had been put in.
00:35:21
That granite, it is almost like a mirror, isn't it? He really liked that. It's obvious that Margie and Paul are so proud of what John achieved.
00:35:31
He had a dream, and he made it real. I don't think John ever thought there were limitations to things.
00:35:37
If he wanted it to be round, it could be round. What they really wanted to do was what they did,
00:35:42
was find a place that was away from most of the world, in a beautiful place which had a lot of animals and a lot of greenery.
00:35:50
I mean, they really wanted to be away from the world. They did The house took a total of four years to build The Benders moved in before it was finished Osvaldo the head staffer stayed at the couple house in town and watched the jungle retreat take shape
00:36:09
We were there from the beginning. It was a huge building site. We could see the workers on the street, like 150 workers spread all over.
00:36:19
We saw the house going up little by little. One of his jobs was to clean the house,
00:36:26
and so he can tell us precisely what it was like inside. The fourth floor was all the bedroom with the bed in the middle
00:36:35
and some rustic furniture made to order. He didn't like anything lavish. The third floor was empty.
00:36:44
John had planned to put in a greenhouse for his orchids, but never got round to it.
00:36:49
On the second floor was the kitchen, which was enormous. Four kitchens could fit inside it.
00:36:57
It was like no other house in the whole valley standing on top of the hill, a four-story round home.
00:37:04
It came with huge pools of water, road gutters to prevent flooding and there was one feature in particular
00:37:09
that said this couple had serious money. Because when John and Anne came here they didn't make that four-hour car journey.
00:37:17
They would fly in and out, landing on a helipad below the main entrance Locals came to call the house The Dome
00:37:28
because of the shape of the roof which could be seen for miles around and... You could not make this shit up
00:37:35
There's one other detail about the house which people never fail to mention including expat Carol Vaughan
00:37:42
The house has no walls Yes, the house has no walls. There are screens that are pulled down from the ceiling at night
00:37:51
that keep bugs and animals out, but during the day it was wide open. Designed by John, with Anne's decorating touch.
00:37:59
The house is magnificent. It was open on all sides, and you felt that you were really in the jungle.
00:38:06
The bathrooms had walls. I think that was a concession that he made. to. The inside was just open space. I said, what are you going to do with all this space?
00:38:17
I never got the answer to that. I don't think he ever did anything with all that space.
00:38:22
Some describe it as looking like an anniversary clock, a shopping mall or a car park. Not very
00:38:27
flattering. But whether you like the design or not, it was an amazing feat. Hundreds of people
00:38:33
were employed to build it and paid well. And it changed Osvaldo's hometown for good.
00:38:38
As we say, John came to put the town on the map. This was an abandoned place. In 2000, there was not even electricity.
00:38:47
When John arrived, he brought life to the place. He brought jobs. And foreigners became interested in buying land.
00:38:55
So the economy began to move after being practically abandoned, like many other places here in Costa Rica.
00:39:02
When the house was complete, John and Anne threw a party for all the workers and their families
00:39:08
But as Valdo says, it was the only party the Benders ever had. The house would never see so much life and light again
00:39:18
as John and Anne retreated from the world and their lives became shrouded in darkness.
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Goodbye. The house wasn't just a sanctuary for John and Anne, but for animals too, of course.
00:43:13
We had two large parrots and a parrot with a broken wing. some monkeys, the sloth, of course, and a baby Tolumoku.
00:43:23
A black creature from the weasel family, which John loved and called Leo. He lived alongside two injured Persian cats, which John had adopted.
00:43:32
There was the duck and the falcons and the snakes. That's only the beginning. And Anne had Peter the sloth.
00:43:39
Was it friendly? Oh, yeah. But he slept all the time. I mean, no problem. It's a three-toed sloth.
00:43:46
A swath, after all. The name has come from this proclivity to sleep all the time.
00:43:52
Anne and John loved all animals ever since they were children. As adults, they both said they got on better with animals than with people.
00:44:00
John also had a good feeling about animals, just a magician of animals. So we always had a lot of animals, and I think both kids really enjoyed them.
00:44:09
It was a menagerie. One reason for the absence of wolves was to be at one with the jungle.
00:44:14
the animals could come and go as they pleased. Sometimes when Anne and John had a bath,
00:44:20
parrots would perch beside them and keep them company. They wanted to turn back the clock,
00:44:27
restoring the land to its wild state before it was farmed. He was feeding it. He was bringing back the food that the land had had when it was natural
00:44:36
and grew its own weeds, if you want to call them that, and other things. He was trying to get that back into the soil.
00:44:42
Then, after three or four years, we did start to see more animals around. As the years went by, John and Anne would become increasingly isolated,
00:44:55
holed up alone in their house with no walls. They had few visitors, but early on, before their home was completed,
00:45:02
they made an exception for Zach Schweiger and his dad Jack, who John had invited to come and see the house.
00:45:10
Jack and John were friends. He said, hey, you know, you should come down sometime.
00:45:14
So when my son graduated high school and he wanted to take a father-son trip, I said, that sounded like a little bit of an adventure.
00:45:22
I said, hey, you want to go to, you know, Costa Rica to John and Ann Bender's compound?
00:45:28
Zach Schrager was just 19. My first time kind of like out of the country, people speaking different languages.
00:45:34
They were picked up by a land cruiser. And we're driving for what I remember was hours.
00:45:41
It's hard to describe this part of what it was like to get there because it was like truly out of a video game or a movie.
00:45:51
You can't really see much because like you pull in, it's a dirt road, but it kind of leads up and up and up.
00:45:58
The roads, you could lose a jeep in the potholes. And then everything around you is rainforest.
00:46:03
Just like large, thick, lush trees. I had no idea like this is what it was. My dad had undersold this by a million percent.
00:46:16
We were in a movie set. Then he met their host, who'd taken up the traditional way to cut through the jungle.
00:46:26
There's just like this big brute of a guy, kind of like had a good, healthy beard and a machete on his waist.
00:46:34
Straight off, he loved John, who took them on a tour of his property. He almost had a skip but a stomp to his step.
00:46:41
You know what I mean? He walks that jungle very confidently. He was proud of what he was doing.
00:46:47
He loved the rainforest, so I think a good deal of self-satisfaction meant that he was protecting this land.
00:46:55
And John and Anne seemed uniquely matched. A couple that doesn't need to ask twice for things.
00:47:00
A couple where John sits down, she knows he's thirsty type of thing. but like she willingly wants to make sure Jonathan is not a thirsty person.
00:47:08
There was a lot of just like warmth and care that came from Anne. So we're special and I'm like man this person is just such a sweetheart.
00:47:16
He and Anne were very much in love as far as I could tell. Zach remembers the trip vividly and one conversation in particular
00:47:23
illustrated John's fierce intellect. One evening... It's just three dudes kind of like hanging out shooting the shit.
00:47:32
And this is maybe where I felt a little out of my element. Both Jonathan, super intelligent, and my father, super intelligent.
00:47:42
And then John turned to Zack and said... I don't mean to ask such a random question,
00:47:48
but are you familiar with quantum superposition? Yes, quantum superposition. So John took my dad deeply through quantum superposition, basically this idea.
00:48:00
that based on, you know, waveforms that electrons can exist in two places at once.
00:48:07
He was walking through several experiments, like one where like electrons were shot at like a gold leaf.
00:48:12
But that like kind of changed my life in the sense that I was opened up to this whole world of like reality or not reality.
00:48:21
And like Jonathan had kind of brought me into this place of where for the first time, like I questioned, like what's real and what's not real.
00:48:29
and nobody had ever done that. For Zach still in his teens, who'd never been to a foreign country,
00:48:36
meeting John on his jungle reserve made a lifelong impression on him. It was like this very weird time where everything was perfect.
00:48:45
Like the wind was perfect. The temperature was perfect. Like the seats weren't uncomfortable.
00:48:49
The beer was still cold. And the sky was just this like perfect orange. And, you know, everything was super green.
00:48:57
And John was, like, somehow on center stage without, like, detracting from, like, this perfection.
00:49:04
It was, like, just one of those moments where, like, the second that it was happening, you're like, please, God, like, do not let this end.
00:49:11
Like, don't, whatever you do, just, like, do not have this moment stop. But everything would change.
00:49:21
And the Benders would find themselves becoming further and further divorced from reality.
00:49:26
Even then, the signs were there. This might have been a piece of paradise. But in this paradise, Zach noticed one thing that seemed strange.
00:49:37
A puncture on the otherwise perfect scene. And all of a sudden there's guys with guns.
00:49:43
And definitely something my father never said to me is like, there's going to be men with guns.
00:49:48
Like, and lots of men with guns. They weren't friendly, they didn't say hi, they weren't like,
00:49:52
Hey like I know I a random dude with a gun that doesn speak the same language as you don be frightened They were just kind of they were kind of there Those guys were for rifles you know at the gate And like you would imagine if it was a drug cartel right
00:50:06
the armed people he had working for them would do these patrols, you know, like round the clock and stuff.
00:50:11
Why did they have guns? Yeah, that was my very first question. And it was quickly answered with, we're concerned about poachers.
00:50:19
Poaching might explain all those guns up to a point. Remember John Corvick from earlier, who used to live in the valley?
00:50:27
He told us about the poachers and their dogs, who would come at night and cause havoc.
00:50:32
Oh, there's poachers everywhere. I used to hunt the poachers. Those poachers are sons of bitches.
00:50:36
You can never find them, but you'll find their dogs. And I used to go out with my bulldogs at first.
00:50:41
We'd try to find them. The poachers would drive me nuts. My dogs would start barking. I could hear them barking up in the hills.
00:50:47
If this was just about poaching, John and Anne went to extreme lengths. They put up a barbed wire perimeter fence around their property and had guards wearing fatigues patrolling 24-7.
00:51:00
Signs reading, keep out private property, were erected everywhere. To the people in the valley, Costa Ricans, expats, hippies in search of a piece of heaven, the message was clear.
00:51:12
And the couple were rarely seen. Occasionally people would look up and see their helicopter leaving and returning to the hilltop reserve.
00:51:20
so rumours and conspiracies germinated and began to grow carried swiftly along the grapevine
00:51:28
whispers about those wealthy Americans who flew in by helicopter and bought up all the land
00:51:34
and were all those guards really there to scare off poachers? Jesse, their neighbour, asked all those questions
00:51:42
We don't know. We can imagine but we don't know What do you imagine? Well, I personally thought he was probably somebody very big in the drugs, personally.
00:51:54
You know, obviously they were doing something secret. Boracayan was the perfect place to live in splendid isolation And that in the end was at the root of everything that was to follow
00:52:10
And Jesse is right. The house with no walls was full of secrets. Where did they get their fortune?
00:52:19
Why were they so hell-bent on protecting their privacy? Why all those guns? and why would one of them end up dead?
00:52:39
You've been listening to Hell in Heaven from Exactly Right Media and iHeart Podcasts
00:52:45
produced by Blanchard House hosted, written and produced by me, Becky Milligan The producer and co-writer is Poppy Damon
00:52:53
Music is by Daniel Lloyd-Evans, Louis Nankmanel and Toby Matamon The sound recordist and head of sound and music is Daniel Lloyd-Evans
00:53:03
The lead sound designer is Volkan Kiseltug The artwork is by Vanessa Lilac For Exactly Right Media, the executive producers are
00:53:13
Karen Kilgariff, Georgia Hardstark and Danielle Kramer with consulting producer Lily Ladowig
00:53:20
and associate producer, Jay Elias. The creative director of Blanchard House is Rosie Pye.
00:53:28
The executive producer and head of content at Blanchard House is Lawrence Griselle.
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Listen to Hell in Heaven on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
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