Another North American Reported Missing in Costa Rica

[Jeff Dunsavage]

Kim Paris, a 33-year-old Canadian woman, is the latest ex-pat to disappear in Costa Rica, according to A.M. Costa Rica. The woman, who lives in Santa Teresa de Cóbano de Puntarenas, disappeared Aug. 26, judicial agents in Costa Rica said. U.S. citizen, Roger Peter Biennvennu, 64, has been missing since early July. He lives in Barrio Quebradas, San Isidro de Peréz Zeledón. According to A.M. Costa Rica, Kim is the fifth expat to disappear in the country since March 2009, when Craig Snell disappeared from his home in Ostional. In August 2009, Chicago resident David Gimelfarb disappeared in Rincon La Vieja National Park in Eastern Guanacaste. Michael Dixon, a British journalist vacationing in Tamarindo, vanished shortly after arriving on Oct. 18.

I have reprinted the entire A.M. Costa Rica article below, as the publication's online format makes individual articles difficult to find.

Canadian woman vanishes in Nicoya peninsula town

By the A.M. Costa Rica staff Another expat has vanished under suspicious circumstances on the Pacific coast. This time the missing expat is a woman, 33-year-old Kim Paris, a Canadian. The Judicial Investigating Organization confirmed it is handling the case. The woman disappeared Aug. 26, said judicial agents. She lives in Santa Teresa de Cóbano de Puntarenas. Friends identified her as being associated with Hotel Latitude 10 Resort in Santa Teresa. She vanished while bicycling to the hotel, they said. Friends and residents are passing out fliers in the area. The town is on the Pacific coast of the Nicoya peninsula. The woman's husband, Gabriel Orozco, also is associated with the hotel, but he was unavailable Tuesday night. Judicial agents are accepting calls with information at 800-8000-645. The woman's sister is Natasha Paris, who lives in Florida. She said in an e-mail to friends in the area that her sister has been missing since Aug. 25 and that she speaks French and English and some Spanish. Although she might be carrying a French passport, she is Canadian, said the sister.

The Judicial Investigating Organization identified her as French in information provided Monday. She is the fifth expat to vanish since March 2009. Craig Snell, an expat from Ostional, vanished from his home in that month. He was last seen leaving the home on foot. Friends said he left his computer turned on and all his belonging in the home. The town is also on the Pacific coast but further north than Santa Teresa. The next missing man was David Gimelfarb who disappeared a little more than a year ago after hiking in Parque Nacional Rincón de la Vieja in eastern Guanacaste. His case may be featured on the CNN "Nancy Grace Show." He is from the Chicago, Illinois, area. Michael Dixon, a British tourist, vanished after he left a hotel in Tamarindo Oct. 18. His family has searched extensively for him, as has the family of Gimelfarb. Dixon is a journalist who works in Belgium. Another U.S. citizen, Roger Peter Biennvennu, 64, has been missing since early July, according to the Judicial Investigating Organization. He lives in Barrio Quebradas, San Isidro de Peréz Zeledón.

[Jeff Dunsavage]

This is five in Costa Rica since March 2009 (that we know of).

[Tanya St John]

OMG.. Horrible...