Deep Dive
Shownotes Transcript
Bye.
What is going on, true crime fans? I'm your host, Heath. And I'm your host, Daphne. And you're listening to Going West. Hello, everybody. Hope you're having a good day. I stumbled upon this case online, and I was just so shocked with the direction it went in, so I knew we had to cover it. Yeah, and this one is pretty recent, and it takes place in New York State.
which I feel like we haven't been to in a minute on this show. Yeah, so true. And quick PSA before we begin, there won't be an episode this Friday because it is Heath's birthday this week and we're heading up to Oregon to enjoy some time with family, get some camping in. So we will be back next Tuesday with another Going West episode for you guys. Yes. Sorry, guys. We rarely, rarely take vacations.
But, you know, we just wanted to be able to spend some time with our family. We rarely get to go back to Oregon. So, yeah, we will be back on Tuesday, like Daphne said. But if you're looking for more Going West episodes while we take a short break, we have over 110 full-length bonus episodes on various disappearances and murders from all across the world. And we have some absolutely wild ones on there.
So make sure you go check it out. Yeah, we seriously do. I mean, especially lately, we've been covering some...
crazy, crazy stories. So if you want to subscribe, you can do so on Apple subscriptions in our regular Going West profile. You can actually get like a free week trial or you can go to Patreon at patreon.com slash going west podcast. Well, without further ado, this is episode 417 of Going West. So let's get into it.
Thank you.
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Police quickly determined the person they believed to be responsible for the crime, but then discovered that he had fled the country shortly after killing her. This is the story of Haley Anderson. Haley Anderson was born on May 9th, 1995 to parents Karen and Gordon and was later joined by a younger sister named Maddie.
Haley grew up in Westbury, which is on Long Island, New York, located about 25 miles or 40 kilometers outside of Manhattan. Haley is remembered for her melodic and infectious laugh and described by multiple sources as, quote, a beacon of joy.
From a young age, her parents attest that she was fiercely independent and a total free spirit. Her mom, Karen, described her daughter as, quote, a hippie with a huge heart and recalled that Haley, quote, trusted everyone. She talked to everybody. Gordon Anderson, her dad, said proudly that Haley was, quote, a kind, compassionate person who always saw the good in people, adding, quote, she was someone who would have made a huge difference in this world.
Haley loved to laugh and made everyone she knew watch friends with her, which she pretty much could quote every single line of. Now, as she was nearing the end of her time at W.T. Clark High School in her hometown of Westbury, Haley settled on studying nursing because her biggest goal in life was to help others.
While she and her parents were touring colleges, her mom Karen took her to the State University of New York at Binghampton, which is about three and a half hours upstate from their home on Long Island. And according to Karen, Haley fell in love with the campus and was happy that she wouldn't be too far from home if she decided to study here. Which she did because Haley enrolled at SUNY Binghampton and during her junior year applied to the nursing program and was accepted.
Her mom said proudly, quote, she thrived in that program and she loved it. The fall of 2017 brought her final year at Binghampton. She was a straight-A student throughout her college career and was gearing up to graduate from her program and take her nursing board exams.
Haley had even lined up a job at Northwell Health, which is the largest provider of medical care in the state of New York. And her job placement happened to be on Long Island. So her family was thrilled that she would be coming back home. Though very busy with her schoolwork and class load, Haley found time to work on campus at Jasmine's Brew and Bakery, which is like this coffee shop and cafe.
She was due to graduate in May of 2018, and would just need to pass her board exams in June to secure an upcoming position at Northwell Health. Karen recalled, quote, "Haley was just ready to start her independent life, free from anything that was going to keep her attached to one area."
She wanted to have a career and really embrace the career and embrace the perks that come from having that salary and ability to travel. Now, her on-and-off-again boyfriend, who was also a student named Kevin Ocampo, said that Haley's ultimate dream was to live out of a camper van in California and just kind of travel up and down the coast taking contracts as a travel nurse, which was okay with Kevin because their relationship was not very serious.
I mean, they had dated for a long time in college and they really cared for each other, but they knew that they had to do what was best for themselves after school ended. And if that meant that they parted ways, that was okay. Especially because Haley was so excited to travel and see what this next chapter had to offer her. But Kevin later stated that he loved her and thought that they might one day commit to each other long term.
Well, Kevin wasn't the only person that Haley was seeing in college because during her sophomore year, she met another male student that she began casually dating. Orlando Tercero was a fellow nursing student in the program, so they already had a lot in common and just kind of bonded over their shared goals and course load.
Orlando was a dual citizen of the United States and Nicaragua, having been born in Miami, Florida, but raised where his family was from, in Chinandega, Nicaragua. His father was a doctor and had passed away a few years prior, so Orlando wanted to go into the medical field to follow in his footsteps. And Haley and Orlando were friends for a while before the connection kind of turned romantic, and in a period of being on the outs with Kevin, Haley started seeing Orlando casually.
According to one of Haley's roommates, Michelle, quote,
Like Haley, Orlando was known to be charming and social, as he was described as the life of the party and the studious and responsible. He also loved to go out and drink with friends on the weekends. So one weekend, Haley, Kevin, and Orlando all wound up at the same party, and Haley introduced the men to each other. And by the way, at this point, Kevin and Orlando, they don't really know that either one of them was
had a thing with Hayley. She's not saying, oh yeah, this is my ex-boyfriend. Meet my new boyfriend. You know what I mean? Yeah, I think especially because
she was seeing them both kind of casually and they weren't serious even Kevin saying that they weren't serious like Kevin wasn't like oh yeah Haley was my girlfriend it was you know it was more casual than that but they both really liked her and didn't want to have that competition you know sure so while they were at this party they kind of bonded over the fact you know Kevin and Orlando did that they were the only two people in the group who spoke Spanish
And Kevin actually even invited Orlando to join the fraternity that he was a part of, which Orlando did do. So all seemed to be well. They got along. There was no real problems at first. But that was kind of short-lived because as Haley's relationship with Orlando heated up and, you know, they were seeing each other more frequently, Kevin and the other fraternity brothers found out about the two of them being romantically linked. Okay.
Again, although Haley and Kevin were not officially together, his fraternity brothers kind of shunned Orlando for this, and they kicked him out of the group because Kevin and Haley had been in each other's lives for a while at that point, and it just felt like a conflict of interest for the brothers when Kevin was...
was their true friend here. Like, they didn't have that same loyalty to Orlando, and they knew that Kevin was hurt by this and saying, oh, actually, this guy that I just brought into our fraternity is hooking up with the girl that I really like that I've been seeing, and I'm not okay with that. And to be fair, Kevin also doesn't know when Haley and Orlando started seeing each other. So maybe he's assuming, like,
oh, after I met Orlando, that's when they started seeing each other or whatever, you know? Exactly. Well, Haley's friends remember her feeling really bad about the way that things turned out and that Orlando also took it really hard, you know, being kind of let go from this fraternity and people being upset with him. And he was so upset that he even threatened to take his own life. But this just garnered him extra attention from Haley.
Haley's friends remember eerie details of their early relationship, like Orlando doing drive-bys at her house to make sure she wasn't having anybody else over, and that he would sometimes show up on her front porch to smoke a cigarette and keep tabs on her.
Even as Haley attempted to keep their relationship casual, remember, she didn't want anything serious with anybody, her friends and roommates described Orlando becoming a jealous, possessive partner, attempting to just kind of monopolize her time and even control her. And Haley's friend Melanie says that she began to resent this behavior and that Orlando was using it to his advantage to get more sympathy from her.
Melanie recounted, quote, And the type of person Haley was felt for those type of people because she just had such a kind heart.
So yeah, he is really manipulating her good nature. Yeah, and he is coming on very strong here. So in September of 2017, remember the beginning of Haley's final year in college, things with Orlando took a turn for the worse. On September 15th, 2017, Orlando and his roommates hosted a party at their home, which was this spacious off-campus house.
Now, according to the police report that was later filed about this incident, Orlando confronted Haley at this party about continuing to see Kevin, even after she had started dating him. The report read that Orlando, quote, "got very upset and was shouting at her," even with her friends and party attendees as witnesses to this incident. Then, clearly embarrassed and trying to cover his tracks, Orlando attempted to smooth things over with Haley by pouring them shots and mixed drinks.
He then became so drunk that Haley actually had to help him into bed before leaving with Kevin. So this just made things way worse, and when she and her roommates returned home, she began receiving a slew of angry texts from Orlando. The next afternoon, Haley and Kevin walked out of her house to discover that all four of her tires on her 2001 Mercury Sable had been slashed, an inch-long cut into each of them.
Haley took a video of the damage and posted it to Snapchat saying, quote, "Welcome to my life." Well, in turn, Orlando posted on his Snapchat that his rear tires had been slashed as well.
He then sent Haley a screenshot of a text that he sent to his roommates asking if they had slashed his tires themselves as like some sort of joke. So basically this was Orlando's way of saying that he hadn't been the one to do it and that the whole situation was funny. But Haley wasn't happy about what happened, obviously. Yeah, that's an expensive fix, like getting all four tires replaced, especially for a college student who just works at a cafe.
Oh, yeah. I mean, definitely agree here. So when Haley pressured the issue with him, Orlando continued to deny involvement, but also advised her against filing a police report, citing that he didn't think that it was a good idea. Huh, wonder why. Yeah, um...
It's definitely a good idea. I don't know what you're talking about. Well, yeah, because he doesn't want to get caught for what he did. Exactly. But Haley was encouraged by her friends, family, and roommates to report this incident to the police, which she did, actually incriminating Orlando as her only suspect and the only person with the motive to do such a thing. And when police asked Orlando for his statement, he told them, quote,
Whoever does. Whoever, yeah. Like, I don't think there's a person on this earth that asks for their, or gives permission to people to slash their tires. Yeah, go ahead. Go with me. No. Yeah. So, anyway...
When it came time to press charges, Haley refused, concerned that he would be kicked out of their nursing program. And it's so unnecessarily nice of her. Like, this guy is a creep. He violated her property, and she still doesn't want to cause trouble because she's so nice, even though he deserves to have that happen to him because he's being super inappropriate. That's what I was going to say. She just has such a big heart that...
she feels for this guy even though he's the one that's causing all this drama. - Yeah, so sad. - Well, and like you said, this wasn't a small thing. You know, this caused her vehicle over $600 worth of damage and was considered a felony act.
Because according to New York state law, damage of over $250 is a felony and is punishable by up to four years in prison. And obviously it goes without saying that he wouldn't have been able to remain in school if she did press these charges. Which she knew and she's kind of thinking, oh, I don't want to be the cause of all that even though he's the cause of that. He's the one who did it, but she feels this guilt for punishing him for it. Right. Right.
Her mother Karen later said sadly, quote: So ultimately, Haley decided against legal action and instead kept her distance from Orlando for a while. But Orlando eventually wooed her enough to let him back into her life.
On the evening of Wednesday, March 7th, 2018, Haley and her roommates had a wine and game night, staying up late talking and laughing and playing games like Taboo, Pictionary, and Haley's favorite game, Quiplash, which Heath and I also love. That's such a fun game. Love that game. Love it. But the next day, Haley was nowhere to be found.
And this really wasn't super alarming initially because her roommates came and went as usual and just assumed that she was sleeping off the late night in her room. However, she had also stopped answering any calls and texts, which was very unusual for her.
On the evening of Thursday, March 8th, so the next night, Josie, who was one of Haley's roommates and best friends, was reading her own poetry at a poetry slam, and Haley had promised to be there. But not only did Haley not show up, she continued to miss all calls and texts that were sent her way, and never let Josie know that she wasn't going to be able to make it.
Meanwhile, as the girls led their own investigation, a few people in their friend group began to realize that both Haley and Orlando were missing. Yeah, so it wasn't just Haley at this point that was missing. It was also Orlando. Yeah, and knowing their history, apparently Orlando's roommate, Jesse, like kind of speculated at first that maybe they had gone off and eloped.
I don't know why his mind would go there. Maybe for Orlando, but he clearly didn't know Haley well because that's not something she would do. Yeah, and I'm just assuming that Orlando is probably talking up his relationship with Haley to his roommates saying, oh, like, we're so in love. And so poor Jesse's over here thinking, you know, maybe they went off and got married. Yeah, but that is...
Not the case at all. And also, nobody on Haley's side thought that this was the case because the next day on Friday, March 9th, 2018, both of their circles of family and friends became extremely worried about them and they were reported missing within an hour of each other. First to call the police was Orlando's sister who had received a concerning text from her brother and worried that he was going to hurt himself.
The text read that he had done, quote, something bad and that he was a disgrace to their family. So officers reported to Orlando's home, which was static, quiet and locked. And they noticed right away that his car was not present.
Now, at the same time, Haley's friends and roommates were growing increasingly worried. So her friends were tracking her location via the Find My Friends app, which was thankfully still on and working and showed her exact current location. Haley's roommates, Michelle and Josie, were able to track it back to Orlando's house on Oak Street, where he and multiple other college students lived.
With the house locked and no one answering the door, the girls decided to forge ahead with their little investigation and break into Orlando's residence on the first floor of his home. And these are such good friends. Not only are they so worried about where Haley is, but they're tracking her location and they're going to this location and literally, you know, unlawfully entering a home.
To find her. Yeah, I can't say that I would know a lot of college students that would do that for their friend. You know, they would probably just be like, well, I don't really know where she's at. I got other things going on. I'm in college, you know? Well, they went so far as to Josie boosting Michelle up and through a window. And then Josie followed. Michelle was the first to see Haley screaming to Josie to call 911.
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After Michelle and Josie were able to get into Orlando's bedroom through a window, they were completely horrified at what they uncovered.
Because there, in Orlando's room, was the body of their friend, 22-year-old Haley Anderson. She had been manually strangled to death and left on top of his bed. She was discovered by her roommates on Friday, March 9th, 2018, just before 1 p.m.,
So here's his roommate, unsure of where he is, hypothesizing that he and Haley had run off and eloped.
Meanwhile, Haley is like on the other side of the wall, deceased in Orlando's bed and Orlando is just gone. Well, it's even more sad and horrifying because Haley's parents and sister like didn't even know that she was missing before they, you know, got this news that she was murdered because it all happened so quickly. It just felt unreal. Now, based on where and how she was found, it's,
investigators had an obvious culprit for Haley's murder, 22-year-old Orlando Tercero. Thankfully, his building was adorned with many security cameras, so detectives poured over these tapes, and they found that early in the morning of Thursday, March 8th, 2018, after the game night with her roommates, Haley and Orlando could be seen heading inside together.
So it seemed as if they had maybe spoken after playing the games and after her roommates went to bed and then, you know, they agreed to meet up. Yeah, he probably convinced her to give him another chance and, you know, come over. Exactly. So Haley and Orlando walked inside at 3.14 a.m. on March 8th and Haley would never leave that house again. However, Orlando was seen coming and going multiple times between then and when he was reported missing.
Well, sometime after 10:00 a.m. on Thursday, March 8th, about seven hours after Haley can be seen entering the home, Orlando is seen taking the trash out to the bin on the curb and then reversing out of the driveway in his car.
Tracking his movements via his bank account, security cameras, and a store receipt, detectives discovered that he had visited a local CVS store purchasing Z-Quil, which is a sleeping aid similar to NyQuil, as well as melatonin supplements, which as many of us know, are used to help people sleep.
He then returned home and remained inside another seven hours. And that's really weird. Like, this is the day before her body is found. So we can assume that by the time he gets back, she's probably already dead. I can't see...
her staying in his house for this long, especially while he's out running errands. Like she's a busy college student. She has other stuff going on. She wasn't texting at all that day, which would not have been the case if she was just hanging out in his bedroom, you know? So like, why did he go by Z-Quil and melatonin? Was it so he could get to sleep after the horrible things that he did? Like, what's that about?
I mean, yeah, it's definitely possible that he was using this Z-Quil to get some sleep after, you know, murdering somebody. But it's also possible that he was going to use this Z-Quil in a combination with other drugs to take his own life, which we're going to talk about here in a sec. Because I do know that some people...
So true. But it is just so disturbing knowing that he was in his house for seven hours. And by that point, she had likely already been dead for far more than that amount of time. And she's just in his bed like...
Oh my god, it's so horrible to think about. Eerie and terrifying. Well, that night, so the same night that Haley was supposed to be heading to Josie's poetry slam, Orlando can be seen leaving the house from the front door and walking around the side of the property, where another door gave access to the basement.
He retrieved a hammer and metal hooks, and law enforcement believed that he was planning to hang himself. Yeah, and inside his house, they found the hooks very hastily screwed into a wooden beam with a silk tie knotted around it. Now, the floor beneath the hooks was dotted with blood, which indicated that he had likely hurt himself in the process, but his injuries had not been enough to kill him.
With his attempt being unsuccessful, he began slipping into a panic and scrawled out a note that may as well have been a confession because written in Spanish, the note read, quote, I'm really sorry about this. I never felt like I could be capable of doing this. In a comment directed toward his deceased father, he wrote, quote, Poppy, I'll see you soon. So yeah, his...
Right, so he's kind of writing these notes probably, or he probably wrote these notes before his attempt, and these are his kind of sorry ways of...
apologizing for what he did and explaining where he's going now. But just before 8.30 p.m. on the evening of Thursday, March 8th, which again is the day before Haley's body is found, Orlando loaded luggage into his car and drove about three and a half hours to John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City.
He was seen there on security cameras in the airport walking quickly with two rolling suitcases, wearing his glasses and sporting a head bandage, which was likely from his suicide attempt. Imagine how weird that would look seeing this guy in the airport who's just got this big old bandage on his head.
like, bloodied bandage on his head and he's just wearing sunglasses, I'd be like, what happened to that guy? I don't like seeing anybody in, like, a hoodie or sunglasses at the airport or anywhere like that or, like, a movie theater. Oh, yeah. Anything like that is just, like, you are suspicious. Yeah. Freaks me out, definitely. Yeah. So,
So authorities discovered that Orlando was originally bound for a flight to Miami, but he had missed it. So ultimately, he departed the next morning around 8 a.m. on Friday, March 9th, bound for Nicaragua. So he took off about five hours before Haley's body was found, meaning he was still on the flight when police were in his bedroom because the flight is minimum like eight and a half hours.
Now, when Orlando landed in Managua, Nicaragua, just before 4 p.m. that afternoon, he was picked up by his mother and they made the two and a half hour drive to their home in Chinendega. And for those wondering, it's not known if she knew the extent of his crimes by this point or not. Like,
If she knew that he had done something wrong or maybe if he just said, oh, hey, I'm feeling homesick. I want to come visit you like he could have said anything to her. But Orlando did maintain his anonymity for a few days there, just laying low at his mom's house.
But when his head wound proved to be too dire for him to deal with on his own, he was forced to seek medical attention at a hospital on Tuesday, March 13th and receive treatment for what were described as self-inflicted injuries.
By then, word of his crimes had spread like wildfire in his home city of over 100,000 people. And the United States Department of Justice was aware that Orlando had fled to Nicaragua.
So together with the Nicaraguan government, a warrant was issued for his arrest. And that same day on Tuesday, March 13th, 2018, after being treated for his injuries, Orlando was arrested at the hospital, photographed in handcuffs with a bandaged head and a swollen lip alongside four members of the Nicaraguan National Police.
The following day, Nicaraguan officials held a press conference announcing that Orlando had been located and detained. However, they had not yet announced what he would be charged with.
First, he was transferred to a prison in El Chipote, which is 80 miles or 130 kilometers southwest of Chinendega. Now, El Chipote, you guys might know about it. I didn't know about it before this, but it is apparently famous for its poor living conditions and extremely harsh treatment of its inmates, even labeled as inhumane by the United Nations and nicknamed the Guantanamo Bay of Central America.
I have not heard of this place before, but oh my God, it is incredibly harsh. Yeah, you want to know a little bit more? Yeah, tell me a little bit more. Because it actually seems terrifying. Now, this is what a 2019 article said about it. Quote,
Oh my God, that's insane. Yeah, it's basically a torture chamber. And here is another quote from 2022.
Man, so fleeing to Nicaragua was the worst decision that Orlando could have made. Yeah, like, oh boy, he is in for it. Yeah, well, let's get back to Haley for a second. So on Sunday, March 18th, 2018...
Haley's family celebrated her life in her hometown of Westbury, when they should have been celebrating her graduation. Her dad Gordon delivered a heartfelt 40-minute speech to hundreds of mourners, and it was met with both laughter and sobs, commemorating a life well-lived.
He described packing up her room in Binghamton saying, quote,
"'Leave here with a smile and that warmth that comes with it, "'because simply, that's what Haley would have wanted.' "'The room spoke of happiness, dreams, aspirations, and joy. "'Over the window, straight ahead as you walked in, "'cut out of wood and painted purple, was the word love.'"
A GoFundMe for funeral expenses raised over $50,000 to give her the burial her friends and family knew that she deserved. And this is what the last line of the GoFundMe said, quote: "Any donations will be greatly appreciated and go directly to covering the cost of her funeral expenses. There is nothing any of us can do now that can make this situation better or any easier to bear."
All we can do is love and remember Haley for the genuine and amazing person that she was. All further proceeds will go to Haley's mother, Karen Anderson. Two months later, Haley's graduation day came, and her father Gordon walked on stage, sporting a flower in her honor, and accepted the degree on her behalf, to cheers and a standing ovation from the audience. That's so sweet. I love that he was able to be there and do that on her behalf.
Meanwhile, investigators worked to get Orlando extradited to the United States, but neither country requires extradition from the other, so ultimately for reasons that they would not justify, Nicaraguan officials decided not to extradite Orlando, which was their prerogative as he was just as much of a citizen there as he was in the United States.
to the dismay of her family. This stretched out the process of seeking a court date for over a year, while Orlando sat behind bars in El Chapote. It wasn't until September of 2019 when Broome County District Attorney Steve Cornwell received a call from the Department of Justice.
Nicaraguan authorities maintained their refusal to extradite Orlando to the United States, but they would try him in Nicaragua. Such a mistake to go there. Yeah.
Though it wasn't quite the outcome that they were looking for, Haley's family were extremely thankful that he would be held accountable for this crime. Well, Orlando was charged with femicide, which is defined as the murder of a woman or girl based on her gender. It's not a crime that is yet recognized by law in the United States, but its popularity is increasing due to the just outrage about the number of women who are at the receiving end of violent crimes online.
all over the world. And we've talked about this in a bonus episode before when we've covered a couple cases from Mexico. Oh, we did. Yeah, I remember that. Femicide is a huge problem in Mexico and they are very aware of it. Their law recognizes femicide. So hopefully ours will as well.
Orlando's friends and family were shocked and appalled at the allegations being leveled against him, with some stating outright that they didn't believe them to be true. Like, they were like, there's no way that Orlando would do that. Okay. Yeah, a few of his peers from childhood came forward to, like, defend him in interviews when a team of CBS correspondents ventured down to Nicaragua to cover the trial.
And according to them, Orlando was the best and most promising student in their class. And they believe that he was incapable of killing anyone, describing him as caring, respectful, and kind. I mean...
killers come in all sizes, shapes, and forms. So this doesn't really mean anything. It just feels so disrespectful to Haley too because she was found in his room. There is camera footage of him coming in and out of his house. There's no way around it. There's a fucking suicide note. Yeah, he wrote a note like, yeah, he fled the country. There's no way around it. He did it.
So, you know, stop that. But from the United States, investigators had to do their best to prepare for a trial, which they could not attend or maintain. The prosecution requested all the evidence that they could muster, which the prosecutors in Nicaragua gave them eight days to do. From the Broome County District Attorney's Office, key witnesses would video conference down to Nicaragua to give their statements through a translator.
On October 1st, 2019, Orlando Tercero's trial began.
Karen testified on her daughter's behalf as the prosecution's first witness. She described Orlando as in love and even obsessed with her daughter and that the warning signs were always there, including his increasingly alarming habit of showing up unannounced to keep tabs on Haley, which of course all of her friends knew about. And then there's the tire slashing incident that stemmed from pure jealousy of what Haley and Kevin had.
Josie testified as well, calling Orlando "possessive to an uncomfortable degree." Throughout the trial, Orlando was described as smug and arrogant, reclining in his seat and smirking at the video display, which was a far cry from that meek and panicked young man who had scrawled out that pitiful apology the night after Haley's murder. I mean, it's just insane to me that this guy is being so arrogant and cocky,
when he was literally about to take his life after he killed Haley, and now he's just acting like an asshole? Yeah, now he's just smirking in court? Well, by Orlando's own account, he had woken up after a late night to find her lifeless body beside him. Uh-huh. Sure.
His attorney, Eduardo Ruby, explained that he had blacked out after drinking too much and had no recollection of what happened that evening. That's such a great defense. Like, that's such a cop-out. Yeah, it is. And they actually took it a step further because Eduardo went so far as to allege temporary insanity, saying that Haley's death was a simple accident
God, they're really digging here. That doesn't mean anything. It doesn't matter if you were drunk when you killed a person, you still killed a person.
But the only witness called by the defense was a psychiatrist named Dr. Ronald Lopez Aguilar. Eduardo hoped that Dr. Aguilar would exonerate Orlando by proving that there were grounds for a plea of temporary insanity, but the doctor refused to play along and said plainly that, after an evaluation of Orlando, there were no medical grounds to believe his explanation was truthful.
Judge Fabiola Batencourt offered the final word to Haley's family, in which Karen said through tears, quote, Haley was a beautiful, intelligent, and friendly girl. She was an aspiring nurse and had her whole life to look forward to. She was and still is my best friend. So thank you for listening and letting me speak on behalf of my daughter.
Karen also spoke to Orlando in her closing statement saying, quote, The judge excused herself for only 90 minutes to deliberate. As juries are not a guarantee in the criminal justice system in Nicaragua, and Orlando's fate rested in the hands of the judge only. When she returned, she pronounced Orlando Tercero guilty of femicide.
Judge Batencore handed down the maximum sentence of 30 years. She also denounced violence against women and commented what a shame it was to have lost Haley out of pure jealousy. Everyone in Haley's corner, including the detectives who investigated the case, the attorneys who prepared it, and her friends and family were relieved at this outcome.
And there was a lot of disappointment that the trial was held in Nicaragua and not in the United States because, again, they couldn't be present and they couldn't witness him being sentenced to prison. And this is what Haley's dad, Gordon, said about this. Quote,
But the family wound up being exceedingly grateful for Judge Batencourt's influence in the courtroom and that she desired to be a force for good in Haley's memory. Steve Cornwell agreed, saying, quote,
On February 4th, 2020, Orlando was back in the courtroom with the same defense attorney attempting to appeal his conviction. Eduardo again pushed for a psychiatric evaluation to prove that there were grounds for an insanity plea. But this time, it was denied. Thus, his conviction was upheld.
When asked if he would still attempt to try Orlando for the murder if he were to be extradited, Broome County District Attorney Michael Korchak reported that he would entertain it. Michael reported, quote,
Our position is that it doesn't attach. It's a separate country and he could be tried here. But the decision obviously won't be made by me if he continues his 30-year sentence. But the family would be contacted and we would want their input on whether you would bring this guy back to the United States. Because, yeah, he is set to be released then, but...
By the time he is like 52 years old or so. Yeah. And if he ever steps foot back in the United States or if they decide that they're somehow going to extradite him back to the United States, he can be tried again. Yeah, absolutely. So it could be more than 30 years, but I think they'll probably have to consider that in many years from now.
Haley's mom, Karen, is now pushing for femicide to be recognized legally in the United States. She's also started volunteering for the Rape and Incest National Network on behalf of other female victims of domestic abuse and violence, just like her amazing daughter, Haley. ♪
Thank you so much, everybody, for listening to this episode of Going West. Yes, thank you guys so much for listening. I'm so glad that this case got some answers and some justice.
And also just want to remind you guys that next week, next Friday, we are not going to be coming out with a case because we're going to be with family up in Oregon. For Heath's birthday. Ayo, 36 baby, let's go. Anyway, yeah, so we won't be out with an episode on Friday, but we will have one coming the following Tuesday. Yes, and remember, if you want more Going West episodes, you can subscribe online.
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All right, guys. Let's get out of here. All right, guys. Let's go camping. Yeah, let's go camping. All right, guys. So for everybody out there in the world, don't be a stranger. ♪♪♪
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