On December 26, 2010, not having managed to locate Bill for four days, and now sick with fear about what might have happened to Barbara, Bill and Barbara’s roommates decided to call Bill’s family in North Carolina.  They gathered around the computer and punched the number into skype.

An older gentleman’s voice answered the phone.  They identified themselves as Bill friends, and asked if he knew where Bill was.  “Sure!” he answered pleasantly, “He’s right here.  Would you like to talk to him?”

They said yes.

I wasn’t part of this conversation, but have heard about it from several of the people who were.  The roommates say that they confronted Bill directly about Barbara, asking what had happened to her.  According to them, Bill laughed at them for suggesting that he killed her.  He made jokes, as if he could read their minds, about putting her in the board bag and throwing her over a bridge.  Then he hung up the phone.

This is the last conversation that Bill had with any of his former room mates.

* * *

Four days later, an investigation of the home by the OIJ revealed evidence that we are all familiar with, removing all doubt about whether or not Barbara Struncova was still alive.

The whereabouts of her body and of the board bag are an ongoing mystery.

On the morning of December 23, 2010, the owner of the tour office where Bill worked woke up to discover that his company’s bank accounts had been frozen due to unusual activity the previous day.

At some time on December 22, 2010,  during hours when the shop was closed, several thousand dollars were charged to Barbara Struncova’s credit card at the tour center.   Security cameras confirm that directly after these charges were made, Bill Ulmer withdrew a large amount of money in cash at the ATM across the street from the shop, using the corporate ATM card that was in his possession.  He reportedly withdrew roughly $5,000–part of this money belonging to the tour company, and part of it belonging to Barbara Struncova.

At this time no one knew where Bill had gone, only that he was last seen sitting at a bus stop.

On this day, six years ago, the owner of the tour office where bill worked was the first person to suggest that Bill had harmed Barbara and fled.  It seems obvious now,  but at the time, shock and disbelief stupefied everyone.  Both Bill and Barbara were gone and no one knew the whereabouts of either.

Bill and Barbara’s room mates went into their bedroom.  To their horror, they found all of Barbara’s things in their places, untouched.

Read other days:

December 22
December 26

On the afternoon of December 22, 2010, 17 days after Barbara Struncova was last seen, Bill Ulmer also disappeared.

He was last seen by a room mate, sitting at a bus stop with a small back pack and wearing long pants–a sure sign that someone at the beach is headed out of town.  The surprised room mate asked him where he was going.  Reportedly flustered, Bill replied that he was waiting for the private shuttle bus to the capital because he needed to pay the driver directly in cash for a client transfer.

That was Bill’s last conversation in Tamarindo.

The shuttle company, when contacted, reported no pick-ups in the name of Bill Ulmer, but they did report the pick-up of a white foreigner named “Steve York” at that spot, at that time, on that day.  Curious that Bill has a cousin by that name–one who has never been to  Costa Rica.

Read other days:

December 21
December 22

On Tuesday, December 21, 2010, Bill Ulmer returned from “looking for Barbara” to his home in Tamarindo.  Whereas he stated that he was going to look for her in the Caribbean and/or in Jaco, he was seen surfing in Malpais which is near neither place.  (Bill and Barbara’s friends did not  know where Bill had been “looking for Barbara”–the fact that he was actually surfing in Malpais came to light in recent years.)

The most peculiar part of Bill’s “search” for Barbara is that, although “the search” was unsuccessful, he came back in a much better mood than the one he left in.  Room mates remember that he seemed “happy” for the first time since Barbara “left” him.  Strange, for someone who spent days unsuccessfully searching for a missing person who was so close to him.

But, six years later, we all know why he felt so much relief.  He had a plan in place to vanish, too.

Read other days:

December 16
December 22

At some point between December 15 and December 17, 2010, Bill Ulmer went to “look for Barbara.”  He threw some things in a backpack, took an old sleeping bag, and left.

To some people, he said he was going to look for her in Puerto Viejo.
To others, he said he was going to find her in Limon.
He mentioned Jaco as well, which is nowhere near either of those places.

For years I wondered where he went.  Of course he wasn’t really looking for Barbara.  He knows perfectly well where she is.  So why the story about searching?

Now we know:
Bill went on a surf trip to Malpais.  A mutual acquaintance saw him there.  They chatted in the water, and Bill mentioned, before he paddled on, that he was going back home to the USA for Christmas.

This is the only mention Bill made to anyone about the trip that he indeed did make to the USA a few days later.

Read other days:

December 12
December 21

On December 12, 2010, the 4th of Barbara Struncova and Bill Ulmer’s 4 roommates returned home from a visit to the USA. She was aware that while she was gone, Barbara had left Bill in an uncharacteristic manner, and that Barbara still had not contacted anyone.  Everyone was very worried about Barbara, but nobody wanted to ask Bill too many questions.  He seemed furious about the whole thing, and not one bit concerned for her safety, wherever she was.

In the kitchen on her first morning back, Bill told this roommate that Barbara left him with one of the Czech surfers– an old boyfriend named Martin–and that the couple had gone to Panama.

Although this made no sense at all (none of the Czech surfers were named Martin and all of them had returned to Czech Republic), no one had the gall to cross-examine Bill.

Barbara’s friends were afraid that something had happened to Barbara after she left.  Still, no one imagined that she never walked out the door.

Read other days:

December 7
December 16

On December 6, 2010, Bill walked into a the surfshop where he often worked, and told the employee on duty that he needed to borrow the largest surf board bag they had. He stated that he needed to go to Junquillal to pick up a board or some things from one of Barbara’s friends. He said that Barbara left him for a new boyfriend, and that she and this new boyfriend had gone to Puerto Viejo, on the other side of the country.  Bill received, on loan, a used surfboard bag that was designed to fit 3 9-11 foot surf boards.  He left the surf shop with it on December 6 and it has never been seen again.

Bill posted something mean on his facebook page about how you never really know a girl until she leaves you, then the real person shows up.

In the afternoon, Bill borrowed a car from a friend.  He told this person that he needed it to take some of Barbara’s things to a friend of hers who would make sure she got them.  This friend was supposedly somewhere nearby like Flamingo or Avellanas.  He received the car in the late afternoon.

It is reasonable to believe that, on the night of December 6, 2010, Bill placed Barbara’s body inside the board bag that he borrowed, placed the bag either in or on the borrowed car, and took them someplace to hide.  Neither the body nor the bag have ever been discovered.  He did not take Barbara’s things anywhere–they remained in her closet.  Documents prepared by the OIJ and presented in a US court of law indicate that large amounts of blood evidence were discovered in the closet of Bill and Barbara’s bedroom.  Traces of blood evidence were also discovered in the form of drag marks that lead from the closet, through the door of the residence and then disappeared.

Read other days:

December 5
December 7

At about 1:00 AM on December 5, Barbara’s friends drove her to her home after dinner and drinks. She got out of the vehicle, and they watched her enter her residence.

Three of four roommates were in their rooms sleeping. None of them hear anything unusual during the night.

In the morning, Bill told his roommates that Barbara left him.  He told them that she came home drunk from the bar and that she packed a bag and left with one of the Czech surfers who was an old boyfriend of hers.  He said that they got on the bus to San Jose, headed for the Caribbean coast.  Everyone was stunned and confused, but nobody wanted to ask nosy questions.

Barbara’s spirit was free by this time, but it is reasonable to believe that her body was in her closet with her clothes.

Bill went to work at a tour office that day. The friend who had plans to meet Barbara at the beach noticed him there. She stopped by to say hello, and mentioned to Bill that she had plans to meet Barbara later. Bill replied that she won’t be seeing Barbara, because Barbara had gotten drunk with her friends the night before, and they left  to travel to Limon (Caribbean coast).  Barbara’s friend thought this sounded odd, but hoped Barbara was having a fun, spontaneous trip.

Read about other days

December 4, 2016
December 6, 2010