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has confessed to the cold-blooded murder of five people. Five Americans, whom Panamanian police say he killed to steal their homes, businesses, and money. The five have been identified as Michael Brown, his wife and teenage son; Bo Icelar; and Cheryl Lynn Hughes.

In 2007, when the Brown family disappeared and the Cortezes took over their home, renaming it Hacienda Cortez, no one thought much of it. The Browns kept to themselves; few people knew them. It turns out Michael Brown had his own checkered past: he was in the witness protection program, having turned witness against several drug dealers back in the United States.

Bo Icelar had owned an art gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico. In the expact community on Bocas, friends say he had become increasingly disenchanted and made it known that he wanted to sell his house. So when the Cortezes told next-door neighbor Sandi Hodge that Bo had left suddenly in November of 2009 and sold them his property at a reduced price, Hodge says people were surprised, but mostly by the price.

"That struck me as very odd," Hodge said. "It was the talk of the town. I said, 'God, if I would've known he was going to give the house away, we would've bought it.'"