Skip to main content

Costa Rican authorities investigate killing of a US citizen in an apparent robbery

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica (AP) — Costa Rican authorities said Monday they were investigating the killing of a U.S. citizen in an apparent robbery.

Kurt Van Dyke, a 66-year-old Costa Rica resident and local hotel owner in Puerto Viejo on the country’s Caribbean coast, was killed Saturday, according to the Judicial Investigation Agency.

His body showed signs of strangulation and stab wounds and was undergoing an autopsy, the statement said. Two men armed with at least one gun had threatened Van Dyke and a woman, stolen objects from the home and apparently a vehicle, authorities said. The woman escaped without serious injuries.

Van Dyke was part of a well-known California surfing family. A 2021 obituary of his mother Betty Van Dyke said that she was part of a pioneering group of early female surfers and her first husband Gene Van Dyke was also a well-known northern California surfer.

Beijing bans 4 New Zealand lawmakers from entering China because they visited Taiwan

By WTOP Staff
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Beijing banned four New Zealand lawmakers from traveling to China for a year and demanded they apologize because they visited Taiwan on a parliamentary trip, according to a message from the Chinese embassy conveyed via parliamentary officials and shown to The Associated Press on Thursday. China has hit lawmakers from other countries with sanctions related to contact with Taiwan before, but it's the first time for New Zealand parliamentarians, the government in Wellington said. Beijing has been increasing pressure in recent years on the democratically governed island that it claims as its own territory. Two lawmakers reached by the AP on Thursday rejected the demand for an apology, while the other two could not be immediately reached. New Zealand's government said it would express concern about the travel bans to Beijing. The elected officials visited Taipei in May, as New Zealand parliamentarians have done “for decades,” a spokesperson for Foreign Minister Winston Peters said in a statement.
Read Next Story

Related News

Beijing bans 4 New Zealand lawmakers from entering China because they visited Taiwan

Police warn families of Tiananmen crackdown dead not to visit graves on 37th anniversary

Women are the first caregivers in this Ebola outbreak and the most at risk