Pass This URL On?

[Guest]

It was one year ago today that my brother-in-law, Richard "Rick" Mashler was murdered by an employee that he had just fired (after being more than lenient and understanding with the guy).

 

He was the husband of my wife's sister and they have two children (now 13 and 15). One year later, everyone is managing except the kids have been having trouble in school. Both are high honors students, but the last year has seen their grades slip significantly. We're hoping the school year they are now in will show a return-to-form.

 

I idolized Rick and his philosophies on life. I put him in the league with my grandfather, which those of you who know something about me by now, speaks volumes.

 

He held his wife and children above everything else. He was intelligent and athletic beyond belief. While in college he was the US national high bar champion. His favorite activity was surfing; he did it for roughly 35 years. He even proposed to my sister-in-law while they were on surfboards.

 

His other hobby was nature, particularly raising endangered reptiles and amphibians. He had a tremendous respect for the flora and fauna of this world. Belize, The Bahamas and Hawaii were his favorite places of travel.

 

Besides being a loving father and husband, and a top athlete, he had an incredible fun side. Just to prove he wasn't "old", he did a standing backflip on every birthday! Right up until his last one--the 49th.

 

Thanks for listening. Please no replies to my post. I only ask one thing: Here is a link to a site describing the killer. Please pass it on to anyone in the Americas you may know:

http://www.amw.com/site/archives/20000115/...betancourt.html

[Guest]

Here's a news article from today on the whole thing:

http://www.tcpalm.com/news/psl/10v373.shtml

[Pilafhead]

The FBI finally caught the bastard that killed my brother-in-law!!!

 

Betancourt extradition may prove troublesome

April 10, 2001

 

Gabriel Margasak

Tribune Staff Writer

 

PORT ST. LUCIE - Because of Mexico’s opposition to the death penalty, returning murder suspect Mario Betancourt to Florida may prove as long and complex as the 15-month manhunt itself, as U.S. officials wade through the intricate international politics of extradition.

 

With Betancourt now in a Mexico City jail, where he was transferred after being arrested Friday in Cancun, the legal focus shifts to whether the Mexican government will approve his extradition.

 

A major issue, U.S. officials said, may be Mexico’s stance on the death penalty, which is outlawed there.

 

"Mexico will not extradite people that are going to executed or might be subject to execution. They don’t believe in it," said Alex Rivas, a Fort Pierce FBI special agent. "That’s going to be one point of contention."

 

Betancourt, 44, was wanted in the January 2000 murders of co-workers Richard Mashler, 49, and co-worker Kenneth Conklin, 39, inside Mashler’s Biltmore Street business.

 

Betancourt returned to the store after being fired, fatally shot the men, then fled toward Miami-Dade County and disappeared.

 

If returned to Florida and indicted on first degree murder charges, Betancourt would face mandatory life in prison if found guilty and prosecutors could seek the death penalty.

 

But under a 1978 treaty with the United States, Mexico can refuse to extradite any person who could face the death penalty, officials said. The treaty states extradition may be refused unless Mexico receives assurances the death penalty will not be imposed.

 

"They will probably request that he is not going to be subject to the death penalty before they extradite," Rivas said. "That’s one of the issues that is going to be resolved through these extradition hearings," he said.

 

Local prosecutors said they had made no decisions on whether or not to seek the death penalty.

 

"Each situation is unique, so we’ll just have to wait and see," said Assistant State Attorney Chris Taylor, who is likely to prosecute the case. "We’re taking it step by step."

 

Similar issues were played out in the 1997 Florida case of a man wanted in the murder-for-hire killing of a Sarasota mother of six. He was later captured by Mexican authorities.

 

The case of Jose Luis Del Toro, who was sentenced to life in prison last year in the murder of 35-year-old Sheila Bellush, set off an international tug of war after his arrest in Mexico. His extradition was delayed for 20 months before U.S. officials agreed to waive the death penalty, according to media accounts at the time.

 

As in that case, Betancourt’s fate is now in the hands of the Mexican government. But U.S. authorities declined to draw any parallels in the two cases, saying it is clearly too early to tell what will happen.

 

"The Mexicans do not like to extradite people who might face the death penalty on return to their home country," said Josie Shumake, a spokesperson at the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City.

 

She said the process starts when the U.S. government presents documents to Mexican officials to establish the facts of the case.

 

"The idea is to present documents to show there is enough evidence to bring the person to trial here in Mexico," she said, to see "if there’s strong enough evidence or information that there would be probable cause for a trial."

 

That does not mean Betancourt would go on trial in Mexico, she said, explaining the situation as part of the process. "That’s just sort of theory."

 

Once the information is presented, Betancourt would have three days to present his own evidence to raise objections to the evidence and fight the charges.

 

"A judge here in Mexico will review everything . . . and then will make a recommendation on whether or not to extradite the person back to the United States," she said. "Then it goes to the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Relations. Then they make a decision yes or no on extradition."

 

If the Mexican government agency agreed to extradite, Betancourt would still have another opportunity to appeal.

 

The entire process usually takes about six months, Shumake said.

 

While U.S. officials said they are still working through diplomatic issues, Port St. Lucie authorities seemed confident Betancourt would be brought to justice in the United States.

 

"While it may be a while before we get him back here, we know he will be," said Chuck Johnson, the spokesman for the Port St. Lucie Police Department. "In the end I think he’ll be back here."

 

The 15-month search for Betancourt led detectives from South Florida to California and back. The trail eventually led to Mexico, as investigators traced thousands of phone numbers, interviewed witnesses and checked out tips along the way.

 

The key tip of Betancourt being in Cancun came from a tip provided by the television show America’s Most Wanted, Johnson said, as he released new details of the investigation.

 

After the shooting at The Padding Store, Mashler’s Biltmore Street business, Betancourt "went to his home, grabbed his daughter and put her in the van and drove to Palm Beach," Johnson said.

 

Betancourt then went to a train station in West Palm Beach where he abandoned the van and boarded a train to Hialeah, "where he contacts family members and releases his daughter to their custody."

 

"He stays in the Hialeah area in hiding, to the best of our knowledge. Quite frankly, he was assisted by somebody," Johnson said. "He was assisted by someone but we’re not going to go into who. We have our suspicions."

 

Police all over South Florida searched for Betancourt. The hunt was intense, but Betancourt managed to evade capture.

 

In an effort to learn his whereabouts, police aired the Betancourt story on America’s Most Wanted.

 

"That generated a tremendous amount of information," Johnson said.

 

Police began receiving reports from across the country Washington State, Georgia, Texas, North Carolina and other states - but none panned out.

 

"I think he was probably in the South Miami area for a least six months before he started moving around," Johnson said.

 

"In the mean time, we had tracked him one time to California when he had flown there using an alias name. We lost track of him in California."

 

It was unclear where he went in California, or if he met anyone there.

 

Betancourt then apparently came back to Florida before returning to California once again, all the while traveling under a number of false identities, Johnson said.

 

"That’s when we got information he was in Cancun," Johnson said.

 

After numerous dead ends, it was a tip from America’s Most Wanted that provided investigators with the break they needed.

 

"Someone, and we don’t know who, apparently had seen his photograph on America’s Most Wanted," Johnson said. "We’re really not sure whether it was an American or not."

 

With that information and help from the FBI and Mexican authorities, Betancourt was captured in Cancun.

 

As for what Betancourt was doing in Cancun, a popular tourist spot, Johnson said, "He wasn’t doing anything. I think he picked Cancun because it’s a tourist area and he speaks the language and he doesn’t have the intense police presence he had in the Miami area."

 

The wanted fugitive had been in Cancun for about four weeks, Johnson said, when he was captured.

 

"It’s our understanding he was taken into custody at a residence," he said, but declined to go into detail about who owned the residence.

 

"The situation now is really out of our hands," Johnson said.

 

The FBI, the State Department , the Department of Justice and the state of Florida will be working through the legal and diplomatic systems to return him to the United States."

 

"The Mexican Government has been extremely cooperative," Johnson said.

 

In the end, "There’s no doubt who committed this crime," Johnson said. "We’re hopeful that they will just find it possible to deport him to the United States and let justice take is proper path. You can run but you can’t hide."