Butchered at the beach then stuffed inside killer’s backpack
Yvonne Baldelli felt drawn to a life on the beach, but she was actually being lured to her death…
With clear crystal waters lapping on the soft white sands and endless palm trees providing coconuts for the cocktails, the remote island of Carenero just off the coast of Panama was the perfect place for Yvonne Baldelli to run to.
It was a dream destination for the free-spirited divorcee from California who wanted a fresh start, and with her long-term boyfriend Brian Brimager and her dog by her side, she thought she’d found paradise.
Yvonne raved about her new life to her family, so they were stunned when Brian revealed that Yvonne had left him after just three months.
He claimed that Yvonne was now travelling with another man.
It made no sense. Why was she running again?
It would take two years to discover the horrific truth stuffed inside a rucksack in the swamps of a Panama jungle…
Back in 2011, Yvonne from
Laguna Niguel, California, had come to a crossroads.
She’s just been made redundant from her job as a sales manager and saw a chance to change her life.
Deep down, Yvonne, 42, with her huge smile and easy rapport, longed for simple life by the ocean.
The laid back vibe of Panama’s remote islands was exactly what she was looking for and she was thrilled when her boyfriend of two years agreed to join her.
Tall, well-built Brian had just completed eight years in the Marines service.
Yvonne was smitten with him.
In September 2011, the couple moved to Isla Carenero on the Caribbean coast of Panama and embarked on a cheap life, renting a place on the scenic beach.
They even took Yvonne’s beloved Cavalier King Charles Spaniel called Georgia Mae.
Brian made a living from singing in bars with his guitar, while Yvonne planned on making clothes to sell.
She was constantly in touch with her loved ones saying how happy she was.
She’d email describing her tropical adventure.
How she’d wake up and swim in the sea or watch Brian sing in the local bars as the sun went down.
Then just three months after Yvonne arrived, the calls stopped and the emails slowed down.
Then Brian emailed to say that she’d left him for another man called Tony Gonzales and they were travelling in Costa Rica together.
She’d even taken her dog with her.
Her family were stunned, but Yvonne emailed them and backed up the story.
Money was even withdrawn from her account in Costa Rica.
It was so against her character, but they couldn’t dispute the evidence.
Brian returned to California and within days he rekindled a relationship with a former girlfriend, the mother of his young daughter. Weeks later,
Brian proposed and by January 2012, they were married.
Over the next few months, Yvonne’s emails stopped and when she didn’t appear at a family event, she was reported missing.
Investigators discovered there was no evidence of her leaving Panama or entering Costa Rica.
Yvonne’s family feared the worst and travelled to Panama to search for her and discovered her relationship wasn’t as perfect as she’d claimed.
Locals revealed that the couple would have fierce arguments with one another and Yvonne was even seen with a black eye.
It was time to accept that Yvonne was most likely dead.
They spent days searching nearby swamp land in the deep jungle, but found nothing.
They feared she’d been dumped in the sea and might never be found.
The prime suspect from the very start was Brian.
Investigators went to the beach home he’d shared with Yvonne where they found traces of blood.
There was also a post on Brian’s Facebook shortly after she
She told loved ones she was happy
disappeared talking
about his machete that he was selling.
I’ve only used it to chop up one stripper, he joked.
He’d actually revealed a clue. Yvonne was last seen on the night of November 26, 2011, at a steak restaurant with Brian.
Locals said later that day there were sounds of a violent fight in their home.
After that, Brian told everyone that Yvonne had run off.
Was that the day she was killed?
Police concluded that her dog, Georgia Mae was dead, too.
If Brian was going to make people believe that Yvonne had left him, the dog had to die.
Without a body, Yvonne’s family were in limbo.
They held a memorial service for her while the case was investigated.
Then on June 26, 2013, Brian was suddenly arrested just weeks after his wife had their second daughter.
He was charged with covering up Yvonne’s death – not her murder.
Investigators said he’d killed Yvonne and had gone to extreme lengths to get away with it.
Finally, he was in custody and there was plenty of evidence.
After Yvonne had gone missing, he researched how to clean blood off a mattress.
Investigators also discovered that the emails sent from Yvonne’s account were actually sent by Brian.
He’d cruelly tricked her loved ones into believing she was still alive. Two months later, a local
worker in Panama discovered a military style backpack and trash bags in swamp jungle near where Yvonne was last seen.
Inside were skeletal remains and
DNA confirmed it was Yvonne.
She’d been dismembered, probably with a machete.
Brian was charged with murder and in an agreement with Panama, using a rarely used law, it was decided that he would be prosecuted
in the US.
Initially, Brian pleaded not guilty, but at his trial in February 2016, he pleaded guilty to
second-degree murder in a
South Californian court.
Brian, then 40, admitted stabbing his girlfriend in the back during a row.
He dismembered her body with a machete, stuffed parts into a rucksack and dumped it.
He went to great lengths to cover his tracks by hacking into her email account and even travelled back to the US via Costa Rica so he could withdraw cash from a cashpoint there.
He’d disposed of a bloody mattress in the sea and killed Yvonne’s dog.
He’d even packed her things up and left them outside of a hostel, so they’d get taken by passers-by.
It was cold, cruel and calculated.
Brian had been
talking to his former girlfriend, now wife, whilst in Panama. Did he have plans to break up with Yvonne and get back with her? If that was the case, why hadn’t he simply walked away?
The lack of motive would haunt Yvonne’s loved ones. Brian was
soon sentenced to 26 years in prison for killing Yvonne. Shortly after, Brian apologised for the act that he said was; ‘contrary to my nature.’
They were empty words for Yvonne’s family. Yvonne thought she was starting a new life in paradise, but she’d taken with her the only thing that could end it all in a blink of an eye; Brian Brimager.
They had to accept she was dead her family Brian told to run off she’d left him man with another