San José: Costa Rican police were Tuesday hunting a Nicaraguan man suspected of murdering an American resident, his Costa Rican female partner and three of their children with a machete.
The bodies of the five were found at their home in Costa Rica's northwestern coastal region of Guanacaste, an area favored by foreign retirees and tourists.
Two other children, one aged 4 and the other a baby of seven months, survived. The four-year-old was taken to hospital with severe wounds. The baby was unharmed.
The public security minister, Gustavo Mata, said that the family lived with the Nicaraguan man who was the chief suspect in the slaying.
Police were conducting an intensive search for the man, and authorities in nearby Nicaragua were alerted in case he tried to cross the border.
The American man was identified as Dirk Beauchamp, 57. His Costa Rican partner was named as Yemmi Duran, 38.
AFP
