Winner: One Of Cortez's Victims Was A Drug Trafficker

(Panama-Guide) _ TVN Noticias _ One of the possible victims of serial killer William Cortez, Michael Brown, was actually a drug trafficker who has been wanted by the state of Florida in the United States for more than 20 years, according to Donald Winner, the Editor of the web page Panama Guide, who appeared on the TVN Channel 2 morning newscast today, and who first alerted Panamanian authorities to the disappearance of the Americas at the hands of "Wild Bill."  Winner said he has learned through conversations with detectives in the United States he was sure the true name of Michael Watson Brown is actually Michael Francis Salem, who has been wanted since 1981 by law enforcement officials in Florida. Brown, according to Winner, kidnapped two policemen, after which he fled to the Caribbean and then later went to Thailand where he met the woman who became his wife. Brown, his wife, and their son have been missing since 2007, when they met Cortez.
 
The other US persons who are missing are Bo Icelar, who spoke to his sister on 29 November 2009 and said he would be meeting with a man who wanted to buy his property in Bocas del Toro, referring to Cortez, but since then Icelar's family members have not been able to locate him, said Winner. Winner suspects that Cortez is not the real name of the man accused of the serial killings. Winner said the suspects first came to Panama in 2007 and the first thing they did was to search for and find properties listed for sale on the Internet, specifically that of the Brown family, and these people later disappeared which is why he thinks Cortez killed them.

Winner said he began to investigate the case after he was contacted by the people in Bocas del Toro who first filed the missing person complaint on the disappearance of Cheryl Lynn Hughes because the authorities in Bocas del Toro were not conducting an energetic investigation. Faced with this, Winner conducted his own research in the Public Registry and realized how Cortez had appropriated the property of the missing people and lived like a millionaire. Thus, on 7 July 2010, Winner took the information to the Attorney General and spoke with then -Assistant Attorney General, Neftali Jaén.

Winner said there are many foreigners who are fleeing from justice from the United States and from other countries who run to hide in Panama, but now, authorities are more alert and have the assistance of additional technology to combat drug trafficking and money laundering. Winner said he has investigated many cases of corruption and irregularities in land sales in Bocas del Toro, particularly in cases involving Rights of Possession properties that are not titled.

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Original Source: http://www.panama-guide.com/article.php/20100727161813106
Date Retrieved: July 28, 2010.