Murder by the sea

And the evidence presented by the Nicaraguan prosecutor during the mid-February trial seemed overwhelming.

Keith Morrison, Dateline correspondent: They always say, “Look for the male, the boyfriend, the person who is pretty close, and you’ll find your killer.”

Eric Volz: Yeah, yeah.

There was an eyewitness, there were suspicious scratches on his back; and allegations that Eric had been insanely jealous of Doris’s new boyfriend and had threatened to kill her. 

It was, in a word, grim.

Or was it?

Eric’s family had hired the best lawyer they could find—a man who’d once defended Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega.

And he had excellent ammunition—a perfect alibi.

Remember, the murder happened around 12:30 p.m .in San Juan del Sur, more than two and a half hours drive from Managua.

Volz: The first question that the police asked me when I was interviewed the night of her murder was “Eric, where were you today from 8 o’clock in the morning until the time you received this phone call saying that Doris was dead?” And the first answer out of my lips to the police was that, “I was in my office at Managua.”  He then asked, “Do you have witnesses that can—you know, confirm this?” Yes.

Eric testified that his housemaid woke him up that morning at his Managua apartment sometime before 9 a.m.

Volz: And then I immediately went into the office, probably around 9 o’clock, and there was my creative director, my managerial editor, and my graphic designer.

All three provided testimony they had been with Eric, just as he claimed.

But there was more.

A potential business partner called: Respected Nicaraguan journalist Ricardo Castillo asked for a meeting to talk about Eric’s magazine.

Ricardo Castillo: I called him at 10:30-- 11:00 on the conventional line.

Volz: Not on the cell phone, because the meeting was set originally at 1:00.  And then something else came up for me at after 2:00.  So I called him and asked him to move the meeting from 1:00 to 12:00.  And he said yes.

Ricardo says he showed up at Eric’s office at 12 noon on the dot.

Morrison: Were there other people in the office that day?

Castillo: Yes.  Yes.  There were at least seven other people.

He was with Eric, he testified, from 12 noon until after 2 p.m.  And about the time the murder happened, they were both on a conference call.

At the other end of the call, in Atlanta, was American Nick Purdy. He testified that as they talked, he and Eric were exchanging instant computer messages.

He submitted the time-stamped messages to the Nicaraguan court.

Eric seemed perfectly fine and even upbeat that day, said Castillo.

Morrison: He didn’t seem nervous in any way?

Castillo: Not that I noticed.

Morrison: Not stressed?

Castillo: Really not at all.  Because then we had a very relaxed lunch afterwards. 

Castillo and nine other people testified Eric Volz was in Managua—more than two and a half hours drive from San Juan, at the time of the murder.

But why call for a rental car at 1 p.m., as the prosecutor claimed, if—as Eric testified—he only found out about the murder at 2:45 p.m.?

Volz: Well, the answer to that is, it’s not true.  We didn’t call at one o’clock. My secretary called around three o’clock, and we actually have the phone registry record that dictates that. 

Morrison: There’s been some dispute about that car.  Because, nobody at the rental car company saw you rent it.

Volz: Well, they actually did.  They did see me. They testified saying they didn’t. I went outside and signed the voucher on the table, and he was right there.  For whatever reason, he ended up testifying, saying that he didn’t see me.

Sure enough, Eric’s signature is on the rental car payment slip.

Then Eric’s defense produced cell phone records to show that Eric drove from Managua to San Juan just when he said he did.

Volz: My defense did present what’s called a “triangulation registry” that shows where the phone calls I was making, which antennas they were being directed through. And then, it shows them gradually—the antennas, which correlate with a route to San Juan del Sur. 

That, then, was the alibi.

But Eric also responded to the prosecution’s claim that Doris left these scratches on his shoulder as he attacked her.

Morrison: I’ve seen a photograph of them.  And, sure as heck looks like fingernail scratches. 

Volz: Number one, you’re not a specialist. To a lot of people, they look at it, and they know that it’s not nail scratches.  If you look at the photograph, the skin is not torn. 

But there was a perfectly good reason for the scratches, said Eric. Remember, at the funeral, he was one of the four pallbearers?

Volz: And on the downhill side of my shoulder, you can see where the blood vessels are broken and bruised.  And that’s because I had the casket, and it would fall down, and then I would readjust the casket. And that’s why there’s two or three different lines. 

The video seemed to back up his story.

As for the blood under Eric’s finger nails, police couldn’t even determine whose it was, or what type, let alone where it came from.

There was no DNA test.  On anything.

And at the crime scene, argued the crack defense team, police found nothing at all linking Eric to the murder. Nothing.

Volz: They took blood samples, pubic hair samples, saliva samples, and hair samples of me.  And none of it coincided  with what little they did find at the crime scene.

As for a motive—jealousy—Eric admits he knew Doris was seeing someone else. But—

Volz: I’m not a jealous person.  None, whatsoever.  I wasn’t in love with Doris in that way, at the time.  I had a lot of exciting things to look forward to… she had her store. I never felt jealousy, what I felt was excitement. It was kind of a relief for me to know that she was kind of taking the pressure off of me a little bit.

And finally, there was that eye witness, Nelson Dangla.

At trial, Dangla admitted he was an alcoholic, and not exactly an upstanding citizen. In fact, police initially arrested him right after Doris’s murder.

He was given immunity for his testimony—that he saw Eric at the crime scene.

Volz: They didn’t have any evidence against me.  So, at the last minute, the prosecution kind of struck a deal with Nelson Danglas.

Surely no one would believe Danglas, when Eric’s alibi was so water tight - backed up by credible witnesses, phone records, cellphone towers and the rental car signature. 

Morrison: When it came to trial, you probably thought, “I’ll get off, no problem.”  Because I’ve got all these alibi witnesses, right?

Volz: Yes. 

In fact, Eric’s defense was so solid that, back in Nashville, his mom Maggie and step-dad Dane were making preparations to bring him home.

Dane Anthony: We were feeling more positive all the time.  And literally, with probably 20 minutes before the phone call came about the verdict, we were on the couch together, on the computer, looking for plane tickets to buy to fly Eric home. 

Morrison: I’m feeling tremendous relief at this point.

Maggie Anthony: Oh, yeah. We had brought all his clothes home with us.  And I’d washed them.  And we had doctors prepared to see him.  All sorts of things in line for him.  And we just knew he was coming home. 

Or was he?

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