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Father demands truth from slain son's wife


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In the first weeks after his wealthy son's incomprehensible murder, Abe Anhang went loOKing for clues that could explain accused killer Jonathan Roman's attack on Adam and his wife Aurea. In talking to Adam’s associates in Puerto Rico, Abe got an earful -- not about Roman, whom they didn't know, but about the daughter-in-law Abe had met only a couple of times. It wasn't pretty. In fact, it turned out, the marriage had been falling apart.

Jorge: I never believe that there was a true love in that relation--

Sara James: What did he see in her?

Jorge: Such a beautiful woman. Nice shape, nice body.

Senator de Castro font knew Aurea before she met his friend Adam, and remembers her as a warm, attractive party-goer who was thrilled to be going out with a multi-millionaire.

Senator de Castro font: I told her, "You hit the jackpot, huh?"

Sara James: What did she say when you said, "You hit--"

Senator de Castro font: Say, "Well you know, he's taking care of me and I like it-- his way of living and traveling a lot and his buying me this. And he's buying a new car, a Porsche.”

Sara James: But she said, 'I love him'--

Senator de Castro font: Never say that, "I love him," no.

Adam's business partner Roberto Cacho told Abe that when Adam married Aurea, her standard of living increased tenfold.

Roberto Cacho: He bought her a nightclub, a little place called Pink Skirt. Bought her a car, then bought her another car, then rented a large house. She moved her family in. They all lived off Adam.

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If Aurea had been such a transparent gold digger, Abe couldn't understand why his blue-chip son would have married her, and so quickly. More unsettling was that the Anhangs were a close knit family, yet none of them had been invited to the wedding. Nor had any of Adam’s many close personal friends.

One of them, Janice Vallely from Florida, told Abe what Adam confided to her: Aurea and her family had pressed him hard for a speedy wedding because Aurea said she was pregnant.

Janice Vallely: The pressure was that there was no other option but that she would have that child, and because they were citing religious beliefs.

Sara James: She was Catholic?

Janice Vallely: Yes.

But that's not all she told Abe. Janice said when Adam called her again a few weeks later, he was devastated.

Janice Vallely: He said, “I must be the most stupid man in the world.”

Her friend, who prided himself on his shrewd business acumen, said he'd been duped.

Janice Vallely: He told me that there was no baby and that he felt like he'd fallen for the oldest trick in the boOK.

Sara James: You don't think she made a mistake--

Janice Vallely: No.

Sara James: --miscalculated, said, "Honey, we really need--"

Janice Vallely: No.

Sara James: "--to get married."

Janice Vallely: No.

Sara James: And then later learned--

Janice Vallely: No---

Sara James: "Oh, I’m not really pregnant."

Janice Vallely: I think she was strictly predatory.

Sara James: What do you think she wanted?

Janice Vallely: Money.

Abe said that information about Aurea’s alleged pregnancy helped him understand why his son so impetuously married, and why the marriage so quickly dissolved.

Two months after Adam married Aurea, he moved out of the couple's new home and into an apartment near his office.

Adam's former secretary, Glorivil Rosario, said Aurea would show up and hound Adam.

Glorivil Rosario: These offices here don't have any doors, so it's really inevitable to hear what somebody is saying, especially if there is screaming.

John: What were the fights generally about?

Glorivil Rosario: Most of them were about money. She would come by and ask for money.

Glorivil helped Adam draw up the legal papers for a proposed divorce -- something Aurea was resistant to. Glorivil said Adam was resigned to offering Aurea much more than the monthly allowance stipulated in the couple's pre-nuptial agreement, but he worried Aurea still wouldn't be satisfied.

Glorivil Rosario: And I think he feared her. I honestly believe that he did. Her, her family, her friends.

Glorivil said Adam told her that Aurea had the "muscle" to intimidate.

Glorivil Rosario: Adam had expressed that he had fear of her underworld knowledge. I guess she had these shady characters that are in some way drug related that would come down to her business.

While some of this was new to Abe, he had sensed his son's anxiety following the marriage breakup.

Abe Anhang: His partner and I both insisted on him getting security.

So Adam hired a bodyguard, and put him on around-the-clock retainer. It was Carlos Torado, who said he quickly understood that Aurea was a handful.

Sara James: He didn't trust her.

Carlos: When your wife uses your car and you search your car before you use it -- there's no trust there.

Sara James: Searched for what?

Carlos: Drugs. More than once we found envelopes with cOKe. He was afraid she would be setting him up.

Sara James: He was afraid she'd try to get him arrested.

Carlos: Yes.

Roberto Cacho: Every time he went to see his wife, he went with a bodyguard. I mean that tells me something about how fearful he was.

Business partner Roberto Cacho said in September 2005, just two days before the murder, Adam sent him an email saying, “I’m a little scared.”

Roberto Cacho: Which I answered saying, “Just stay inside, don't go out. Don't do anything stupid.”

Any jitters Adam might have had were not apparent in the boardroom. Two days after that email, he wrapped up one of his biggest business deals ever. The first person with whom he shared his excitement was his father Abe.

Abe Anhang: He was so delighted that I thought to myself, here's a kid who just hit a homerun. And I didn't realize that he wouldn't get to run the bases.

Nor did Abe know what was next up on Adam’s agenda. According to Roberto Cacho, Aurea had phoned, wanting to go to dinner with Adam that very night in old San Juan, ready, she said, to discuss a settlement package.

Roberto Cacho: Which seemed a real turn of events because before she said she'd never divorce him, she'd never let him go until he paid her huge amounts of money.

Carlos: She shows up an hour before the time they were supposed to meet...

Adam's bodyguard said he knew how volatile Aurea could be, and suggested to Adam that he take a table at the restaurant, too.

Carlos: He said it would be OK. He said they'd be going someplace where there would be people close by to make sure that no problems arose.

Sara James: And what did you say?

Carlos: With Adam you said, “yes sir” and, you said “I’ll see you in the morning.”


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