Beltrán Cortés

Case record: Beltrán Cortés

Timeline

• 21 November 1908 — Beltrán Dalay Cortés Carvajal was born.
• 1 June 1928 — Dr. Moreno and Dr. Echandi surgically wired his right humerus.
• 23 July 1928 — He had a follow-up surgery on his right humerus by Dr. Echandi.
• 3 August 1928 — He had a follow-up surgery on his right humerus by Dr. Moreno.
• 2 August 1929 — Dr. Moreno gave him metal plate implants.
• 4 April 1932 — The metal plate implants were extracted.
• 28 July 1934 — While on duty, he killed his partner Benjamín Garita Ramírez.
• 1934 — He was sentenced to 5 years in prison.
• 23 June 1938 — He was sentenced to life imprisonment.
• 23 August 1938 (7:30 p.m., local time) — He knocked on Dr. Moreno's door, shot Dr. Moreno three times, then went to Dr. Echandi's house and shot him twice.
• 1970 — He was released.
• 11 June 1984 — He died of prostate cancer at age 75.

Background

Beltrán Dalay Cortés Carvajal (21 November 1908 - 11 June 1984) was a convicted Costa Rican murderer. He was mostly known for the killings of Ricardo Moreno Cañas and Carlos Echandi. He was one of the most famous former prisoners of San Lucas Island.

Beltrán Cortés was born on November 12, 1908 as the youngest of his 18 siblings to his parents Rosendo Cortés Madrigal and Amelia Carvajal in Santa Bárbara, Heredia. By 1938, he was living with his mom and three sisters in Santa Bárbara. He finished the first levels of elementary school and then went to work as a farmer. He never got married and never had children.

As a child in Heredia's market, a door accidentally fell on him, resulting in a head wound that left him a permanent scar and a humerus fracture in his right arm. The fracture left him with a humerus that never aligned because it was not properly treated in time.

In 1928, at the age of 20, he had surgery three times by doctors Moreno and Echandi. In the years that followed, his right humerus treatment included surgical wiring, follow-up surgeries, metal plate implants, and later extraction. At this point his diagnosis was an unconsolidated humerus due to syphilis.

He served as a police officer in San Rafael de Heredia.

When he left prison, he got a job at Chapuí Asylum, which he quickly quit to sell merchandise in the streets.

Even before the killings, he threatened several times with killing the two doctors. His mother asked that he be admitted into Chapuí Asylum.

The offence

Killing of his partner

On July 28, 1934, while on duty, he killed his partner Benjamín Garita Ramírez.

Killings of the doctors

Cortés became obsessed with the failed surgeries over time. At least one doctor told him they had been the surgeons' fault. An attorney convinced him Dr. Moreno should compensate him for the hardship and pain suffered.

Cortés later stated that he had gone to the hospital to get treated for a pain in his leg and that Dr. Moreno took advantage of this to take a graft of bone from his healthy arm for a foreign patient.

Cortés bought a gun from a police officer. On August 23, 1938 at 7:30 p.m (local time), he knocked on Dr. Moreno's door. When the maid opened the door he ran into the living room where Dr. Moreno was reading the newspaper and shot him three times. He escaped out of the place and immediately went to Dr. Echandi's house, stopping along the way to ask for directions since he did not the location too well.

When he got there he once again knocked on the door and was received by the footman. Dr. Echandi was on his way out because he had heard on the radio the news of Dr. Moreno's death and wanted to go to the crime scene. Cortés shot him twice from the front gate. Only one of the shots actually hit him, as the other one bounced off the door.

Additional victims during the escape

During his escape, Cortés also killed a Canadian man called Arthur Maynard. He severely injured two people: Egérico Vargas Loría and Rodolfo Quirós Quirós. During his escape, he was caught after these events.

Investigation

No separate investigation narrative was provided.

Arrest

He was caught during his escape after the shootings and the additional killings and injuries.

Trial

Conviction for killing his partner

He was convicted to a 5 year sentence in San Lucas Island for killing his partner Benjamín Garita Ramírez. He got years taken off his sentence by performing manual labour.

Conviction for the doctors' killings

On June 23, 1938 he was convicted to a sentence of undefined length at San Lucas Island. He was later sentenced to life imprisonment on June 23, 1938.

Sentencing

He was sentenced to 5 years in prison in 1934. He received the 5-year conviction in San Lucas Island for killing his partner Benjamín Garita Ramírez, and he got years taken off his sentence by performing manual labour.

On June 23, 1938, he was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Outcome

He was released in 1970.

He died of prostate cancer on June 11, 1984 at the age of 75 in his sister's house in Santa Bárbara.

Aftermath

On San Lucas Island, President León Cortés Castro ordered the construction of a 2 square metre cell for him that would allow all visitors to see him. During several years, tourists were brought from Puntarenas up to the island to see him exhibited in this cell.

José León Sánchez mentioned him in his book La isla de los hombres solos.

President Otilio Ulate Blanco ordered that he be taken out of that cell and placed with the other prisoners during a visit to the facility.

During President José Figueres' administration, the country's penal code was reformed, limiting Costa Rica's maximum penalty to 30 years in prison. Because Cortés had already been incarcerated for 32 years at that point, he was immediately released.

Other details

The murders were linked to the surgeries performed by Dr. Moreno and Dr. Echandi. Dr. Moreno gave him metal plate implants on August 2, 1929, and those implants were extracted on April 4, 1932. His diagnosis was described as an unconsolidated humerus due to syphilis.