GUILTY COSTA RICA - Carla Stefaniak, 36, American tourist, San Antonio de Escazú, 27 Nov 2018

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adot0902 said:
I'm still a couple of pages behind, but guys Uber is not a taxi company, you don't just call them and they come pick you up! It's all application based, you need to use the App on your phone to request service, you can't "Have someone just call and reschedule your time". I keep seeing this over and over, if her phone was not working, there is NO WAY unless she used her Uber information on someone else's phone that she could have called an Uber. However, there is a chance as someone said before that the Uber driver gave her his personal business card and that's how it was working. But from the requesting of the driver to the drop off it's all on the App.... Same general thing with AirBnB this isn't a hotel this is all APP based.
Click to expand...

Thanks for this. So true. She must have prescheduled the same driver who gave her a tour on the 27th to pick her up at 8:30AM. The fact that she got into a car at 5:30AM means that she either pre-arranged this, or someone at the Airbnb arranged for a ride that is not Uber.

I'm the person who mentioned an Uber driver (Savannah, GA) who provided a business card so we could bypass the Uber system. I suspect that the practice is fairly common.
 
otto said:
This is an awful lot of luggage for someone travelling for 4-5 days.
From your link:

View attachment 158200
Click to expand...
Yes indeed, but I've seen other women with that much, especially if they are model-types. Many pairs of shoes, loads of beauty products, all their personal care appliances, etc.

If that is the luggage she had with her, IMO it should be on the missing posters, someone might find it.
 
moreofless said:
If she fancies herself a model etc. she might want to have a different outfit for every photograph. Maybe she planned to stay in Costa Rica and disappear.
Click to expand...

Excellent point. Now I'm wondering if someone informed her of a modeling opportunity there, and she wanted to investigate it.

I really wish she'd told someone where she was going that a.m. I am not blaming her at all for not doing so, this is my frustration coming out.
 
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moreofless said:
If she fancies herself a model etc. she might want to have a different outfit for every photograph. Maybe she planned to stay in Costa Rica and disappear.
Click to expand...

I don't see this 36 year old woman as a model. I am leaning towards a plan to stay in Costa Rica. There could be many reasons for this, ranging from wanting to avoid something at home to wanting to re-unite with family.
 
Carla apparently checked in for her flight. If Carla planned to stay in Costa Rica, why bother to check in? If Carla planned to make it appear that she was abducted, it wouldn't make a difference. Also, she face timed a friend while at the airbnb when she related she was going to ask the guard for water, why would she bother? Does she have money with her, a foreign account, any CC activity? How would she manage?
I don't know....then again, one never knows...people do take off on their own, whether well planned or by winging it.
 
JerseyGirl said:
Maybe she made verbal plans with the Uber driver the day before to come back at 8:00am the next day to pick her up.

On the 27th, she dropped off her sister-in-law at the airport and they also returned their rental car. Carla then had an Uber pick her up at the airport, drive her around to sight see and shop until 5:00pm when he dropped her off at this Villa. I am assuming at that time, she negotiated another pick-up, this time at 8:00am the next day to take her to the airport.

That's when the guards and the AirBnB owner said she left in another vehicle at 5:00 a.m.
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We're assuming the 8 am pickup was the same Uber driver, but the info isn't all that clear, maybe she had booked through Uber, that would clear the driver and definitely explain why the attention is on the security guards.
 
Satchie said:
We're assuming the 8 am pickup was the same Uber driver, but the info isn't all that clear, maybe she had booked through Uber, that would clear the driver and definitely explain why the attention is on the security guards.
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Her brother said he spoke with the Uber driver from the day before (airport, shopping, sightseeing) and that he and Carla agreed he would be back at 8:30a.m. the next morning to take her to the airport. That's why I assumed that this particular uber driver was cleared.

The apparent 2nd uber drive at 5:00a.m., the guards, and the AirBnB host have their own story, all saying she left at 5:00 a.m. but it's been proven that she did not have a scheduled 5:00 a.m. Uber pick up.
 
otto said:
Thanks for this. So true. She must have prescheduled the same driver who gave her a tour on the 27th to pick her up at 8:30AM. The fact that she got into a car at 5:30AM means that she either pre-arranged this, or someone at the Airbnb arranged for a ride that is not Uber.

I'm the person who mentioned an Uber driver (Savannah, GA) who provided a business card so we could bypass the Uber system. I suspect that the practice is fairly common.
Click to expand...

I hate to admit it, but I'm a taxi girl to the core, and when I used them heavily I didn't even call the dispatch I just went through the list and called "My Taxi" people, AKA people who gave me their numbers, so yeah I'd say this is very common. Uber/Taxi/RideSharing....
My only point was that this would no longer be on the APP at that point it would be private, and to call it Uber isn't really what it is. I've been on here with you a lot, I don't think this is going to get solved quickly so when we are on thread #4 and someone mentions the Uber that picked her up, it's gonna cause a cluster of confusion because it wasn't. if that makes any sense at all.
 
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iluvmua said:
They make it sound like she did get into an unkown car at 5 in the morning.

Not good at all :(
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JMO
One scenario that happened to me and my girlfriend many many years ago in NYC and I wonder if something similar happened to her.

We had called a car service for a ride which is not a yellow cab because car services in NYC typically have their own personal vehicles. The reason we called a car service was because we first tried Yellow Cab and they could not send a driver to pick us up for about 1/2 hour so we looked in a phone book and found a car service that was advertised. We were in a location where no yellow cabs drive by so we couldnt hail a cab from the street and we didnt want to take subway as it was getting dark.

So anyway we are standing on the street corner where we told the car service we would be and this large sedan pulls right up and the guy rolls down the window and says something like "You need a lift" We stupidly thought this guy was our car service because we expected an unmarked car anyway. So we hop in and after a couple blocks of trying to explain where we needed to go we realized this was not the car service we called but someone who just saw us standing there waiting and needing a ride. We just about jumped out of a moving vehicle when we realized he was nice and sincere and just wanted to make a buck by giving us a ride. So we helped him find our location and gave him a nice large tip at the end of the ride. We tipped him good because we were happy to be alive :)

So I wonder if something similar happened to her except it did not end well. Like maybe a person saw her waiting and asked if she needed a lift and she may have thought it was her Uber driver there to pick her up. If some of the Uber cars are not marked then she would have no way to know until it was too late.
 
She pre-arranged an 8am pickup either through the Uber app or (more likely) informally with the Uber driver from the previous day.
The guards and AirBnB owner all say they saw her leave at 5am.

So what happened when the pre-arranged pickup arrived at 8am?
 
Ninety5rpm said:
She pre-arranged an 8am pickup either through the Uber app or (more likely) informally with the Uber driver from the previous day.
The guards and AirBnB owner all say they saw her leave at 5am.

So what happened when the pre-arranged pickup arrived at 8am?
Click to expand...

It was explained a page or so ago. The driver said he arrived but she was not there.
 
JRodriguez on Twitter | 3:27 PM (EST) - 3 Dec 2018

#BREAKING #CostaRica officials find a body near #Escazu AirBnB where #Miami resident #CarlaStefaniak went #missing nearly a week ago @ArlyAT51 @Telemundo51 #MissingPerson

Telemundo51 on Twitter | 3:59 PM (EST) - 3 Dec 2018

De momento, las autoridades costarricenses no han confirmado si se trata del cuerpo de Carla Stefaniak. Entérate de los detalles.

Translated from Spanish by Microsoft

For now, the Costa Rican authorities have not confirmed whether it is the body of Carla Stefaniak. Find out the details.

(Telemundo51 added,)

Hallan cuerpo en sitio donde se hospedaba joven de Miami

(From the above article, translated from Spanish by Google Translate)
The Judicial Investigation Organization (OIJ) of Costa Rica found a body on the property on Monday where a young woman from Miami, who had disappeared since last week, stayed for the last time.

According to an OIJ source, a team of dogs found the body half-buried in the back garden of the property where Carla Stefaniak spent the night before disappearing on Wednesday of last week.

At the moment, the Costa Rican authorities have not confirmed whether it is the body of the young American woman of Venezuelan origin.

 
Hatfield said:
JMO
One scenario that happened to me and my girlfriend many many years ago in NYC and I wonder if something similar happened to her.

We had called a car service for a ride which is not a yellow cab because car services in NYC typically have their own personal vehicles. The reason we called a car service was because we first tried Yellow Cab and they could not send a driver to pick us up for about 1/2 hour so we looked in a phone book and found a car service that was advertised. We were in a location where no yellow cabs drive by so we couldnt hail a cab from the street and we didnt want to take subway as it was getting dark.

So anyway we are standing on the street corner where we told the car service we would be and this large sedan pulls right up and the guy rolls down the window and says something like "You need a lift" We stupidly thought this guy was our car service because we expected an unmarked car anyway. So we hop in and after a couple blocks of trying to explain where we needed to go we realized this was not the car service we called but someone who just saw us standing there waiting and needing a ride. We just about jumped out of a moving vehicle when we realized he was nice and sincere and just wanted to make a buck by giving us a ride. So we helped him find our location and gave him a nice large tip at the end of the ride. We tipped him good because we were happy to be alive :)

So I wonder if something similar happened to her except it did not end well. Like maybe a person saw her waiting and asked if she needed a lift and she may have thought it was her Uber driver there to pick her up. If some of the Uber cars are not marked then she would have no way to know until it was too late.
Click to expand...
That doesn't make sense for this case for a number of reasons.
1) She stopped all communication the night before which according to her family is very uncharacteristic of her. So that suggests troubles started then.
2) She had scheduled an 8am pickup but the guards and AirBnB owner say they saw her leave at 5am. If she had an 8am pickup why was she even awake let alone leaving at 5am. The 5am story is highly suspicious.
3) She was in a residential area - not a busy downtown area like you were where taxis are constantly looking for people to pickup.
4) I find it highly implausible that despite the scheduled 8am pickup she arranged for a 5am pickup and got in the wrong car.
 
otto said:
I don't see this 36 year old woman as a model. I am leaning towards a plan to stay in Costa Rica. There could be many reasons for this, ranging from wanting to avoid something at home to wanting to re-unite with family.
Click to expand...
Her family is originally from Venezuela and there has been no mention made of ANY family there, which is why her brother immediately flew down. Like you, I just want it to be an outcome that has her safe but given that a body was found on the airbnb property where she was staying is not looking good.
 
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Ninety5rpm said:
That doesn't make sense for this case for a number of reasons.
1) She stopped all communication the night before which according to her family is very uncharacteristic of her. So that suggests troubles started then.
2) She had scheduled an 8am pickup but the guards and AirBnB owner say they saw her leave at 5am. If she had an 8am pickup why was she even awake let alone leaving at 5am. The 5am story is highly suspicious.
3) She was in a residential area - not a busy downtown area like you were where taxis are constantly looking for people to pickup.
4) I find it highly implausible that despite the scheduled 8am pickup she arranged for a 5am pickup and got in the wrong car.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the feedback as I have not followed the case till now.
 
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