Update 31 May, 2010: Eric Volz’s memoir, Gringo Nightmare: A Young American Framed for Murder in Nicaragua, was released this month from Macmillan. The tag-line reads, “In the spirit of Midnight Express and Not Without My Daughter comes the harrowing true story of an American held in a Nicaraguan prison for a murder he didn’t commit.”
I have not read the book yet, but since people continue to discuss the issue (by screaming at each other) in the comments section of this post from 2007, I thought I would add another update. There is a lot of wild speculation flying around the case, as you can see by reading the comments, (SERIOUSLY, they are damn entertaining) and passion obscures facts more often than not, so I’m glad Volz has a chance to tell his unique story in book form. I look forward to reading it and posting a more complete review, hopefully for my summer reading list. In the meantime, for information on Eric Volz’s book tour, visit his site: Friends of Eric Volz
Original post: April 26th, 2007:
BoingBoing.net has posted a very thorough collection of links regarding the Eric Volz murder case in Nicaragua, also recently featured on “NBC Dateline,” People magazine, and many others. Today’s NPR show, “Day to Day,” focuses on the fascinating “online battle surrounding Eric Volz, a 27-year-old American who is serving a 30-year sentence for the murder of his Nicaraguan ex-girlfriend. Volz insists he is innocent, and now his family is publicizing his case on the Web to get him freed.”The story is not just about who murdered an innocent young woman in her San Juan del Sur boutique, but about the ensuing nationalistic, anti-gringo sentiment that may be the result of a decade of foreign real estate sharks making off like bandits in this corner of the country — and which may have sent an innocent man to jail for 30 years. The upcoming June edition of Outside magazine, will have a lengthy feature on the story by Tony D’Souza, author of Whiteman (an excellent novel based on the author’s Peace Corps experience in Cote D’Ivoire).
