Nicaraguan authorities say they have arrested the 22-year-old suspect in the homicide of Binghamton University student Haley Anderson.
Orlando Tercero is suspected of killing Anderson, a fellow 22-year-old nursing student at BU, and fleeing to Nicaragua on an international flight. He was apprehended Tuesday at the Hospital de León and received medical attention for self-inflicted injuries, the Nicaragua National Police said in a press statement.
Police said he was transferred to the Directorate of Judicial Assistance, a prison also know as El Chipote, in Managua, Nicaragua.
“The National Police received a request from U.S. authorities for the location and capture of the delinquent Orlando Enrique Tercero Moreno, 22 years old, who [entered] Nicaragua on Friday, March 9 at 3:55 p.m. from the U.S.,” Díaz said.
The U.S. Department of State has been informed of Tercero’s capture, Nicaraguan police said.
Tercero has hired an attorney, and will be represented by Michael Bachner, a criminal defense lawyer in New York City.
“Orlando is presently now being detained in Nicaragua, subject to further investigation,” Bachner said.
Tercero had been romantically involved with Anderson and left the United States before her body was discovered, according to police. He is a U.S. citizen.
Anderson, a senior majoring in nursing from Westbury, New York, was found dead at 12:53 p.m. Friday after police responded to a welfare check at 23 Oak St., a student residence on Binghamton’s West Side. Anderson did not reside in the house. Her death was officially declared a homicide following an autopsy performed Saturday, March 10 at Lourdes Hospital in Binghamton.
“This incident and the circumstances of the death [were] not a random act or involving the conduct of a stranger,” a statement from BPD read. “The victim and male student had a previous domestic/romantic relationship. The investigation determined that the person of interest had left the United States by an international air travel flight prior to the discovery of Haley Anderson’s deceased body.”
In a statement, Broome County District Attorney Steve Cornwell said his office will be seeking an indictment from a grand jury in the case, and after one is granted, will file a warrant for Tercero’s arrest. According to Cornwell, the warrant will be presented to the U.S. Department of State, and his office will call on the Nicaraguan government to extradite Tercero.
“Every day, we work to protect Broome County residents, and those living in our community,” Cornwell wrote. “When a life is taken, we will use all available legal procedures and resources to bring justice to the victim, her family, the defendant and our community.”
The investigation is being conducted by the Binghamton Police Detective Division and assisted by BU’s New York State University Police, the Broome County District Attorney’s Office, the Federal Bureau of Investigation — Binghamton, New York/New Jersey HIDTA Program Resources, the Port Authority Police Department of New York and New Jersey and the Nassau County Police Department.