Page 15 - PPIAC Newsletter Mar-Apr 2022

Professional Private Investigators Association of Colorado

INVESTIGATING AN INTERNATIONAL MISSINGS PERSON CASE FIELD INVESTIGATION

Continued from page 14
water of the lake. We did obtain in the area were unpowered. He
one lead though, which was that told us that approximately fifty
there were several small indige- people had been involved in the
nous fishing communities around investigation between the NNP
the lake, and that there may have and the Nicaraguan Navy, the larg-
been witnesses among that popu- est turnout for a drowning he’d
lation. ever seen, and that two divers had
gone down 164 feet. He agreed to
The Lake
take us on the lake, and was un-
The lake itself is a famous lake in concerned about law enforcement
Nicaragua, the Apoyo Lagoon. It is given the good will he’d generated
a volcanic crater lake, and exceed- with them during the investiga-
ingly deep and large. At its deepest tion. We also learned from him
point, it is 574 feet deep, and occu- that an in-shape rower could go
pies 7.5 square miles. We spoke to across the lake in a kayak in ap-
the lifeguard who had been on du- proximately one hour and 40
ty at the time Abiodun went out, minutes. Poto drove us to various
who reported to us that he had areas of the lake. We found some
offered a life vest to Abiodun mul- clothing that had washed ashore,
tiple times, but that Abiodun had and sent photographs of it to the
refused and told him that he knew family, but they did not recognize
how to swim. The lifeguard noted it. We attempted to report it later
that Abiodun brought nothing with to the NNP, but they seemed unin-
him when he went out in the kay- terested in collecting it.
ak. We asked the lifeguard about
taking a boat on the lake, as we The Jungle
wanted to identify some of the are- After identifying multiple points
as indicated on the NNP’s map and where we saw fishing boats on the
get a sense of the size of the lake shore around the lake, we donned
itself. The lifeguard told us that no our jungle gear and went into the
one was allowed on the lake at that jungle to attempt to find the fish-
time, as the Nicaraguan Navy had ing communities. It was hot, and
not yet formally closed their inves- muggy, and there were mosquitos.
tigation (although they had left It took multiple hours to hike
many days prior). He suggested we through the jungle to the various
talk to a local, “Poto” who owned a one- or two-family huts in the jun-
large lake house and multiple gle that subsisted by fishing on the
boats to see if he’d take us out any- lake. However, we did in fact find
way. We went to Poto’s house and multiple witnesses at two different
learned from him that his house communities. The general consen-
had been the base of operations for sus was that they saw Abiodun on
the NNP’s investigation, and that the water on the morning of his
he had loaned his motor boats to disappearance and noted that Abi-
the investigation, as all other boats odun was kayaking from the far

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March—April 2022 Issue The Informant