Murdered surfing legend’s age-gap girlfriend is arrested over the killing months after
Costa Rican authorities have arrested the girlfriend of a California surfing legend months after he died in his own apartment during what was believed to be a deadly home invasion.
Kurt Van Dyke, 66, was found dead under his bed with a sheet over his head in the vacation hotspot of Puerto Viejo de Talamanca in February.
His younger girlfriend, identified only as Arroyo, 31, claimed at the time she was showering when two armed men broke into their beachside apartment and held them at gunpoint.
She said they killed him, before tying her up and fleeing in a 2013 Hyundai Elantra stolen from their property.
Costa Rica’s Judicial Investigation Agency announced this week that it arrested Arroyo and a 34-year-old man with the last name Gutiérrez on suspicion of participating in Van Dyke’s murder following an operation in Roxana, Pococí, during which it raided three homes, according to Teletica.
Local media shared footage of a man being walked to a car by several armed police officers with a sheet over his head.
It was reported at the time that Van Dyke’s body showed signs of asphyxiation and multiple stab wounds. A knife was found beside his body.
Following his death, Van Dyke’s heartbroken brother, Peter Van Dyke, remembered him as a ‘very benevolent, giving person who would help just about anybody.’
‘Kurt would never hurt anybody, and he was always there when you needed him,’ he added. ‘Everyone that he met knew this about him.’
Local media shared footage of a man being walked to a car by several armed police officers with a sheet over his head
California surfing legend Kurt Van Dyke (pictured) was found dead in a beachside apartment earlier this year
Van Dyke owned the popular Hotel Puerto Viejo for 40 years. He was born to a family of influential surfers, and established his own legacy riding the waves in Santa Cruz.
His father, Gene, was a pioneer in the surfing community, and his mother, Betty, helped women join the sport in the 1950s and 1960s.
Van Dyke moved to Costa Rica in 1983, choosing to settle down on the Caribbean coast famous for its Salsa Brava waves.
Surfing the powerful hollow swells, Van Dyke became known as ‘King’ to those in the watersports community, according to the Chronicle.
Roger Sams, president of Costa Rica’s Southern Caribbean Chamber of Tourism and Commerce, told Costa Rican newspaper La Nación in Spanish that he was deeply saddened by the legendary surfer’s passing.
‘We’ve had a long period of calm and tranquility. This shocks and saddens us because the Caribbean has been so peaceful,’ Sams told the newspaper.
The Limón province, where both Van Dyke’s apartment and hotel lie, is where 25 percent of homicides occur in Costa Rica, SF First reports.
Sams told La Nación in Spanish: ‘This is an isolated case, it involves a hotel owner, not a tourist. It has nothing to do with tourists and the people who come to visit us.’
Costa Rican authorities have arrested two people in connection with Van Dyke’s death
Van Dyke, 66, who owns Hotel Puerto Viejo (pictured), was found dead under his bed with a sheet over his head
The Limón province, where both Van Dyke’s apartment and hotel lie, is where 25 percent of homicides occur in the country (Pictured: the beach next to Van Dyke’s Hotel Puerto Viejo)
Friends and admirers of Van Dyke shared their heartbreak at the devastating news of his unexpected death.
Van Dyke’s cousin added: ‘Here’s a memorial post for Kurt Van Dyke. Most of you know he was my cousin and early years Peter, Kurt and myself were inseparable surfing, school and most of life.
‘We were very close. This is in honor of him and condolences, words, talk story I will send to his immediate family and his brothers. From the generations past to present day.’
Costa Rica’s Judicial Investigation Agency declined to disclose the full names of the two people detained in its investigation.