Become an Apple Subscriber or Patron to listen!
In March 2018, 22-year-old Haley Anderson was a nursing student at Binghamton University in Binghamton, New York. Graduation was only months away & Haley already had a nursing job lined up at a hospital on Long Island, not far from her hometown when she vanished. With the help of a location tracking app on her phone, her friends were able to find her, but they were horrified with what they discovered when they did.
Haley was born on May 9, 1995 to parents Karen & Gordon Anderson & she had a younger sister, Madeline. The family lived in Westbury, New York. Haley had been working as a barista at Jazzman’s, a cafe inside the campus library, over the previous three years & she was excited for her graduation in May. Haley was ready to begin her nursing career where she planned to work in the emergency room.
Those that knew & loved Haley described her as an exceptionally warm person who had a very contagious laugh. Her roommate, Josie Artin, didn’t know anyone who didn’t like her friend who was lively, extroverted & as gorgeous on the inside as she was on the outside. Haley was the type of girl that you could place in the center of a party, surrounded by strangers & she would have no issues becoming best friends with everyone in the room within less than five minutes.
With graduation right around the corner, Karen was thrilled at the prospect of having her daughter back home & planned to throw a huge graduation party to celebrate Haley’s accomplishments. Sadly, Haley never made it to her graduation.
In the early morning hours of Thursday, March 8, 2018, Haley had gone to bed right around 4 am after staying up all night with her roommates, having drinks & playing board games. By the time Josie woke up, Haley was gone & at first, she wasn’t concerned, assuming her friend was just busy doing her own thing. She was a very independent girl so it wasn’t out of the ordinary & her roommates never fathomed that their friend could be in danger.
Later that night, their worry began to grow when Haley didn’t show up to a planned gathering at a local bar. Since she was such a reliable person, it absolutely wasn’t in her nature to number one, not show up & number two, not check in if something did pop up, preventing her from coming. All of their calls & texts to Haley had gone unanswered & she was also dark on social media which was out of the ordinary.
When there was still no sign or word from Haley, one of the roommates decided to check in on the Find my Friends app & they tracked Haley’s phone to a fellow nursing student’s apartment, Orlando Tercero. Orlando was a friend with benefits after he & Haley met at a party. His roommate indicated that Orlando cared deeply for her. However, the relationship was very hot & cold & they could often be found bickering & arguing one minute & laughing & joking the next. Sometimes they were often together & other times, they wouldn’t see each other for some time.
Josie wasn’t very fond of her friend’s relationship with Orlando since he was very possessive & jealous despite the fact that they weren’t in an exclusive, committed relationship. There were times he would drive by their house, often stopping by unannounced or uninvited. When Haley’s roommates realized that her phone was tracking to his apartment, Josie & their other roommate, Mishela Topalli, headed over there in hopes of finding their friend.
What they weren’t yet aware of at this point was that Orlando’s sister had already called the police in response to a concerning text he’d left her that made her fear that he might hurt himself. She asked the police to do a welfare check at his apartment, but when their knocks went unanswered, they left. Since Orlando’s car wasn’t there, they assumed he wasn’t home.
As with the police, Josie & Mishela’s knocks on the front door also went unanswered, but they weren’t deterred & decided to climb through the window since they could see that Haley’s phone was still inside. Once inside, they were horrified when they found their friend’s body. Orlando was nowhere to be found.
When police later checked surveillance video, they captured footage of Orlando & Haley going inside his apartment, but only Orlando leaving, hours later, carrying a suitcase. Footage from JFK airport pictured him boarding a plane to his home in Nicaragua.
Orlando was born in Miami to a wealthy family from Nicaragua, but he was raised in their home country & held dual citizenship. At the realization that he had fled to Nicaragua, everyone feared that he could potentially get away with murder.
As this was happening, Karen was back in Westbury, not even yet aware that her daughter was missing let alone had been found murdered. Karen & Haley had the routine of talking on the phone every Sunday, so they didn’t speak on a daily basis so Karen had no reason to be worried. Karen understood that her daughter was fiercely independent & she allowed Haley to be the free spirit that she was. Her daughter was the type who easily trusted others & basically got along with everyone that she met.
When Haley had been accepted into the nursing program at Binghamton University, she was a straight A student. By 2018, Haley was a fifth year senior & she could not wait to start her dream career of being a nurse. A nurturer to her core, she knew it would be her chance to help others.
During her time in college, Haley had an on-again-off-again relationship with Kevin Ocampo. He hoped that one day they would end up together for good, but gave Haley the space she needed to graduate & experience freedom before settling down. Haley always dreamed of relocating to California, buying a hippie van & working freelance as a nurse.
In the meantime, she was also friends with Orlando, a fellow nursing student. His dad had been a physician & Orlando’s roommate & best friend, Jesse Bua, said that his friend focused & worked hard during the week & liked to relax & have some drinks on the weekends. This was much like Haley, who also liked to go out with friends, socialize & dance. The two initially just knew each other from class, but eventually developed a friendship during her fourth year at school. Haley just so happened to meet Orlando at a party Kevin was hosting at his off-campus apartment.
Since Haley recognized Orlando, she introduced him to Kevin & the three grew closer. Since Kevin was also from a hispanic background, they clicked & soon, he invited Orlando to join his fraternity, the only two people that spoke Spanish.
During one of Kevin & Haley’s breaks, her relationship with Orlando crossed over the friendship line & they became romantic. As with Kevin, Haley was very clear that she was not looking for a serious relationship since she wanted freedom & flexibility in her life.
When Kevin’s fraternity brothers learned that Orlando had slept with Haley, they pushed him out of their lives, but Haley never completely turned her back on him.
It didn’t take long for Haley’s friends to recognize that Orlando was manipulative & would try to guilt Haley into sticking arounding, threatening to hurt himself if she cut him out of her life. This was around the time he began to show up unannounced which made Haley a little uneasy. Thankfully, her friends would step in & help her deal with him since she struggled to establish firm boundaries with him. There were nights that Josie was firm & would tell Orlando that he couldn’t just show up without warning & she would ask him to leave.
Haley’s friends were sure that he was only coming around so he could keep tabs on her. They fully believed that he was infatuated with Haley; possessive despite the fact that she was not his girlfriend. It was clear that he wanted something far more serious than Haley did.
The first concerning instance was on September 15, 2017, six months earlier, when Haley discovered that the tires on her car had been slashed, something that she ended up documenting on Snapchat. Her friend, Sydney wondered who would possibly do such a thing & saved the video that Haley posted. The tire slashing incident just so happened to be one day after a party that was held at Orlando’s apartment where he realized that she was back together with Kevin.
Kevin had spent the night at Haley’s & had actually been the one to first notice the tires & immediately believed that Orando was responsible. When questioned, Orlando denied it & tried to shift the blame to Kevin. Karen encouraged her daughter to report the incident to the police; they took her information, but because it amounted to over $600 in damages & would have been considered a felony, Haley decided not to press charges because she didn’t want Orlando to get kicked out of nursing school & only asked that he pay to replace the tires.
After this, Haley did keep her distance from Orlando, but despite warnings from family & friends, she eventually allowed him back into her life.
So, on the horrific day at Orlando’s apartment after their friend went missing, Josie boosted Mishela up first & suddenly Josie heard her screaming to call 911. As Josie made her way inside, she was horrified to find her friend’s body in Orlando’s bedroom partially tucked under the covers of his bed. At the time, Haley looked pale in appearance, but the girls weren’t sure if Haley was dead, but tragically, their friend & roommate had been strangled to death.
Karen Anderson recalls the horrific day of March 9, 2018 when she first noticed two men parked outside her house in a black car. They eventually came to the door & told her that they needed to sit down to speak with her. She remembers them saying Haley’s name paired with suspicious activity & Karen struggled to comprehend what they were telling her. Finally, they delivered the devastating news that no mother should have to receive. Her 22-year-old daughter had been found strangled to death in Orlando Tercero’s bed.
Karen felt numb, followed by anger that she didn’t push her daughter to press charges against Orlando after he allegedly slashed her tires. She wished that incident would have raised enough red flags to remove him from her daughter’s life.
As police investigated several different cameras located in the house where Orlando was living, they were utilized to track not only Haley’s movements before her murder, but also Orlando’s throughout both March 8 & 9.
The initial footage relevant to the case was from the early morning hours of Thursday, March 8 when Haley met up with Orlando when video showed the two walking into the house. This was the last time Haley was seen alive. Images of Orlando coming & going several times were captured. Just about seven hours after Haley entered his home, Orlando could be seen picking up garbage from the driveway & leaving alone.
Utilizing a receipt found inside the apartment, investigators tracked his movements to a local pharmacy where he purchased ZzzQuil & melatonin, two over-the-counter sleep aids. He then returned to his apartment & security cameras did not pick him back up for another seven hours. After a failed attempt to hang himself using hooks he installed between the kitchen & dining area, investigators believe that he fell & injured himself as they discovered blood on the floor & a tie hanging from a doorway. Police believe that he also utilized the sleeping medications in his attempt.
Detectives also found a note that had been written in Spanish & when translated to English, read, I’m really sorry about this. I never felt I could be capable of doing this. He also wrote, father, I’ll see you soon. Orlando’s father had passed away five years earlier. It was clear that the note was both a confession & a suicide note.
Sixteen hours before Josie & Mishela found Haley’s body, Orlando left his apartment for the last time & drove three & a half hours to JFK International Airport. When surveillance was reviewed, he could be seen pushing his luggage with a bandage wrapped around his head, likely a result of his alleged suicide attempt. Here, he boarded a plane to head home to Nicaragua.
Investigators eventually learned that it was his mother who picked him up at the airport after he landed & drove him three hours north to their hometown of Chinandega. Here, he hid out for three days in the small town where he had been raised, the house situated across the street from the family’s church.
During these days, investigators from the U.S. had no communication with the Nicaraguan government.
Four days after his arrival, his mother drove him an hour away to the much larger city of Leon for medical attention related to self-inflicted wounds. Because the story had been on the news for days, it’s possible that he was recognized during this time. It was at the hospital where Orlando was located & arrested. Now in custody, he had yet to be charged with a crime by the Nicaraguan authorities.
Less than one week after Haley’s body was discovered, she was laid to rest in her hometown, a time that Karen only remembers as a blur. Another gut-wrenching day was the day that Haley should have been graduating from Binghamton University to start her new life as a registered nurse. Her father, Gordon, accepted her diploma in her honor.
Haley’s family remained in a state of shock & grief, trying to make sense of her sudden & violent death at the hands of someone she had previously trusted. In the meantime, the United States started an international fight for justice. It was their understanding that Orlando would be extradited back to the U.S. to face a second-degree murder charge.
However, Orlando has dual citizenship & there is no existing treaty that requires either country to extradite one of its own.
More than a year & a half passed when in September 2019, then-Broome County District Attorney, Steve Cornwell, got a call from the Department of Justice & was informed that Orlando would not be extradited, but they would be willing to try him in Nicaragua.
If extradited back to the U.S., a grand jury would have charged Orlando with second-degree murder whereas in Nicaragua, he would be charged with a crime that doesn’t even exist in the U.S., femicide. This is the murder of a woman with whom the perpetrator had a relationship with.
When journalists from 48 Hours traveled to Nicaragua & spoke with Orlando’s friends, they indicated that they never would have thought him capable of murder. They always considered him a kind person, an excellent student & someone who was always there to bring you up when you’re down.
When they were asked about their friend’s relationship with Haley, they voiced their belief that Orlando was in love with her, but had not been obsessed with her & never once mentioned that he felt rejected by her.
Unlike in the U.S., Orlando was not required to enter a plea & when it came time for the trial, the Nicaraguan authorities agreed to use teleconferencing where witnesses would testify from the Broome County D.A.’s office in New York to a courtroom in Managua, a distance of nearly 4,000 miles (6,000 km) & translators were utilized. It would be a judge rather than a jury, who would decide Orlando’s fate.
The trial began on October 1, 2019 & Karen was the prosecution’s first witness & indicated that Orlando continuously texted her daughter, followed her & drove by her house. As the trial continued, Karen watched Orlando’s face on the screen & felt her anger grow as the man appeared to be bored, arrogant & generally disinterested.
Haley’s roommate Josie also testified & described Orlando as a possessive person during the on-again-off-again relationship that spanned just over a year. When Kevin Ocampo took the stand, he discussed the day that Haley’s tires had been slashed.
Binghamton Police Investigator Carl Peters took the judge through each & every piece of evidence, focusing on the damning surveillance footage that captured Haley’s last moments alive.
Haley & Orlando entered his home on 23 Oak Street at about 4 am & the video clearly depicted only Orlando leaving. The handwritten confession/suicide note was also presented. The pathologist who had conducted Haley’s autopsy, Dr. James Terzian, indicated that Haley had died from asphyxiation by neck compression with an element of ligature strangulation due to the necklace she was wearing. It’s possible that the young girl had been strangled while she was asleep.
Orlando’s defense attorney argued that his client had been temporarily insane when he strangled Haley to death due to the influence of alcohol. A psychiatrist, Dr. Ronald Lopez Aguilar, was called in as his only witness, who testified that Orlando had no recollection of what happened. When he woke up after a night of heavy drinking, he found Haley dead in his bed. Because this couldn’t be proved as there was no way to determine what Orlando’s state of mind was at the time that he murdered Haley, he could only say that there was nothing wrong with his present mental state.
There was no evidence to prove that Orlando had been under the influence of drugs or alcohol at the time of Haley’s death.
Karen Anderson was allowed to give a victim impact statement before the verdict, something that does not happen in the U.S. When the trial came to a conclusion, everyone expected at least one day of deliberation, but were shocked when the judge indicated that the verdict would be delivered after only a short recess.
After an hour & a half, the judge spoke of the evils of violence against women & advocated for equal rights. She indicated that Orlando had disposed of Haley because he couldn’t accept that she had control over herself. With that, Orlando was found guilty of femicide. Karen & Gordon were advised not to show any emotion in front of the cameras.
After the verdict had been read, Karen was given a second opportunity to speak & she spoke directly to Orlando & said, I hope that you get the highest amount of years behind bars because you deserve even more than that.
The judge handed down the maximum sentence which was 30 years in prison as she told the court that all women have a right to life.
Karen felt exceptionally relieved that they were able to work with Nicaraguan authorities & was thankful that Orlando was given the most severe punishment possible.
Orlando’s friends reacted to his sentence & indicate that they are firm on the fact that he could not have been in his right frame of mind when he murdered Haley. When asked if they believe that him being under the influence justifies the murder, they clarify that nothing can justify that.
On February 4, 2020, Orlando was back in court, this time to appeal his sentence before a panel of three magistrates. His attorney continued to argue that at the time the murder was committed, he was in a highly intoxicated state, therefore, temporarily insane at the time. They were pushing for another psychiatric evaluation, this time, by a forensic psychiatrist who is well-versed in temporary insanity defenses.
Josie was not buying the claim that Orlando had no recollection of killing Haley & the fact that he was a nursing student, trained to save lives, would make him recognize that what he was doing was leading to her death as he wrapped his hands around her neck & watched the breath get taken from her until her life ended. The fact that it was not a quick death, that it would have taken time unlike quickly pulling the trigger of a gun.
His attorney also argued that the fact that he was charged with femicide & sentenced to 30 years behind bars whereas, in the U.S., he would have been charged with second-degree murder & likely faced a lighter sentence with the chance of parole.
The magistrates quickly rejected the request for a second psychiatric evaluation & opinion, but indicated that they would need time to deliberate the possibility of a reduced sentence.
On March 10, 2020, nearly two years to the day that Haley was murdered, Karen & Gordon were yet again present at the Broome County DA’s office to hear the court’s decision & were relieved when the court chose to uphold his 30 year sentence. Orlando remains behind bars at Nicuaraga’s main penitentiary, a place that is known for being overcrowded & each day, he will be served a small meal of rice & beans.
Meanwhile, Haley’s friends & family continue to heal in a world where her bright light no longer exists, but her spirit most certainly does. She is remembered as a kind, generous, hard working person who touched the lives of so many. Her mom, Karen, wants her daughter to be remembered as a millennial hippie who was quirky, happy & someone who easily trusted.
Karen would like femicide to be brought to the attention in the U.S. since violence against women is a very real, serious crime. According to the FBI, an estimated 4,970 female victims were murdered in 2021, ⅓ of whom were documented to have been killed by an intimate partner, yet the U.S. does not have a separate penal code for gender-related murders which makes tracking femicide difficult. Karen would love to see a femicide law within the U.S. In the meantime, she urges others to pay attention to red flags, trust their gut instincts & take threats very seriously to prevent something like what happened to her daughter from happening to another potential victim.
Love shouldn’t hurt; everyone deserves a relationship that is free from domestic abuse. If you or someone you know is in need of assistance, help is available 24/7 at the Domestic Violence Hotline. Call 800-799-7233 or text BEGIN to 88788.
References:
- Pipe Dream: Haley Anderson, 22, remembered as good student, hard worker
- CBS News: Find My Friends app helps uncover a murder
- CBS News: Murder of N.Y. nursing student leads to an international manhunt for her killer
- National Library of Medicine: Femicide in the United States: a call for legal codification & national surveillance
- National Domestic Violence Hotline
- Chilling Crimes: Haley Anderson
