The body of 5Dimes sportsbook founder William Sean Creighton has been found and identified by police in a Costa Rican graveyard, one year after he disappeared in an alleged kidnap for ransom plot.
5DimesTony, as US ex-pat Creighton was widely known, went missing last September, his car found crashed into a wall and a dozen suspects since arrested for roles in his kidnapping.
Creighton’s Costa Rican wife contacted police after Creighton disappeared, with a ransom reportedly amounting to almost $1million paid in cryptocurrency.
It is now believed that the well-known bookmaker, who founded 5Dimes in the late 90s, was suffocated to death after recognising one of the police officers involved in his kidnapping.
Reports that his body had been found last year were soon refuted by police, who were quickly on the trail of the alleged ringleader, Morales Vega.
Vega skipped Costa Rica with his wife and mother, heading to Spain where authorities tracked him to Zaragoza, the trio arrested and deported back to Costa Rica earlier this year.
Police searches had uncovered documents relating to the ransom, including ‘details of the three e-wallets where the ransom money was transferred’.
Another nine people were arrested in connection with Creighton’s kidnapping and subsequent death, two of them members of the transport police, according to sources.
Creighton’s body was found earlier this month in a grave in a cemetery in Quepos, a State Department release reading:
“We can confirm Costa Rican authorities identified the remains of a United States citizen in Costa Rica. We offer our sincerest condolences to the family on their loss. We are closely monitoring authorities’ investigations into the cause of death.”