“Wild Bill,” a suspected US serial killer accused of killing at least five people in Panama, openly admired Adolf Hitler and wanted to set up a church for drunks and lead it as pope, witnesses say.
William Datham Holbert, 31, was locked up along with his wife, Laura Michelle Reese, 27, in separate facilities in Panama on Wednesday.
They had allegedly made friends with wealthy US citizens and offered to buy their property before killing them and burying them in the garden of their hostel on the Bocas del Toro Atlantic archipelago. They then took over their property deeds.
The symbol for their property, “Villa Cortez,” included a skull.
“Wild Bill” used a pseudonym, William Adolfo Cortez Reese, but was known by his nickname.
“The man is a racist who defended white supremacy,” said Donald Winner, a tourism professional based in Panama who persuaded authorities to start a probe.
“He thinks that whites are better and that the descendants of Afro-Americans, blacks, cancer or AIDS sufferers, for example, have to die.”
“Wild Bill” told his friends that he was setting up a church and that he would be its first pope, Mr Winner said.
“He made a kind of church in his bar: ‘The First Temple of Drunks,’ and he was, supposedly, the first pope. He actively sought people he could dominate and manipulate.”
Mr Winner’s suspicions were raised after American Cheryl Linda Hughes disappeared in March.
“The first time I heard of the case was on June 29, when friends of ‘Cher’ called me to say that people had disappeared at Bocas del Toro,” said the former US army officer.
After the disappearance, Ms Hughes had planned to sell a property on the archipelago and return to the United States.
Winner checked Panama’s public property register and saw that the building was now in the name of William Cortez.
He took his suspicions to prosecutors and published an ad to find Ms Hughes.
Mr Winner believes that “Wild Bill” fled to Costa Rica with his wife after reading the advert.
From Costa Rica, the couple robbed a boat to travel to Nicaragua, where soldiers picked them up on July 26.
Three days later they returned, in handcuffs, to Panama.
Investigators at “Villa Cortez” meanwhile found a dog which kept barking above a mound in the garden.
When they dug it up, they found a first body. The dog had belonged to the victim.
They also found a box containing gold teeth, in the house, which may have belonged to other victims.
“Wild Bill,” who used the false name Adolfo Cortez Reese and was said to admire Adolf Hitler, confessed to killing five Americans but denied accusations of killing two Panamanian workers, legal officials said.
The couple is accused of killing Cheryl Linda Hughes, Bo Barry Icelar and Michael Brown and his wife and son, whose remains were found on the property.
Authorities suspect there could be more victims, perhaps in other countries.
“Wild Bill” has so far refused to undergo psychological tests.