Episode

The Millionaires Who Went Mad in Their Jungle Fortress

Podcast
What It Was Like
Published
Mar 7, 2026
Duration seconds
3074
Processing state
not_requested
Canonical source
https://shows.acast.com/what-it-was-like/episodes/69ab8588e2ffe1fef6642e7c
Audio
https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/6200ee776bcd50001215d4e7/e/69ab8588e2ffe1fef6642e7c/media.mp3
JSON
/v1/public/podcasts/what-it-was-like-5287591/episodes/the-millionaires-who-went-mad-in-their-jungle-fortress
Markdown
/podcast/what-it-was-like-5287591/the-millionaires-who-went-mad-in-their-jungle-fortress.md

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Summary

When American millionaire John Bender moved to Costa Rica with his wife Ann, they set out to build a dream life in the jungle. Instead, their relationship spiralled into madness. When Bender died from a gunshot wound in 2010, the question remained: was it suicide or murder? Journalist Carol Vaughn takes us inside one of Costa Rica’s strangest cases. Check out Carol's book on the case:  Crazy Jungle Love: Murder, Madness, Money & Monkeys Find us on TikTok:  @whatitwaslikepodcast Find us on Youtube:  @whatitwaslikepodcast Follow us on Instagram:  whatitwaslikepodcast This is a  Superreal  production Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.