Nicaragua court on Friday, November 1 convicted 23-year-old Orlando Tercero in the murder of a nursing student who was strangled to death in Long Island, New York in 2018. The trial followed multiple witnesses who testified to the Nicaraguan court in cooperation with the US attorney office in Binghamton using translators and video links.
Broome County District Attorney Steve Cornwell confirmed Tercero's conviction in a tweet, "With Gordon and Karen Anderson: Orlando Tercero has been found guilty of the Nicaraguan charge of Femicide, for the murder of their daughter, Haley Anderson. He faces 25-30 years in prison."
Tercero and Anderson were involved in a relationship but the former Binghamton University student wanted a more 'serious' relationship with her. Officials state Tercero strangled Anderson on his bed at his off-campus residence in Binghamton in March 2018 where her body was found.
While the case involving the murder of Haley Anderson in 2018 took place in the United States, the prime accused Orlando Tercero, 23, who has dual citizenship of US and Nicaragua, had fled from the country a day after the murder. Tercero's trial began last month and a US police investigator testified via video that Tereco had left a note at his house saying he was 'sorry'.
The Nicaragua court will be sentencing Tercero in the upcoming days, a prosecution officer citing Judge María Fabiola Betancourt said. With the maximum sentence in Nicaragua being 30 years, Anderson's parents told Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin they wanted Tercero to receive the maximum penalty. Haley's father, Gordon Anderson praising Nicaragua court said "some ease to the heartache and a little bit of conclusion."
Appreciating the way the trial worked out because of law agencies from both the countries working together. "Although not what we wanted, we wanted to have the trial here, but we saw justice take place in a courtroom on an international stage."
