there rather than t-o. so, it was just i said it was just it just changed. reporter: and then, the text messages simply stopped. cher s aunt mary called the us embassy in panama, and begged for help. the embassy made a big point of saying people disappear all the time. and if she wants to be found, she will contact you. and so i had a hard time shouting into the darkness of the embassy saying help me, help me. reporter: things got worse. cher didn t call her father on his birthday. it was a huge alarm bell. i knew how she felt about her dad. and she would never, ever miss his birthday. so something had happened to cher, for sure. in my heart, i knew then. reporter: after two months, it was staring everyone in the face the unanswered phone calls, the strange messages, the missed birthday all the clues pointing to a horrible conclusion. did you start to panic? yeah. i knew something was wrong. the whole family started to panic. reporter: the terrible realizati
wild bill cortez ran the jolly rogers social club where a group on a panamanian island liked to gather. he seemed interested in gathering local real estate. how far did bill go to get these local properties? local police were about to find out. continuing with stealing paradise, here is kate snow. reporter: in the tiny ex-pat community of bocas del toro, all eyes were on one of their own wild bill cortez. in four month s time, he d snapped up the homes of two people who d mysteriously vanished bo icelar and cher hughes. now cher s husband keith was telling anyone who d listen that the disappearances and property transfers were no coincidence. i right away thought that bill has done something. to these people. i was telling people in bocas, obviously, of the suspicions. and, in a small community, we re all saying the same thing. reporter: and bill s still living nearby. and bill s still in the area. and he told people he was going to come and shut me up.
florida where her sister judy says she became a savvy businesswoman, running her own neon sign company. she would always make sure she had that income. she made sure she was setting herself up for what exactly what she wanted to do was retire and travel around the world. cher did travel but mostly in the u.s. then a friend invited her to visit exotic boca del toro. . good morning and cher jumped at the chance. it decided to live there in seven days. the people here were phenomenal. children love panama and kids. keith is a carpenter. he built their dream home, a buildings on top of their lush green island. cher planted a tropical garden and adopted lots of animals including a pet monkey and a beautiful brown doberman pincher named jack. he adored cher and followed her wherever she went.
more people who died at the hands of wild bill. this time, it was a father, mother, and their teenaged son, the brown family, they were the original owners of bill s property. cher s neighbors. after the bodies were discovered, wild bill was seen as a monster in man pa, a serial killer, who kept his victims personal things right in his own house. we wanted to speak with bill, so we reached out to his attorney. we did get a return call. twa the lawyer with wild it was the lawyer with wild bill himself on the phone calling from his jail cell in panama. he had already confessed to the murders but he said he wanted to explain himself. i am not denying criminal activity. i m only saying that what s been portrayed in the media as this crazy serial killer thing is, is completely untrue. i m telling you that i m not a serial killer. i have not taken pleasure in killing others and the things i ve done in my life caused me
your lord commands you? yeah. he always talked to himself in the third party and a royal sense of some sort. you know, everyone took it as one of bill s quirks. another quirk? a pirate club bill created called the jolly roger social club. bill joked that only 90% of the members survive. by now, an uneasy feeling about wild bill was spreading and the rowdy party guy was suddenly lying low. every time i saw him, he was in a hurry. he was trying to get it done and get out of. there he didn t want to answer a lot of questions. he was nervous. and with good reason. they tapped into the coconut telegraph, the more he became convinced that wild bill was the key to finding beau and cher. this was the common denominator between the two of them that this guy had apparent supposedly bought their property for cash and then both people disappear. flares went off in my head. they re missing. you remember that moment?