Hendersonville Native And His Girlfriend Linked To 9 Slayings In Panama

The Citizen-Times reported Thursday that Panama Police are continuing to search the grounds of the home where they found 9 bodies.

Police believe the victims were killed by a Hendersonville native, William Dathan Holbert and his girlfriend, Laura Michelle Reese.

The couple faces several murder charges connected to the killings.

Read more on this story at the citizen-times.com

Watch News Channel 7 and wspa.com for updates.

The couple was deported to Panama earlier.

According to the Associated Press, the couple is known by the aliases William and Jane Cortez.

They were captured Monday at the Nicaragua/Costa Rica border by Nicaraguan soldiers.

Authorities say the couple gave fake names. Cortez and his wife are accused of killing Cheryl Lynn Hughes, a St. Louis native who had lived in Panama for 10 years, and a friend described as the former owner of a New Mexico gallery.

Their bodies were uncovered last week, buried in shallow graves behind a hotel run by Cortez in Bocas del Toro, Panama.

 Authorities believe the Cortez's preyed on residents in the scenic coastal region, and they're being questioned about the disappearance of five other people - reportedly three Americans and two Panamanian workers.

Documents show Holbert, accused of murder, and his former wife separated in 2004 and they divorced in Polk County. They were married for about 6 years and had three children who are now ages 7, 9 and 10. 

The Asheville Citizen Times reports Holbert owned or worked for several North Carolina businesses including: The Body Shop Health and Fitness Center (Asheville), Holberts Ground Maintenance, Helping Hand (Hendersonville), an unnamed discount furniture store in Hendersonville, and Asplundh landscaping. To see those documents click here.

A Costa Rican official said they had taken houses, and then killed the former owners.

Authorities say the couple went by the names "Wild Bill" and "Jena" among other aliases, and are wanted in at least 3 murders, possibly more.

Forest City police confirming the two suspected killers lived on Moriah Church Road is Casar, Cleveland County, NC.

Investigators say this was home base back in 2005 while they ran a white supremacist shop in nearby Forest City.

The Main Street store is now an antique shop.

Back then it was run under the name, "Southern National Patriots". Forest City police had undercover officers attend white pride meetings there, according to Lt. Chris Lovelace. Lovelace described the couple as nice to police. But their beliefs were not well received in the community.

We found the woman who rented the Cleveland County home to the suspects.

She says two months after they moved in paying cash, she paid them a visit. But when she arrived, the duo had disappeared.

She says they left behind a box filled with racist letters.

They never returned, and she only learned from us, her former tenants are accused killers.

"Oh Lord, have mercy. It makes me sick," said Donna Stevens, their landlord.

Police say the reason the couple skipped town so soon was because after multiple complaints, the Forest City store folded.

Officers tracked the couple to the Asheville area, where the couple was eventually featured on "Americas Most Wanted" for a scam similar to what they are accused of in Central America--minus murder.

Police here have been tracking the two since 2005. But the tracks went cold when they fled the country.

We've confirmed through the NC Bureau of Investigations, Holbert was convicted of several crimes in Henderson, Rutherford and Rowan counties. However, none of the crimes are as serious as what he and his companion are accused of now.

But investigators in several western North Carolina counties tell us they are now looking at the two as suspects in cold case murders.

Not much is known about Reece, but Holbert's ex-wife is believed to live in Hendersonville, as does some of his other family. He also has a grandfather in Saluda.

According to CBS NEWS, authorities were finally able to catch the two, after finding fake passports on their property.

They also say, they stayed in one place for more than 2 years, which allowed investigators to trace their tracks.

The couple is being extradited to face their charges.