Cody Roman Dial/GoFundMe photo
A National Geographic Channel claim that Anchorage’s Cody Roman Dial was the victim of a homicide in Costa Rica stands at this time as unfounded.
An official cause of death has yet to be determined, but the country’s Judicial Investigation Police have been steadfast in the opinion no foul play was involved.
OIJ Director Walter Espinoza on Friday told reporters from The Tico Times that bits of paper money, a compass and other valuables were among the belongings found with the remains of Dial’s body in a creek in a ravine in Corcovado National Park.
Authorities are operating on the premise that such valuables would be unlikely to be left behind if the 27-year-old Alaska adventurer was murdered in the Costa Rica wilderness.
Aengus James, a producer for the Nat Geo show “Missing Dial,” on Wednesday told The Wrap that Dial’s death was “now classified as a homicide.” Thewrap.com is a website covering Hollywood entertainment news.
The claim is factually wrong. The death has not been classified as a homicide.
“I scratched my head when I read that yesterday,” Tico Times reporter Zach Dyer emailed Friday. “Everything from OIJ has so far not suggested foul play but they’ve barely had a chance to examine the remains.”
Dyer the same day attended a press conference with Espinoza; Roman and Peggy Dial, Cody’s parents; and forensic anthropologist Georgina Pacheco from the University of Costa Rica.
Pacheco “was part of the OIJ forensic team that collected the remains. She said the remains were found in the middle of a creek in a part of the park known as Quebrada Doctor,” Dyer later reported.
Roman and Peggy have given DNA to help Costa Rican authorities confirm the identify of the remains which had decayed in the jungle environment. And the investigation into Cody’s death is continuing. It is possible information could emerge that points to foul play, but at this point his death appears to have been an accident.
The Dials are a well known Anchorage family. Roman, a professor at Alaska Pacific University, is a National Geographic Explorer internationally recognized for his Alaska adventurers. They participated in the Nat Geo show “Missing Dial” in hopes of finding Cody’s body.
Nat Geo is not the most creditable media entity in the country.
It produced the so-called reality TV show “Alaska State Troopers” which was known to bend the truth in search of cinematic drama. In 2011, the show suggested Troopers were worried that if drunks fell asleep in the woods at the Girdwood Forest Fair they could be eaten by bears.
There was neither precedent nor history to support that far-fetched claim. National Geo was also behind “Ultimate Survival Alaska,” a phonied up version of “The Amazing Race.” One of the stars of Ultimate Survival once admitted scenes were made up.
“There are scenes this season where [contestants] are walking through the woods and suddenly they’re standing next to a Kodiak bear who is close enough to kill them,” Ultimate Survival’s Marty Raney told the New York Daily News. “It didn’t happen. But anyone who knows Alaska knows it could have. You don’t know what a bear is going to do.
“We all know not everything that happens on ‘reality’ shows is real,” Raney said.
Categories: News, Outdoors, Uncategorized
Why wasn’t his bag pack with him?
Jamie: His backpack, if that is what you are referencing, was found with him as I understand.
I’m not sure how the writer came to the conclusion that the death has all but been officially declared an accident… when it was clearly stated in the article that the police have barely gotten into the evidence/remains. If we have no facts to go on, the cause of death could clearly and equally swing both ways. Despite searching, I can find nothing that says the Dials have come forward to dub their son’s death an accident. Until the official data emerges, Cody’s death could be ruled accidental or homicidal, so it’s kind of irresponsible to judge the opinions of people on either side.
the only facts officially available at this time are that are R-2’s body was found in a very remote area, and there were no signs of foul play. there is, as yet, no official declaration as to the cause of death. new evidence can turn up in any death. but there is no homicide investigation underway nor was one ever started. the lack of such an investigation, pretty clearly underlines the unofficial thinking of officialdom. there is nothing indicating a homicide investigation is warranted.
@MordacP – you just sound like an angry, trolling lunatic.
Jenny: Same message to you as is going to Mordac. Name calling doesn’t elevate the discussion for anyone. It’s fair to call him angry. You can stop there.
To: Mordec P….I am sorry you are so intent on a personal argument.
I offer up the facts as I see them to be true.
The Cartel activity in the region is relevant….over 160,000 people have been killed in Mexico in the last 8 years….by the same gang!
My 20 years experience in EMS has taught me that unsolved missing persons…or recovered bodies are just that….unsolved.
It is neieve to always lean to the side of “accident” when there is no conclusive evidence.
All I am trying to say is that statistics (from the DEA website) show this problem of violence is escalating.
Put your head in the sand if you choose & sight republican propaganda…
May Cody rest in peace and I offer up my deepest condolences to his family.
“when there is no conclusive evidence”
There is conclusive evidence, moron. So much so Peggy and Roman have conceded their son died in an accident.
It’s all been put to rest and my information was right all along.
Maybe you should state the Tico Times went bankrupt in 2012 & laid off its entire staff & ceased printing a newspaper…
Why is an online only news source (run by someone from Chicago) more creditible than an American Company who is video taping a documentary?
We already know one media editor from Chicago with a current gag order…maybe there is another one?
The Costa Rica Ministry of Public Safety estimates 1,700 tons of cocaine will pass through the jungles in 2016…
This is up 42% from last year & the amount doubled in 2014…
The Guardian did a good story years ago regarding the booming Cocaine Eco tourism industry.
The fact that Costa Rica’s version of the FBI has no clues in two years does not surprise me.
These areas are not safe for solo traveling…
I have experienced this first hand.
What the fuck does the Tico Times have to do with NG lying about the classification of the case as a homicide? Besides being a poorly constructed strawman on your part?
The Costa Rica OIJ, which is in no way affiliated or associated with the Tico Times, has the case officially classified as a missing persons case. Not a homicide case. You can contact the OIJ yourself and get the classification directly from the horse’s mouth.
You can keep bringing up the drug trade in Costa Rica, but it’s a red herring and you just look like a idiot for keep bringing it up.
No evidence of foul play in this case. Cody’s parents are now considering it a tragic accident. The question is, why are you continuing to believe it was?
“These areas are not safe for solo traveling…
I have experienced this first hand.”
I highly doubt you’ve been more than 50 miles from where you were born. You are obviously too stupid to know how to make travel plans, let alone navigate an airport.
“more creditible than an American Company who is video taping a documentary?”
An American company that is owned by Rupert Murdoch. If you knew anything about him and his media empire you would have never made that statement. As Craig has pointed out before, NG is known to lie and distort the facts in their reality series. The one on Alaska state troopers, for example contained many.
And it’s a documentary based up conjecture, hearsay and supposition and is extremely light on fact.
You are an idiot of the highest order and you prove it with every post.
Mordac: Comments are more effective without the name calling. People are more likely to listen to your arguments when you DON’T end them by telling them they are idiots. That sort of end makes them defensive, and all before is lost. Let’s try to stick to the high road.
Steve: I’m not going to defend The Tico Times because I don’t know enough about the operation to do that. But from what I’ve read there, it seems to be a legitimate website trying to do news by the rules of journalism. Nat Geo TV by no means operates by those rules. It has a history of basically making things up and then trying to pass them off as factual. It sold Ultimate Survival Alaska as “Alaska’s most brutal adventure-race,” but offered no prize to the winners. There was a reason. Fraudulent competitions can get you in big trouble with the feds: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1950s_quiz_show_scandals And their whole “brutal adventure race” was staged with rescue crews standing by and, I am told, stunt doubles in some cases and more than a few retakes. Their credibility is basically zero.