said the house has betrayed me. so this will be here for 200 years. paul myer has a tree farm next to the bender s property. i remember ann very well from the first meeting. beautiful woman, hair up in a ponytail, white tank top, tanned, two-way radio on the hip. okay, i m living next to lara croft tomb raider and investing legend. myers remembers his last get-together with the benders in 2009, six months before a bullet would end john s life. ann did not look good. she looked pale, like she had lost weight. both of them seemed sad or depressed. the last six to eight weeks i was not eating, i was not drinking, i wasn t bathing, i wasn t doing anything to take care of myself. john began talking suicide. ann says she had to repeatedly take part in what she calls dress rehearsals.
was responsible for john s death. i was officially charged august 3rd of 2011. so that s almost two years. 20 months later. 20 months after john s death. ann then hired fabio to take over her defense. translator: she wasn t satisfied with the attorneys that were representing her during that year and a half. ann had begun to question the honesty of juan del dios alvarez, the man who had hired those attorneys. something was wrong, but i did not what. alvarez had played an important role in the benders realizing their dream, helping them acquire dozens of properties that make up the refuge. he s also the man they turned to when they decided to funnel most of their fortune, about $70
square foot circular house nicknamed the bender dome, which ann and john designed and built from scratch. we built it to take advantage of the incredible views. their goals? for themselves, a life of quiet isolation and purpose. a balm to calm their inner demons. for the refuge? help native wildlife and flowers return by keeping poachers off the thousands of acres. the benders shared their extraordinary home with lots of animals, nurturing and rehabilitating some, like toth, the great black hawk, leo the jaguarundi, and lili, the three-toed sloth. in the kitchen, ann showed me the sink that became lili s personal toilet. she would grab this and i
help native wildlife and flowers return, by keeping the poachers off the thousands of acres. the benders shared their extraordinary home with lots of animals, nurturing and rehabilitating some, like the hawk, leo, and lily, the three-towed sloth. in the kitchen, ann showed me the sink that became lily s personal toilet. and she would grab this, and i would create like an infinity pool of water. wow. for ann, animals have long been important companions, says her brother, ken. so she developed that bond with animals at a very early age. ken and ann grew up in rio de
550 of them. seeing the cloud production lit up with the tiffany. still beautiful outside, ann s house is now dark, cold and empty. empty because the police confiscated everything of value, including the colorful lamps she loved. even the kitchen appliances. two refrigerators and one industrial size freezer, two ranges, i had two, one with six burners, one with four. the refrigerator and stove top, why were those things taken? the money used to purchase those things may have come from illicit sources. i mean, in this case, we also found the benders had bank