You Can Run but You Can't Hide (40 page)

them his name was David Carrera. They talked about surfing and

real estate. Carrera said he was in Mexico looking for investment

opportunities. They talked and partied for several hours. When

they woke up the next day, Carrera was gone. His mention of par-

tying got me wondering.

So I asked this kid, “What did you guys party with? Were there

drugs?”

He hesitated. “Yeah. Carrera had some pot, coke, and some

other stuff.”

I knew it was him. Everything in my gut said it was Luster.

“What do you mean by other stuff?”

“It was a liquid. I think it was GHB.”

Blam! My heart started pounding. I felt like I was a holding a

lottery ticket with all the winning numbers!

My newfound friend gave me Min and Mona’s number. I

thanked him for his call. “You did the right thing.”

“My girlfriend loves you, Dog. Good luck. I hope you find him.”

Before we hung up, I asked him to call Beth. I wanted to see if her

insight and gut reaction matched my own.

If what he said was true, Carrera and Luster were the same guy.

Not long after, I received a phone call from Min and Mona. One

minute into the conversation, they too had me convinced Carrera

was Luster. They told me the kid who called me and his friends par-

tied with Luster, but they knew Luster a lot better than he did. Min

told me Carrera stayed at his resort twice. He wanted me to know

he was in charge of anything that went down at Costa Custodio.

He thought something wasn’t right; Carrera’s behavior was suspi-

cious. After our conversation, Min realized there was a reward, so

he called the FBI to report Carrera on a hunch he might be Andrew

Luster.

After Beth spoke to my new best friend with the photo, she agreed

the lead sounded real, so she called Boris to get him on Schultz to

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finance the trip to Mexico. For whatever reason, Boris didn’t get

ahold of Schultz before Beth did. She told Howard that we had a big

break in the Luster case. She explained that the kid sent us pictures

we enlarged that showed a guy with a goatee who looked a lot like

Luster, wearing baggy cargo shorts and a Hawaiian-style shirt. His

face was shielded in every shot. None of the photos was clear enough

to positively identify the man as Luster, but there was enough simi-

larity to feel it might be him.

After careful scrutiny, Beth and I noticed the shorts in the pic-

tures he sent. They were the same shorts Luster was wearing on the

beach in a previous photo I had of him.

Although Beth and I were certain it was him, Howard still needed

some convincing. “How sure are you? I’m staking my career on you.

You better be right.” He didn’t want to buy my tickets to Mexico,

but Beth insisted.

She handed the phone to Boris and said, “He’s got a minute to

decide.”

“I’m in.” Howard agreed to back the hunt.

Beth still had concerns about Min and Mona being sincere in

their desire to help. She sensed they were only after the reward

money. It’s true, they were very quick to cut the kid and his friends

out of the picture. They insisted they knew everything we needed to

capture Luster. Beth also wanted to make sure Howard understood

that the hunt was on his dime. At the time, she was still trying to get

Mark Burnett and Howard Schultz into a bidding war over the rights.

But the Lord kept pointing us toward Howard. Beth called Howard

up and said, “You know that all expenses paid means you pay for

everything
from this moment forward, right?”

“Yeah. Sure. I got it, Beth. No problem. I’m in.” Once he decided,

he appeared to be committed.

Just to be certain I was doing the right thing, I called Min one

last time before pulling the trigger.

“Brother, how sure are you it’s Luster?”

He said, “Ninety percent.” That was closer to the answer I al-

ways look for, but not quite certain. Even so, it was worth a shot.

Beth had to fly back to Hawaii to be with the kids so I could

leave for Mexico. Leland, Tim, and Boris were set to come with me.

Tim took a little convincing. He and I were scrapping over a couple

of bonds. I didn’t want to take him, but I couldn’t cut him out of

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247

something this big and important. If I caught Luster, he’d never

again be a real member of the team if he wasn’t there when the bust

went down. Beth convinced me to include my buddy, so I swallowed

my pride. When I made the call, he was in.

Howard agreed to join us with a film crew to shoot the entire hunt

in Mexico. His team consisted of his assistant, Jeff, the cameraman,

Richie, and a soundman, Fernando. Seven of us would fly down. Al-

though Min and Mona suggested we stay at Costa Custodio, they

weren’t giving us the rooms for free. With the airfare, rooms, rental

cars, and cell phones, our expenses were enormous. To offset some of

his costs, Howard was trying to sell rights to the footage to various

news programs, but so far, only
48 Hours
showed interest. If Howard

decided to pull out for any reason, we’d be stuck paying our own

expenses. I was running out of money. If this bust didn’t happen,

I wasn’t sure I could keep hunting for Luster. In fact, I wasn’t sure I

could keep my house, my business, or anything else I had worked so

hard to build back up over the last few years. Once again, I was on

the brink of bankruptcy. I didn’t tell anyone. Only Beth and I knew

how crucial this capture was for our future.

Beth got home a few hours before I had to leave. We spent most

of that time arguing. She was unhappy that I had asked her to leave

Denver, because two of her bonds skipped. If someone didn’t bring

them in, we’d be out fifty-five grand. I felt it was more important for

Beth to be home before I left.

Usually Beth sits with me before I go on a hunt and asks for a

full rundown of my plan. She wants to make sure I’ve thought

everything through. Her job is to arrange all of the details. Mine is

to hunt. I was entering what I deemed the World Series of bounty

hunting. If I captured Luster, I won the title. If not, I would lose

everything.

There was a plan, but I wasn’t sure how viable it was. Min said he

could get Luster to come back to Costa Custodio to talk about in-

vesting in a hotel property. They had already discussed his getting in

on the ground floor, so Min thought it would be easy to get him to

come back to explore it further. When he showed up, I’d nab him.

Beth drove us to the airport. We barely spoke a word before I got

out of the car. I stood on the curb wanting to grab her, hold her, hug

and kiss her, and tell her I loved her. Tears welled up in our eyes.

“Duane, what are you going to do?”

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I pulled Beth close to me and sang a song I remembered from

church.

“This little light of mine . . . I’m gonna let it shine . . .” I kissed

her good-bye. I had an uneasy feeling that this farewell was differ-

ent from any other.

C h a p t e r F o r t y - s e v e n

YOU CAN RUN

On the night
of June 11, I caught the red-eye to L.A. to meet

with Howard and Mona. Howard wanted to be sure Mona was

on the up-and-up before he flew our team down to Mexico. Mona

looked to be in her mid-fifties. She might have been attractive when

she was younger, but it was hard to tell. It looked like she’d gained

a lot of weight as she got older. She was very earthy, not a fancy

woman.

Much to my surprise, Mona backed away from her previous as-

sertion that David Carrera was Andrew Luster. She talked nonstop.

She couldn’t hold a thought or finish a sentence. She never made eye

contact, either. Something wasn’t right, but I ignored my gut. I so

desperately wanted to believe her that I chose to ignore my feeling

that something was wrong.

During that same meeting, Howard got word that another pro-

duction company was willing to foot the bill for the entire hunt,

whether we caught Luster or not. It was a win-win for everyone.

There was no financial risk to Howard or to us. The next day, we all

hopped a flight to Puerto Vallarta via Guadalajara and headed by car

to the tiny town of Tepic, where Min and Mona’s villa was located.

We arrived at Costa Custodio. It was beautiful. We passed

through the guarded entry gate, where a policeman checked our

car before letting us pass through. We drove down a cobblestone

driveway with four-foot stone walls on either side. The property

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was surrounded by lush jungle but still had great views of the

ocean. Min met us in the driveway with a tray of tequila drinks on

ice. He was in his early sixties, with a full head of silvery white hair.

He was thin, with a good build. He wore a Hawaiian shirt, khaki

pants, and flip-flops.

The villa was aesthetically breathtaking. On closer examina-

tion, however, everything was like a movie set. I turned on a faucet

in the bathroom, and no water came out. It all looked real, but it

was fake. Min and Mona advertised the villa on the Internet and

rented it for lots of money. When guests arrived, they soon discov-

ered that what appeared to be paradise was really a hellhole.

Before we dispersed to our separate villas, I asked Min if he had

heard from Luster. I was anxious to get down to business.

“Oh, yes. He is coming by this afternoon.” He was too noncha-

lant for me to believe it was true.

I spent the rest of the day trying to work Min and Mona for as

much insight into Carrera as I could get. Mona told me how they

partied with Carrera when he was staying at their house. She spoke

of him with great affection. Something about the tone of her

voice felt very
off
. The entire exchange was extremely unsettling,

but I couldn’t put my finger on what was wrong.

When I spoke with Min, he asked me how much Carrera would

be worth if he was really Luster.

“Ten, maybe twenty grand.” I could see the smile widen on his

face at the thought of making an easy score.

Leland and Tim later told me they thought Mona liked her mar-

garitas a lot. Now it made sense—her inability to focus. I found her

as fast as I could.

“Honey, why don’t you have another drink and come talk to

me.” I knew it would lower her guard enough for me to pump her

for information. While I was waiting for Mona to come sit with me,

I noticed Min walking around the property with a video camera.

He was taping us. Son of a bitch!

“Howard, look. He’s got a camera.” If he had footage, the other

production company would be pissed. They had optioned exclusive

rights our trip. If they found out someone else had footage, they

might pull our funding. Howard convinced Min to stop taping by

telling him we would write up a contract to split any reward money

received when and if we captured Luster on this trip. Once the

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251

contract was signed, Min handed over all of his footage—or so we

thought. I didn’t know it at the time, but he held back a few tapes.

By the end of the day, Luster was a no-show. I coaxed Mona to

call him. She was supposed to act very casual, like it was no big deal

he didn’t come. I could hear his voice. Sure as hell, it was him. They

made plans for Luster to stop by the house tomorrow.

The following day, Friday, Min approached me again to ask how

much the capture of Andrew Luster was worth. He said, “I heard it

was as much as $200,000.”

He was clearly trying to figure out how to cut us out of the equa-

tion to collect the bounty on his own. I ignored his question and di-

verted his attention by asking who the guard was at the gate.

“He’s a policeman. He works for me when he’s off duty. His

name is Filiberto.”

I walked up to the gate and introduced myself. Filiberto gave me

a Mexican policeman’s handshake; it’s a three-step shake. First you

shake, then you cup hands, and finally you touch thumbs. I showed

him a picture of Luster.

“You’ve seen this guy?”

“
Sí, señor.
He’s here a lot.”

I said, “If you find this guy, I’ll give you ten thousand American

dollars.” I thought,
That ought to last him until Christmas!
I

handed him a hundred-dollar bill just to show this was no joke.

I shoved it into his pocket and just smiled.

“Gracias, sen˜or.”

That should have been a big flashing red light. What legitimate

cop would accept money from a gringo like me? And yet, I had

heard that giving Mexican cops money was pretty standard proce-

dure. Either way, he was definitely a cop. Filiberto said he could be

a liaison between the Mexican police and our team. I thought he

was sincere. I believed he was in law enforcement, that he wanted to