Naman Shrestha
With a bright future and a lot else to look forward to, Haley Anderson was excited to find out how her life would unfold. But in 2018, the Binghamton student was brutally murdered, and her lifeless body was found by the police. As they dug deep into the case with the help of the evidence at the crime scene, the authorities crossed the border to look for the potential killer/s. CBS’ ’48 Hours: The Murder of Haley Anderson’ and Hulu’s ‘Death in the Dorms: Haley Anderson’ cover the story in an intricate manner as not only do they talk about the investigation but also consist of interviews with the victim’s loved ones.
Haley Anderson Was Found Dead at an Oak Street Apartment
Haley E. Anderson was brought into the world by Karen and Gordon Anderson on May 9, 1995, in Westbury, New York. Apart from being a good and loving daughter, she was also a caring elder sister to Madeline Anderson. Although her parents got divorced, she still seemingly maintained a healthy relationship with both of them. At the time of her murder, she was studying to be a nurse at Binghamton University. On the side, she had been working at an on-campus coffee shop called Jazzman’s for more than three years.
After graduating with a nursing degree in May 2018, Haley was supposed to join a Long Island emergency room as her first job. Her family and friends only had kind words for her as she was hard-working on the academic front and just as friendly to people around her. With a personality that could liven and lighten up any room, she was considered fun to be around by her close ones. In her free time, she used to indulge in her passion for music. However, when her roommates were unable to get in touch with her on March 9, 2018, they became extremely worried for her well-being.
So, they decided to track down Haley’s phone, which led them to an apartment on Oak Street on the West Side of Binghamton. When they broke in through the window and found their friend lying dead in the bed, they immediately called the police. As soon as they arrived on the scene, the authorities wasted no time and inspected the body and the apartment. They found various signs of bruising around the neck and arms of the 22-year-old woman. The reports suggested that she died of asphyxiation from manual neck compression and ligature strangulation due to the necklace on her neck.
A Crime of Passion Took Haley Anderson’s Life
The apartment where Haley Anderson was found dead belonged to Orlando Tercero, another nursing student at Binghamton University. However, he was nowhere to be seen. So, naturally, all fingers pointed toward him, after which the police delved deeper into his relationship with the victim. According to Haley’s mother, Orlando and Haley shared a friendship that turned into something romantic for some time. But more than a year after their on-and-off relationship, she wanted to call it quits for good and remain as friends. But still, it did not sit well with him.
Months before her murder, in September 2017, Orlando was suspected of slashing Haley’s car’s tires, which caused her about $600 in damage. Although she had a feeling that he was the one who slashed her tires, she did not press charges so as not to hinder his nursing career. Moreover, in mid-September 2017, Haley went to a party at Orlando’s apartment and got confronted about her new relationship with one of their mutual friends. Months later, in the early hours of the morning on March 8, 2018, Haley went to Orlando’s residence after going out on a night out with friends.
According to the surveillance footage that the detectives referred to, Orlando was seen leaving his apartment alone with a suitcase several hours after the two entered the place together. After murdering Haley, he allegedly tried to take his own life by hanging as the police found a suicide note written in Spanish. He reportedly also purchased melatonin and ZzzQuil to use them for his suicide attempt. After leaving the apartment, he took a flight to Nicaragua and fled the country. A couple of days after her body was discovered, on March 11, Orlando was named as the prime suspect by the detectives.
The police also released a statement, “The investigation determined that the person of interest had left the United States by an international air travel flight, prior to the discovery of Haley Anderson’s deceased body.” Finally, on March 13, 2018, Orlando was captured by the Nicaraguan National Police at the Hospital de Leon. After getting arrested in Nicaragua, he was charged with the second-degree murder of Haley Anderson on March 17, back in Broome County, New York. Since Orlando held dual Nicaraguan and American citizenship, the Nicaraguan government refused to extradite him for trial in the States.
Orlando Tercero is Held Up at a Nicaraguan Prison
Despite various attempts to have Orlando Tercero extradited to the States, his trial began in September 2019 in Nicaragua, where he was charged with femicide. He ended up being convicted of the same charge and sentenced to 30 years. In March 2020, he appealed to get his sentence reduced, but the court denied it. To this day, he faces the second-degree murder charge in Broome County, but due to legal complications of extradition, no progress has been made.
Karen Anderson, Haley’s mother, was emotional during the trial as it brought back some painful memories related to her daughter’s demise. The part where the pathologist went into details of how Haley was killed by Orlando was specifically too much to bear for her as well as her other daughter Madeline, Haley’s younger sister. Currently, the convict is held up at one of the Nicaraguan prisons, serving his sentence.
Read More: Amy St. Laurent Murder: Where is Jeffery “Russ” Gorman Now?
