FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. _ The body found in Costa Rica is Carla Stefaniak, the Florida woman who vanished last week while on a trip to celebrate her 36th birthday, authorities said Tuesday.
Stefaniak, of Hallandale Beach, chose to travel to Costa Rica because it's portrayed as a paradise where nothing bad happens, according to her best friend.
But on Monday, a woman's body was found in a wooded area near the Airbnb property where Stefaniak was staying, in the Villa le Mas in Escazu, San Jose.
On Wednesday morning, Stefaniak's family was at the morgue to help identify the body.
Security guard Bismark Espinosa Martinez, 32, has been arrested in Stefaniak's death, according to Walter Espinoza, the head of Costa Rica's Judicial Investigation Department.
Before the news broke, Stefaniak's family and friends held out hope that she was still alive.
"We are really really hoping it (is not her)," said Hallandale Beach resident Laura Jaime, Stefaniak's best friend and former roommate. "We have faith."
The body was badly decomposed, making it difficult to confirm the identity of the victim, according to The Costa Rica Star.
Carlos Caicedo, Carla's father, had his blood drawn Tuesday to help determine whether the body belonged to his daughter.
"I have hope that the body found is not my daughter's," he told reporters before tests confirmed his worst fear.
Stefaniak, who moved to Hallandale Beach three years ago, was last heard from on Nov. 27.
She was scheduled to fly home at 1 p.m. the next day, on her birthday. She checked in to her flight but never boarded the plane.
"Costa Rica is portrayed as paradise that's safe for Americans," Jaime said. "Nothing happens there. That's why she picked Costa Rica, ironically."
Stefaniak's best friend had planned to pick her up at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport on Nov. 28.
"I went to pick her up at the airport," Jaime said. "We wanted to have a dinner for her birthday with all her friends. I just had a weird feeling even before I got to the airport. Carla is always on the phone. I started sending her birthday messages and no one had heard from her at all. That's very unlike her."
Jaime got to the airport around 5 p.m. and went inside to wait for her friend.
"I saw everyone arrive," she said. "They all took their bags and left. And she was not there. I stayed at the airport and talked to all the agents. One finally told me she was not on the plane. I freaked out."
Jaime called Stefaniak's family, then the U.S. Embassy in Costa Rica.
Another friend emailed the owner of the Airbnb.
"He asked a guard at the property and the guard said he saw her leaving in an Uber at 5:10 a.m.," Jaime said. "We checked her email and she did not take an Uber at 5:10 a.m. Then they changed the story that it was a taxi at 5:30 a.m. I wish I knew the facts."
Stefaniak arrived in Costa Rica on Nov. 22 with her sister-in-law April Antonieta Burton. Burton flew home to Tampa a day ahead of Stefaniak because she got a better deal on the airfare, Jaime said.
In her final text message to family, Stefaniak said it was raining, the power had gone out and it was "pretty sketchy" where she was.
That same night, she was Facetiming with a friend in New York when the call dropped about 9 p.m.
"He tried to Facetime her twice and he couldn't get through," Jaime said. "He thought the phone died or the reception was bad. Before the call dropped she said to him, 'I'm thirsty. I'm going to ask the guard to buy me some water.'"
