FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. _ Carla Stefaniak, the woman who vanished in Costa Rica last week, chose to travel there for her 36th birthday because it's portrayed as a paradise where nothing bad happens, according to her best friend.
On Tuesday, Stefaniak's family was waiting to identify the body of a woman taken to the morgue after it was found in a wooded area near the Airbnb property where Stefaniak was staying.
"Carla's dad, brother and a friend of the family are all waiting at the morgue to confirm whether the body belongs to Carla," said Hallandale Beach resident Laura Jaime, Stefaniak's best friend and former roommate. "We are really, really hoping it doesn't. We have faith."
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."
Authorities in Costa Rica have not confirmed that the partially buried body found by dogs and covered with plastic bags was Stefaniak.
"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 parked her car at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport on Nov. 28 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 her friend'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."
The night before her flight was to leave, Stefaniak 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.'"
