Bar owner who languished here in jail after shooting dies in Canada
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Roger Crouse, the Playas del Coco bar owner who spent more than a year in jail after he shot an attacker, has died in Canada.
Crouse was 54 when he died Jan. 2. He had battled cancer for three years.
Crouse came to Costa Rica in 1989 and was the owner of Gaby's Bar Aug. 19, 2001, the date the shooting took place. Crouse said the man, Miguel Antonio Villegas Salguera, then 36, came at him with a knife. Local prosecutors had Crouse jailed near Liberia until he was set free in a trial that ended Aug. 27, 2002.
By then Crouse had suffered a severe loss of business to his bar, lost his limo business and faced threats from the family of the dead man. He eventually sold the bar to Bill Bullock, who used to operate the Park Hotel in San José.
Crouse returned to Canada in 2003 and died at Emmanuel House in Hamilton, Ont., where he had been a resident for a month.
He is survived in Canada by sisters, Sheryl Johnston of Granville Ferry, Ontario, Melinda Town of Nictaux Falls, Ontario, and Mariann McPherson of Edmonton, Alberta.; brothers, Richard and Brad, both of Hamilton, and Earl of Prince George, B.C.; also several nieces and nephews. A private family graveside service was held at the Nictaux Cemetery.
Crouse maintained his humor while he was in prison and frequently reported in telephone calls to A.M. Costa Rica about his situation and the petty robberies he faced. He said he believed that the newspaper's interest in the case and the contact by reporters with prosecutors were factors in the outcome of his case.
The arrest mystified expats because the man had threatened Crouse earlier in the evening and had been detained by police. Officers in Playas del Coco released the man a few hours later, and he told them he was going to return to the bar and kill Crouse. An autopsy showed he was drunk and had ingested drugs.
Prosecutors alleged that Crouse had killed the man in cold blood due to a falling out among criminals over drugs. They maintained this theory even in the face of testimony from the waitress in the bar and two Canadian patrons who supported the version told by Crouse.
The family of the dead man had sought substantial civil money damages, which were disallowed when Crouse was acquitted by a three-judge panel.