Investigation · Part 2 · Human rights

Police said they solved an American’s killing in 48 hours. One suspect was in a coma.

Sixto Henry Vera, a New York-born U.S. citizen, was shot dead on a Managua street in 2018. Police named two suspects within two days. Hospital records put one of them in a coma before the killing. Both men died before trial. Eight years later, no one has been tried.

By The Nica Times staff · Oct. 21, 2026

Part 2 of our series on Americans killed in Nicaragua. Part 1: Seven years later, no one charged in the prison killing of U.S. Navy veteran Eddy Montes.

Sixto Henry Vera, a 48-year-old U.S. citizen born in New York to Ecuadorian parents, was shot in the head in the early hours of June 2, 2018, at the Rubenia overpass in Managua. His body lay in the street next to two burned vehicles. Nicaragua’s Legal Medicine Institute ruled the death a homicide (Confidencial; CBS/AP).

Within 48 hours, police said the case was solved. More than eight years later, no one has been tried, and the official explanation rests on an accusation that public records contradict.

The night of June 1

Vera owned the Ranchito Sport Bar near kilometer 13 of the Carretera a Masaya. He was celebrating his birthday there that night (UPI). Bar staff told La Prensa that around midnight four Hilux pickups without plates drove past. A police officer friend of Vera’s went after them, then called to say he had been hurt. Vera drove out to help, with his friend Marco Geovanny Pomares Varela.

Neighbors near Rubenia told La Prensa that a pickup rammed a car from behind. One injured man crawled away, and men from the pickup shot the man left on the ground and set both vehicles on fire. That is witness testimony and has never been tested in court. Pomares survived with serious injuries.

U.S. Ambassador Laura Dogu offered condolences the same day. She said the death of a U.S. citizen “is of great concern to our Embassy” (CBS/AP).

The police version

Hours later, police spokeswoman Vilma Rosa González blamed masked “criminal groups” operating from the Polytechnic University (UPOLI) area, which protesting students had occupied (RTVE/EFE). On June 4, police declared the case solved (Policía Nacional; TN8). They said the motive was robbery and named two “gang leaders”: Néstor Enmanuel Molina Tiffer and Ezequiel Gamaliel Leiva García. The statement reported the “capture” of two of those involved, yet also said police were still working to locate them.

The record: a suspect in a coma

Leiva’s father produced a hospital certificate showing his son had been in a coma at Hospital Salud Integral since May 31, two days before the killing. The family says he was shot at a protest by police and paramilitaries (RPP; Séptimo Sentido/CONNECTAS). The family filed a complaint with the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (CENIDH) and said men posing as doctors came to ask about his condition (La Verdad Nica).

Police never withdrew the accusation and never announced a new line of inquiry (RPP).

Both accused men died before any trial. Police reported in early July 2018 that Molina Tiffer’s body was found in a coffin on a truck, and blamed drunk “criminal groups” at a barricade (La Verdad Nica). Leiva died in the hospital on Sept. 17, 2018, at 26 (RPP).

An investigation by Onda Local and CONNECTAS, “La fábrica de pruebas,” later cited the Vera case as part of a pattern: during the 2018 crisis, police publicly blamed people for crimes, and those accusations were later used to prosecute them.

Timeline

1. May 28–31, 2018Ezequiel Leiva is shot at a protest and admitted to Hospital Salud Integral. He is in a coma from May 31 (RPP).
2. June 1, nightVera celebrates his birthday at his bar (UPI).
3. Around midnightStaff see four plateless Hilux pickups. A police officer friend follows them and calls Vera to say he is hurt (La Prensa).
4. June 2, early hoursVera and Pomares drive to help. They are rammed, Vera is shot, and both vehicles are burned.
5. June 2, 7:30 a.m.The Legal Medicine Institute receives the body and rules it a homicide (Confidencial).
6. June 2Ambassador Dogu: the death “is of great concern to our Embassy” (CBS/AP).
7. June 4Police declare the case “solved” and name Molina Tiffer and Leiva (Policía Nacional).
8. JuneLeiva’s family files a complaint with CENIDH (La Verdad Nica).
9. About July 2Police report Molina Tiffer found dead (La Verdad Nica).
10. Sept. 17, 2018Leiva dies in the hospital at 26 (RPP).
11. TodayNo trial. No public court case. The killer remains unknown.

Competing accounts, none proven

A source close to Vera told Confidencial that the friend’s call described “Sandinista mobs” holding him. Friends quoted by UPI said they suspected police, noting that Vera had shared neighborhood-watch videos of plateless Hilux trucks. Neither account has been tested by any court or independent inquiry. The Nica Times does not attribute the killing to any person or group.

The U.S. angle

The public record shows no State Department statement beyond the ambassador’s condolences, no congressional letter and no sanction tied to Vera’s death. The State Department is required by law to record non-natural deaths of U.S. citizens abroad (22 U.S.C. 2729), but its public data covers only the past three years. His consular file has not been made public.

Why it matters: A U.S. citizen was killed on a Managua street. The police explanation was contradicted by hospital records, and the case was closed in practice by the deaths of the two men police accused. Washington has not publicly pressed for answers.

Read Part 1 of our series on Americans killed in Nicaragua: Eddy Montes, killed in La Modelo prison in 2019.

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