Bo Icelar, former longtime owner of East West Trading on Canyon Road in Santa Fe, talked frequently to his good friend Sharon McConnell. Icelar had moved to Bocas del Toro, a city on Panama's Caribbean coast in 2004 and opened another business, Iguana Limited. "We talked for more than an hour," on Nov. 29 said McConnell, a former Santa Fe artist, now living in Mississippi.

It was the last time she heard from him.

Two weeks ago, Panama authorities and investigators found bones they think are Icelar's in a shallow grave on a Bocas del Toro property near the body of another American missing since March, Cheryl Lynn "Cher" Hughes. Hughes' husband identified her body.

Hughes and Icelar shared one thing in common besides owning property in Bocas del Toro, according to Panama authorities, McConnell and a Panama City online blogger, Don Winner. Both victims met William Adolfo Cortez after announcing they wanted to sell their properties. Both disappeared shortly afterward. Both were found shot to death. Cortez ended up claiming Icelar's property and company and may have aimed to do the same with Hughes', according to investigators.

On Monday, Cortez and a woman believed to be his wife, Jane Cortez, were arrested in Nicaragua for stealing a boat, according to CNN. Panama is seeking the couple's extradition on murder charges in the deaths of Hughes and Icelar — once his identity is confirmed — and for questioning in the disappearance of another American family living in Bocas del Toro — Michael Brown, his wife and son — according to Neftalí Jaén, special assistant to the attorney general in Panama.

Authorities aren't yet sure where Cortez and his wife are from. Maybe Texas, maybe Mexico, Jaén said.

Jaén and Winner, the blogger, think Cortez targeted expats in Bocas del Toro and schemed to take over their properties and their companies.

McConnell said she and Icelar "were as close as two people could be. We considered each other family." She met him in 1995, the year after his business was raided by FBI agents for allegedly brokering a deal for antiquities protected under federal law. McConnell said he paid "a massive fine" in the case.

By 2004, he had sold his business and Santa Fe home and moved to Panama. "He loved the place," McConnell said. She said he didn't join the expat party crowd, famous in the community. "He didn't smoke. He didn't drink much," she said. "He was into fitness."

But McConnell said Icelar had become discouraged and lonely. Based on her phone conversations with him, "he had become reclusive," she said. He told her he was planning to sell his business and property and visit her by Christmas in Como, Miss., where she lives with her fiancé.

McConnell and Winner, who began researching the missing persons cases a month ago and whose recent blog posts on Panama-Guide.com brought attention to their disappearances, built a picture of what they believe happened next.

Icelar called McConnell on Nov. 29 and told her he was meeting a man later who had "a lot of cash" and wanted to buy his house. He said he would call her after the meeting to tell her how it went. She doesn't remember him mentioning Cortez's name.

"But everyone in Bocas said William "Wild Bill" Cortez had a lot of cash," Winner said.

Winner talked to a woman who said she saw Icelar eating breakfast at a cafe Nov. 30. "She said Bo was joined by Cortez and a woman and the three of them left together," Winner recalled.

McConnell began calling Icelar later that day. She called three times. She called the next day. And the next. He didn't return messages.

She talked to a handyman who was supposed to paint Icelar's house Nov. 30. He said when he showed up at the house, Cortez was sitting in the kitchen and told him to leave.

McConnell didn't report her friend missing because she thought maybe he went somewhere and just didn't tell her, or was planning to surprise her at Christmas. When she still had heard nothing by January, she started calling friends in Bocas del Toro. She found out Cortez owned Icelar's house and assumed he had bought it. She began calling him and leaving messages, asking if he knew Icelar's whereabouts. He didn't call back.

Icelar's U.S. credit-card bills and bank statements were coming to McConnell's house. By January, she realized the credit bills weren't being paid, which wasn't like Icelar.

She called a good friend of Icelar's in the Panama community, Realtor Walter Kawano. He said he had been calling and e-mailing Icelar, but receiving no responses. He thought Icelar had taken off to Ecuador or to the U.S., as his friend had often said he would do.

Before he disappeared, Icelar also told Kawano that Cortez was interested in buying his house. "Then he became angry one day and said Cortez was backing out of the deal," Kawano said. The last time Kawano saw Icelar was in late November.

In early May, Kawano filed a missing persons report with local police. Immigration authorities said Icelar hadn't left the country.

When Winner began looking into the situation, he prowled public property and company records connected to Icelar, Hughes and Michael Brown, who, along with his family, still hasn't been found.

Winner said both Icelar and Brown had companies and properties that ended up in Cortez's name. On Dec. 30, ownership of Icelar's company, Iguana Limited, ended up with William Cortez and Jane Cortez, according to legal documents.

"He took bearer shares to a lawyer, paid cash for the paperwork to be changed and presto chango, he owns the company," Winner said. "This was Wild Bill's M.O."

Hughes, who also made it known she wanted to sell her house, disappeared in March.

A couple of weeks ago, Hughes' body and the remains believed to be Icelar's were found in graves on property Winner said once belonged to Michael Brown, and now is in Cortez's name.

Officials are waiting for dental charts and medical records to confirm Icelar's identity. McConnell said she and Icelar used the same Santa Fe dentist. A ring, a pin or screw in one bone and gold fillings in some of the teeth all indicate the remains are Icelar's, McConnell and Winner said.

"It is bittersweet," McConnell said. "I mourned knowing he was dead. But I'm at peace knowing he's been found and his remains will come home."

For Don Winner's account, visit panama-guide.com.

Contact Staci Matlock at 986-3055 or smatlock@sfnewmexican.com.

Cher Hughes name was given as Cheryl Hughes by Panama officials but her Facebook and friends refer to her as Cher.