Mark Lyons was several hours into one of the toughest mountain bike races in the world in November聽when he found himself at a river crossing, alone, and had to hop off his bike and hoist it to his shoulder and attempt to hike across.聽The 55-year-old American cyclist was competing in聽Costa Rica鈥檚 grueling聽, a 67-mile cross-country聽race through jungle聽and around active volcanoes. As he carefully strode into the stream,聽he lost his footing and slipped聽into the rushing water.

At first, Lyons held onto his bike. He thought he would slip down to a slow moving area, pull himself out and continue the race. But it wasn鈥檛 so simple. The water was moving so fast that it ripped Lyons鈥� shoes from his feet.聽鈥淚 didn鈥檛 expect to keep picking up speed the way I did,鈥� Lyons says.

Lyons eventually let go of his bike, flattened himself on the water and stuck his feet out in front of him to defend against rocks and boulders. Every so often his feet would hit one, sending him spinning. For about ten minutes, the river carried him, continuously pulling him under the rushing water. 鈥淭hat was the only time I was afraid I wasn鈥檛 going to make it,鈥� Lyons says. 鈥淚 would go down for long time and then I would feel air on my face, take a breath and get pulled down again.”

Lyons had limited experience with whitewater. Still, he managed to do some of the most important things to avoid drowning, says Isaac Ingram, the deputy director of the and a 15-year rafting guide. 鈥淭he most dangerous thing that he could have done would have been to try to stand up when he was going down the river,鈥� Ingram says. 鈥淏eing as exhausted as he was from the bike race, it would have been easy for him to let his feet drop to try to get out.”聽

According to Ingram, Lyons got into what is known as the passive swimming position, the recommended technique for surviving a fall into whitewater. Keeping his feet in front of him, Lyons was able to kick off rocks and avoid getting caught on an underwater obstacle. Entrapment, says Ingram, is the most important thing to avoid in rapids.聽

To make it to shore, Lyons would have needed to turn over onto his belly and begin swimming perpendicular to the current, Ingram says. But about a mile downstream Lyons got lucky. A bend in the river allowed him to drift toward聽a log wedged between two rocks, use it to brake himself, and then climb out of the river. But even on land, Lyons鈥� situation wasn鈥檛 much better:聽he was alone, deep in a tropical rain forest, and no one had seen him fall. For the next 30 hours, he fought his way, barefoot, through the jungle, subsisting on spring water and sports drink powder.聽

鈥淐learly he is a survivor,鈥� Ingram says.

By the time Lyons hiked back to the racetrack the next day, his liver and kidneys were near failure. Lyons spent six days in the hospital recuperating, which is when his ordeal finally set in, he says.聽鈥淥nce I was in the hospital I realized how lucky I was.”

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Rafael Mora and Fernanda Sandoval had spent the past three months hearing testimony related to the murder of their son,聽Jairo Mora Sandoval, an environmental activist who was killed while protecting endangered sea turtle eggs. Fernanda, 54, and Rafael, 62, were required to attend each day of the trial, making a three-hour trip from the family farm. Now, two years after the crime, a three-judge panel would deliver a verdict.

Delays had drawn out the trial, and a crowd packed the courtroom as the judges called the final session to order on January 26. Marched into the room with their hands shackled, each of the seven defendants looked haggard and anxious. They had been in preventative detention for more than a year since their July 2013 arrest.

Most observers thought they’d be convicted鈥攃ellphone transcripts, geolocation data, and eyewitness evidence all appeared to place them at the crime scene. So when the judges announced a verdict of not guilty, citing flaws in the prosecution’s case, Rafael Mora and Fernanda Sandoval were grief-stricken. They ran crying from the courtroom with arms wrapped around one another.聽

鈥淚t is the job of the investigators and the prosecution to properly manage a case to eliminate doubt, not create it,鈥� said聽Judge Yolanda Alvarado.

Down the road and near the shore, Mora’s 26-year-old face was stenciled in black paint on an abandoned building. Accompanied by the words 鈥淛airo Vive鈥� (鈥淛airo Lives鈥�), this stamp has become a tribute to the environmentalist.聽

At the time of his murder, Mora worked for an NGO called , which focused on protecting the eggs of highly endangered leatherback sea turtles. Along with teams of volunteers鈥攎any of whom were American college students鈥攈e conducted patrols on Mo铆n Beach, on Costa Rica鈥檚 Caribbean coast. Located just outside Lim贸n, the most dangerous city in Costa Rica, this 15-mile stretch of beach is a haven for drug activity. It鈥檚 also a leatherback nesting ground from February through July. The turtles provide an additional source of revenue for the beach鈥檚 criminal element. The poached eggs sell for about $1 on the black market.

Police presence was minimal on the beach, so Mora and his teams of volunteers provided the most effective protection for the turtles. They’d try to grab newly laid eggs, then move them to a hatchery. On the night of聽May 30, 2013, Mora left the wildlife sanctuary to patrol for turtles and never returned. His naked and beaten body was found facedown the next morning on Mo铆n Beach. An autopsy revealed that he had been dragged behind a car through the sand until he died of asphyxiation.

Mora鈥檚 death shocked Costa Rica, a country known worldwide for its pristine green image. There were protests in the capital, and environmental groups vowed to protect the turtles of Mo铆n in Mora鈥檚 stead.

When seven men were arrested for the murder on July 31, 2013, environmentalists were hopeful. The suspects were H茅ctor Cash, Enrique Centeno, William Delgado, Jos茅 Bryan Quesada, brothers Darwin and Donald Salm贸n, and the group鈥檚 ringleader, Felipe Arauz. The men allegedly comprised a well-known poaching gang. According to Vanessa Lizano, owner of the Costa Rica Wildlife Sanctuary and one of Mora鈥檚 close friends, the men had brought an unpredictable and violent element to the beach.

鈥淯p until the last few years, we really had a friendly relationship with most of the poachers,鈥� Lizano said. 鈥淭hose guys were the only group that ever gave us any trouble.鈥�

Another poacher, R贸ger Salguera, corroborated Lizano鈥檚 theory. He claimed to have seen Arauz in Mo铆n on the night of Mora鈥檚 murder. During the trial, Salguera testified that he passed by Arauz鈥檚 car parked on the beach sometime after midnight. He spotted tire tracks and something in the sand up ahead but was chased off by a masked man before he could tell what鈥攐r who鈥攊t was.

Other evidence also seemed to link the accused to the crime. Investigators were able to place each of the suspects鈥� cellphones on Mo铆n Beach at the time of the murder through geolocation. The Judicial Investigation Police (OIJ), Costa Rica’s version of the FBI, obtained hours of recorded telephone conversations in which the defendants allegedly discussed killing Mora. The OIJ鈥檚 case file contains transcripts of text messages from Darwin Salm贸n to Quesada that appeared to make the prosecution鈥檚 case: 鈥淲e dragged him behind Felipe鈥檚 car and you know it.鈥�

[quote]The [investigators’] case file contains transcripts of text messages from Darwin Salm贸n to Quesada that appeared to make the prosecution鈥檚 case: 鈥淲e dragged him behind Felipe鈥檚 car and you know it.鈥漑/quote]

But at the trial, nearly all of this evidence was either lost or excluded. A preliminary court judge misplaced a disk containing telephone conversations. Another set of phone conversations was excluded when the prosecution failed to properly preserve the privacy of the accused by not filtering out discussions unrelated to the case. Two vials of cologne that had been used to identify Donald Salm贸n mysteriously disappeared from the evidence room. And the prosecution failed to log the telephone conversations into evidence at the beginning of the trial. Ultimately, judges ruled the OIJ鈥檚 telephone investigation inadmissible. As a result, the detectives were unable to prove that the defendants were on the beach on morning of May 31, 2013.

With almost no evidence remaining to link the defendants to the murder, the three-judge panel acquitted all seven suspects, though Cash, Centeno, Quesada, and Donald Salm贸n will still go to prison for a separate rape and robbery conviction that was made during Mora’s trial. In her closing verdict explanation, Judge Yolanda Alvarado delivered a critique to the prosecution and investigators.

鈥淯nfortunately, the management of evidence broke the chain of proof in this case,鈥� Alvarado nearly shouted into the courtroom.聽

The verdict has reopened the wound of Mora鈥檚 murder within Costa Rica鈥檚 environmental community. There is no double jeopardy in Costa Rica鈥攄efendants can be tried up to three times鈥攁nd Mora鈥檚 family鈥檚 lawyer has promised to file an appeal.

On Thursday, hundreds of protesters gathered in the capital, and environmental groups are again calling for action on Mo铆n Beach. But the outrage has meant little at the scene of the crime. Nobody has stepped up to take Mora鈥檚 place.聽

鈥淢y parents have been fighting to try to stay, but I don鈥檛 think this is a fight we are going to be able to continue,鈥� Lizano said. 鈥淲hen you get beat up too many times, you start to give up. I don鈥檛 believe in this government. There鈥檚 no justice here.鈥�

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