California surfing legend Kurt Van Dyke, 66, was brutally murdered Saturday during a violent home invasion at his residence in Puerto Viejo de Talamanca, Costa Rica. According to local outlets, two armed men broke into the home Van Dyke shared with his 31-year-old girlfriend, identified only as Arroyo, while she was in the shower. The attackers forced the couple into a room before fatally stabbing and strangling Van Dyke. Arroyo told authorities the men bound her hands and feet with zip ties and assaulted her during the ordeal. The assailants stole various valuables, including the couple’s 2013 Hyundai Elantra. Police later discovered Van Dyke’s body hidden under a bed, with a sheet covering his face and a knife nearby. The shocking killing has rattled the typically quiet coastal community. Roger Sam, president of Costa Rica’s Southern Caribbean Chamber of Tourism and Commerce, told La Nación the crime left him “deeply saddened,” noting the region had experienced a “long period of calm and tranquility.” Van Dyke, who earned the title of surf “King” of the Caribbean coast during his 1980s pursuit of the famed Salsa Brava break, had long since settled in Costa Rica, where he ran Hotel Puerto Viejo.
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