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Adam Anhang, a Canadian-origin businessman and millionaire, was stabbed and beaten to death while leaving the Pink Skirt Nightclub in Puerto Rico's Old San Juan neighborhood in September 2005. He was with his estranged wife, Aurea Vázquez-Rijos at the time, who was also attacked but survived. Jonathan Rivera, who worked at the nightclub, was initially convicted but his conviction was overturned.
Further investigation revealed a murder-for-hire plot after the hitman, Alex Pabón-Colón, was indicted. Pabón-Colón alleged that Anhang's wife, Aurea Vázquez-Rijos, offered him $3 million to commit the crime. He pleaded guilty, but Vázquez-Rijos fled to Italy, prompting an international investigation. She was then arrested in 2013 and was found guilty in 2018, along with two other accomplices.
An all-new Dateline: Secrets Uncovered episode on Oxygen is slated to revisit Adam Anhang's murder this Wednesday, July 5, 2023. The episode has been titled The Pink Skirt Plot and it will air on the channel at 8:00 pm ET.
The official synopsis of the episode reads:
"The murder of a young businessman in the Old San Juan district of Puerto Rico marks the start of a 15-year-long hunt to find the killer."
The hitman alleged that Adam Anhang's wife offered him $3 million to commit the crime and lured him to the nightclub
Adam Anhang was meeting his estranged wife Aurea Vázquez-Rijos, a former beauty queen, at the Pink Skirt Nightclub in Puerto Rico's Old San Juan neighborhood on September 22, 2005, only a few hours after having declared his intentions to divorce her. The couple had only been married for six months at the time.
The two left the nightclub and were walking down the street to the parking garage when they were attacked. Anhang was repeatedly stabbed and hit in the head by an assailant. Vázquez-Rijos was also attacked and sustained a few minor injuries.
According to the Cinemaholic, an ensuing investigation led to the arrest of an innocent man named Jonathan Rivera, who was an employee at the nightclub. In 2007, he was convicted of murder and sent to prison. Rivera's conviction was later overturned.
Four people including Adam Anhang's wife and the hired hitman, were arrested in connection with his murder-for-hire
An FBI investigation later named another suspect, Alex Pabón-Colón as the assailant in the case. He informed authorities that Adam Anhang's wife Aurea Vázquez-Rijos offered him $3 million to commit the crime.
According to an official report by the United States Attorney's Office, eyewitnesses claimed that they saw Vázquez-Rijos talking to the attacker as she watched him viciously stab and bludgeon her husband to death. She even urged him to inflict an injury on her to dissuade authorities from suspecting her involvement in the crime and to make it appear like a random robbery.
In 2008, Pabón-Colón pleaded guilty while Vázquez-Rijos fled the country and moved to Italy after she was charged and before authorities could make an arrest. She continued living in Italy for a couple of years until Spanish law enforcement officials and the FBI combined forces to arrest her in 2013. She was then deported back to Puerto Rico two years later.
CBC reported that Adam Anhang, whose net worth was $24 million at the time of his marriage, and Aurea Vázquez-Rijos signed a prenup before they tied the knot. Vazquez reportedly sued Anhang's parents six months after his death, seeking $8 million from his estate and $1 million in damages. It was alleged that Vázquez-Rijos orchestrated the killing out of greed because Anhang was prepared to divorce her, which would lead to her losing millions.
A trial began in August 2018 after multiple delays when Vázquez-Rijos along with co-conspirators including her sister Marcia Vazquez Rijos and her ex-boyfriend José Ferrer Sosa were found guilty of Adam Anhang's murder. The following year, all three of them were sentenced to life in prison.
Learn more about the case on Oxygen's Dateline: Secrets Uncovered this Wednesday at 8 pm ET.
