UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
WESTERN DISTRICT OF NORTH CAROLINA
CHARLOTTE DIVISION
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

)
)
v.
)
)
WILLIAM ALBERT ULMER,
)
a/k/a “Bill Ulmer,”
)
)
Defendant.
)
___________________________________ )

DOCKET NO. 3:15-CR-132

MOTION FOR UPWARD DEPARTURE
AND/OR UPWARD VARIANCE

THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, by and through Jill Westmoreland Rose, United
States Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina, moves this Honorable Court for a
four-level upward departure pursuant to U.S.S.G. § 5K2.0(a)(3), and/or a four-level upward
variance of Ulmer’s Sentencing Guideline range, and in support thereof states:
FACTUAL BACKGROUND
In or about March 2009, the defendant, WILLIAM ALBERT ULMER, a/k/a “Bill
Ulmer,” (hereinafter “Ulmer”) stole and, thereafter through on or about December 23, 2010,
unlawfully used the United States passport of his brother, Wayne J. Ulmer, Jr., to leave and
unlawfully re-enter the United States using the stolen passport that had been issued under the
authority of the United States to another person.
More specifically, Ulmer stole the United States passport of his brother, Wayne Jacob
Ulmer, Jr. in March 2009. He thereafter boarded a flight on March 11, 2009, at Norfolk
International Airport in Norfolk, Virginia destined for San Jose, Costa Rica. Ulmer traveled
from the United States to the country of Costa Rica under the name of his brother, Wayne J.
Ulmer, Jr., and used his brother’s United States passport to enter Costa Rica.
Ulmer resided and worked in Costa Rica for twenty-one (21) months between March 11,
2009, and December 23, 2010, when he boarded a flight at Juan Santamaria International Airport
in San Jose, Costa Rica and traveled from Costa Rica to the United States under the name of his
brother, Wayne J. Ulmer, Jr. Ulmer traveling under his brother’s name, Wayne J. Ulmer, Jr.,
arrived at the Charlotte-Douglas International Airport in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Ulmer presented his brother’s stolen United States passport to U.S. Customs officials for
the purpose of Ulmer entering the United States under his brother’s name. After clearing U.S.
Customs using his brother’s stolen passport, Ulmer continued his air travel to his final
destination in Norfolk, Virginia.

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 Ulmer’s theft and use of his brother’s passport in March 2009, occurred after Ulmer had
been arrested and released from custody on or about February 14, 2009, for worthless check
charges, and before a hearing in Dare County Criminal Superior Court in Manteo, North
Carolina, on April 15, 2009, related to those state charges (EXHIBIT A). Ulmer failed to appear
for the April 9th state court hearing because Ulmer was residing in Costa Rica at that time after
having traveled from the United States to Costa Rica under his brother’s name and using his
brother’s stolen passport.
Ulmer’s use of his brother’s stolen passport on December 23, 2010, occurred after
Ulmer’s friends and acquaintances confronted Ulmer about the disappearance and suspected
murder of Ulmer’s live-in girlfriend, Barbara Strunkova (EXHIBIT B), and before Ulmer could
be questioned by Costa Rican law enforcement authorities about Ms. Strunkova’s disappearance
and suspected murder. To date, Ulmer has declined to speak with Costa Rican law enforcement
authorities about Ms. Strunkova’s disappearance and suspected murder.
THE DISAPPEARANCE AND
SUSPECTED MURDER OF BARBARA STRUNKOVA
Barbara Strunkova, a national of the Czech Republic, was last seen alive by friends and
acquaintances on or about December 5, 2010 (EXHIBIT C). At the time of her disappearance,
Strunkova had been living with her then-boyfriend Ulmer in a residence in Tamarindo, Costa
Rica, shared with four other roommates. 1
Costa Rican law enforcement authorities, known as the Organismo de Investigación
Judicial (hereinafter “OIJ”), learned of Strunkova’s disappearance on December 26, 2010, two
days after Ulmer used his brother’s identity and stolen passport to leave Costa Rica for the
United States. 2 On that date, one of Strunkova’s friends (friend #1) reported that he had last
seen Strunkova leave the residence with Ulmer at 8:00 pm on December 4, 2010, and that he had
not seen her since. When asked about Strunkova’s whereabouts, Ulmer told friend #1 that she
had gone to Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica. Friend #1 advised OIJ that he was surprised by Ulmer’s
statement, but did not pay any attention to it until December 22, 2010, when Ulmer left the
shared residence without notice.
OIJ learned from another one of Strunkova’s friends (“friend #2”) that her relatives had
not heard from Strunkova from December 4, 2010, to December 27, 2010, which “surprised [her
relatives] considering that Barbara [Strunkova] usually communicated with her family via
Evidence regarding Barbara Strunkova’s disappearance and suspected murder not contained in
Ulmer’s PSR will be presented at Ulmer’s sentencing. Ulmer has received all reports in
possession of the government in discovery regarding Ulmer’s departure from Costa Rica using
his brother’s identity and stolen passport.
1

Report Number 024-10-001051 of the Regional Office of Santa Cruz, Guanacaste – March 30,
2012, Discovery Bates No. 00000005-19. References herein to this report will be designated
DB, followed by the Bates Stamp page number.
2

2

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 internet every day.” (DB00000005). Friend #2 advised that when he spoke with Ulmer
regarding Strunkova’s whereabouts, Ulmer “gave many possibilities of where one could possibly
find her, but every possibility Bill [Ulmer] gave him was contradictory to a different one.”
(DB00000005).
OIJ took statements from several witnesses who had been with Ulmer and Strunkova on
December 4, 2010, and with Strunkova at 1:00 am on December 5, 2010. The witness
statements to OIJ reflect that on December 4th, Ulmer and Strunkova were together and went to
the Pacific Bar where they partied with some of Stunkova’s friends until 10:00 pm. Ulmer left
the bar alone at 10:00pm. Approximately three hours later at 1:00am on December 5th,
Strunkova’s friends dropped her off at the residence she shared with Ulmer. People who knew
Ulmer and/or Stunkova never saw her or heard from her thereafter.
In the course of their investigation, OIJ learned of the following information after
Strunkova was dropped off at the residence she shared with Ulmer:
1) Strunkova’s friends saw her enter the residence she shared with Ulmer and other
roommates;
2) On the morning of December 5, 2010, Ulmer advised a roommate and co-worker
at Boos Adventures that “Barbara wouldn’t be returning [to work] anymore”
(DB00000008);
3) On December 6, 2010, Ulmer asked his roommates if he to borrow a surfboard
bag that “measured nine feet long and could hold three surfboards,”
(DB00000007);
4) On December 26, 2010, Ulmer’s roommates were surprised to hear Ulmer answer
the telephone at his father’s residence, during which call Ulmer told one of his
roommates that “he had gotten ahold of Barbara’s clothes and put them in the
[surfboard] bag and he went to through (sic) them into the Junquillal River
(DB00000007);
5) On December 20, 2010, the owner of Boos Adventures, where Ulmer and
Strunkova had worked beginning in March 2010, was contacted by Strunkova’s
regarding financial transactions under her name totaling $2,000 (DB00000008);
6) Sometime after December 20, 2010, the owner of Boos Adventures spoke by
telephone with Ulmer, who was in the United States, and was advised by Ulmer
that those charges resulted from Ulmer’s “problems with migration” with a
company debit card that Ulmer and Strunkova had been authorized to manage
(DB00000008);
7) Sometime after December 31, 2010, OIJ investigators reviewed ATM video
surveillance footage depicting Ulmer at the ATM corresponding “with the dates
and hours of money withdrawn using the Boos Adventure debit card”
(DB00000012);
8) On December 6, 2010, Ulmer asked a restaurant owner located near Boos
Adventures if he could borrow a car to “drop off some things of Barbara’s” and
that he would “bring these things to Playa Hermosa” (DB00000008);
9) On December 7, 2010, Ulmer returned the borrowed car, which the owner noted
that “the inside of the car was very clean (DB00000008);
3

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 10) On December 30, 2010, a luminol test of the room Ulmer shared with Strunkova
revealed “traces of apparent blood in two concentrations; the first of them situated
on the floor beside the bed, and the second on the floor of a small chamber being
used as a closet…. [I]t was observed that there were signs of dragging towards a
closet wherein the second stain was found. Several blood splashes were also
observed on the wall of the west side of the small chamber, as well as in different
places and furniture in the room. A third blood mark or stain was observed which
also presented signs of dragging, which ran from the closet to the main door of the
residence, continuing toward the main hallway of the residence towards the
garage door, where signs of the dragging ended” (DB00000010-11); 3
11) On December 30, 2010, OIJ found a positive luminol test of the car Ulmer was on
“the floor of the trunk or part of the car furthest to the back” (DB00000011); 4
12) OIJ investigators stated in their March 30, 2012, report that it was their
“hypothesis . . . that Miss Barbara Strunkova would have been assassinated,
carried out by force” based on witness interviews about her “sudden
disappearance[,]” “lack of communication . . . with close friends and her
relatives[,]” “luminol tests carried out in the room and the car, wherein before and
after the application of the luminol it was observed that the amount of stains of
apparent blood was a considerable quantity, so much so that a loss of that much
blood would be important to one’s physical condition, and would probably mean
that person was deceased[,]” and that “the personnel of the biochemistry
department said the blood corresponded to human blood (DB00000011).
On July 1, 2016, Special Agent Marshal Adams conducted a telephone interview
of Laura Monge Cantero, Fiscal Coordinator of the Office of Technical Assistance and
International Relations of the Attorney General in Costa Rica. Ms. Cantero advised S/A Adams
that: 1) OIJ investigators would have wanted to speak with Ulmer, and that Ulmer would have
been questioned as a defendant, with the right to have had an attorney present; 2) Costa Rican
authorities consider Struncova to be a murder victim, based on their investigation; 3) Costa
Rican authorities remain interested in speaking with Ulmer; 4) Costa Rican authorities do not
have enough evidence to charge Ulmer with Strunkova’s murder and thus cannot request his
extradition; and 5) Costa Rican authorities could charge Ulmer with Strunkova’s murder if her
body is found, in which case it would seek Ulmer’s extradition to Costa Rica.

OIJ took samples of blood stains before and after the luminol test, which samples came back
positive for human blood (DB00000011).
3

4

Blood stains samples taken from the car came back positive for human blood (DB00000011).
4

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 ARGUMENT
The facts of this case clearly demonstrate that, using his brother’s identity and stolen
passport, Ulmer quickly fled Costa Rica to avoid questioning by Costa Rican law enforcement
authorities regarding the disappearance and suspected murder of his then live-in girlfriend
Barbara Strunkova.
Under these circumstances, an upward sentencing departure or upward variance is
warranted. The grounds for departure would be U.S.S.G. § 5K2.0(a)(3), which provides:
DEPARTURES BASED ON CIRCUMSTANCES PRESENT TO A
DEGREE NOT ADEQUATELY TAKEN INTO CONSIDERATION – A
departure may be warranted in an exceptional case, even though the
circumstance that forms the basis of the departure is taken into
consideration in determining the guideline range, if the court determines
that such circumstance is present in the offense to a degree substantially in
excess of, or substantially below, that which ordinarily is involved in that
kind of offense.
Here, the extenuating circumstance is Ulmer’s attempted obstruction of justice in Costa
Rica’s investigation of the disappearance and apparent murder of his former girlfriend, Barbara
Struncova. An analogous case that supports this guideline departure is United States v. Nduribe,
703 F. 3d 1049 (7th Cir. 2013). 5
In Nduribe, the defendant had fled to Nigeria from the United States upon learning that
the police were at the home of his co-conspirator. Nduribe evaded arrest in his United States
drug case for five years. The Seventh Circuit affirmed a two-level enhancement under U.S.S.G.
§ 3C1.1(1) for the defendant’s obstruction of justice. 6 In so holding, the court found that the
defendant delayed his apprehension for five years, that the delay “put the government to the
expense of searching for him” and that this resulted in a foreign arrest and extradition
proceedings. 703 F. 3d at 1050. The court also noted that the delay may have made it more
difficult for the government to prosecuted him, and that though this may be “conjecture[,]” proof
that “a five-year wild goose chase” is a burden to law enforcement is not necessary, because it is
“obvious.” 703 F. 3d at 1051.
The government contends that Ulmer’s flight similarly constitutes an attempted or
successful obstruction of justice, and that a two-level offense level enhancement should be
applied. Alternatively, and for the same reasons, the government contends that a two-level
variance should be applied to Ulmer’s Sentencing Guideline score.
The government contends that an upward departure and/or variance should be applied to
Ulmer’s flight from the U.S. to Costa Rica in order to avoid prosecution for worthless check
charges.
5

U.S.S.G. § 3C1.1 is not applicable to the instant case because the attempted obstruction of
justice was not “with respect to the investigation, prosecution or sentencing of the instant offense
of conviction.”
6

5

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 CONCLUSION
For the reasons set forth above, the United States respectfully requests that this
Honorable Court grant an four-level 7 upward departure pursuant to U.S.S.G. § 5K2.0(a)(3),
and/or an upward variance to Ulmer’s Sentencing Guideline range.
RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED, this 5th day of July, 2016.
JILL WESTMORELAND ROSE
UNITED STATES ATTORNEY
s/ Thomas A. O’Malley
THOMAS A. O’MALLEY
Assistant United States Attorney
Bar: State of Florida/310964
Attorney for the Plaintiff
227 West Trade Street, Suite 1700
Charlotte, North Carolina 28202
(704) 344-6222 (office)
(704) 344-6629 (facsimile)
Tom.O’Malley@usdoj.gov

The requested four-level increase is based on a recommended two-level increase in connection
with Ulmer’s flight from the United States to Costa Rica to avoid prosecution on pending state
charges, and a recommended two-level increase for Ulmer’s flight from Costa Rica to the United
States to avoid questioning by Costa Rica’s OIJ in the disappearance and apparent homicide of
his former girlfriend, Barbara Strunkova.
7

6

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 CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE
I certify that on the 5th day of July, 2016, I electronically filed the foregoing with the
Clerk of Court using the CM/ECF system which will send notification of such filing to the
following: Emily M. Jones, Emily_m_jones @fd.org.
s/ Thomas A. O’Malley
THOMAS A. O’MALLEY
Assistant United States Attorney

7

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