Gringo Nightmare

In the spirit of Midnight Express and Not Without My Daughter comes the harrowing true story of an American held in a Nicaraguan prison for a murder he didn’t commit.

Eric Volz was in his late twenties in 2005 when he moved from California to Nicaragua.  He and a friend cofounded a bilingual magazine, El Puente, and it proved more successful than they ever expected. Then Volz met Doris Jiménez, an incomparable beauty from a small Nicaraguan beach town, and they began a passionate and meaningful relationship. Though the relationship ended amicably less than a year later and Volz moved his business to the capital city of Managua, a close bond between the two endured.

Nothing prepared him for the phone call he received on November 21, 2006, when he learned that Doris had been found dead---murdered---in her seaside clothing boutique. He rushed from Managua to be with her friends and family, and before he knew it, he found himself accused of her murder, arrested, and imprisoned.

Decried in the press and vilified by his onetime friends, Volz suffered horrific conditions, illness, deadly inmates, an angry lynch mob, sadistic guards, and the merciless treatment of government officials. It was only through his dogged persistence, the tireless support of his friends and family, and the assistance of a former intelligence operative that Eric was released, in December 2007, after more than a year in prison.

A story that made national and international headlines, this is the first and only book to tell Eric’s absorbing, moving account in his own words.

Visit the companion Exhibit Hall at www.GringoNightmare.com for additional photos, audio clips, video, case files, and more.

In the spirit of Midnight Express and Not Without My Daughter comes the harrowing true story of an American held in a Nicaraguan prison for a murder he didn’t commit.

Eric Volz was in his late twenties in 2005 when he moved from California to Nicaragua.  He and a friend cofounded a bilingual magazine, El Puente, and it proved more successful than they ever expected. Then Volz met Doris Jiménez, an incomparable beauty from a small Nicaraguan beach town, and they began a passionate and meaningful relationship. Though the relationship ended amicably less than a year later and Volz moved his business to the capital city of Managua, a close bond between the two endured.

Nothing prepared him for the phone call he received on November 21, 2006, when he learned that Doris had been found dead—-murdered—-in her seaside clothing boutique. He rushed from Managua to be with her friends and family, and before he knew it, he found himself accused of her murder, arrested, and imprisoned.

Decried in the press and vilified by his onetime friends, Volz suffered horrific conditions, illness, deadly inmates, an angry lynch mob, sadistic guards, and the merciless treatment of government officials. It was only through his dogged persistence, the tireless support of his friends and family, and the assistance of a former intelligence operative that Eric was released, in December 2007, after more than a year in prison.

A story that made national and international headlines, this is the first and only book to tell Eric’s absorbing, moving account in his own words.

Visit the companion Exhibit Hall at www.GringoNightmare.com for additional photos, audio clips, video, case files, and more.

Publishers Weekly

There is much pain in Volz's memoir of being a young American in a near-perfect frameup involving murder, tabloid headlines, police corruption, and political power plays in Nicaragua. In 2005, the author, then in his early 20s, established a bilingual magazine with a friend, settled in a small Nicaraguan town, and fell in love with the beautiful Doris Jiménez. Eventually, Volz moved to Managua, but remained close friends with Doris. So he was stunned in late 2006 to receive a call informing him that she was dead and even more stunned to find himself charged and harshly sentenced for her murder after a trial he describes as involving tampered evidence, coerced testimony, police incompetence, and betrayals. The vignettes of the prisons and cold-blooded inmates are scalding. After a bold campaign by his family and friends to put pressure on his captors, Volz was released and deported in December 2007. Volz describes a web of sinister international political acts involving even Nicaraguan president Daniel Ortega, whom he calls corrupt and duplicitous in this tale of everything that can go south for an American facing uncertain justice abroad. 8 pages of b&w photos. (May)

ERIC VOLZ was born in Northern California.  He is a former magazine publisher and investment consultant, who holds a degree in Latin American Studies from the University of California, San Diego.