California surfing legend Kurt Van Dyke's girlfriend arrested in his murder

LOS ANGELES - Nine months after California surfing legend Kurt Van Dyke was killed during what initially appeared to be a home invasion in Costa Rica, authorities arrested his 31-year-old girlfriend and a second suspect. 

Investigators now say elements of the deadly attack appeared staged after the suspects failed to access the 66-year-old hotelier’s banking information.

What we know:

Costa Rica’s Judicial Investigation Agency, known as the OIJ, detained Van Dyke’s girlfriend, identified only by her last name, Arroyo, and a 34-year-old man with the last name Gutiérrez during early Thursday raids across three homes in Roxana, Pococí, The California Post reports. 

Van Dyke was found dead beneath a bed with a sheet over his head at his residence in Hone Creek, near Cahuita and Puerto Viejo de Talamanca, on Feb. 14. A release from the OIJ stated his preliminary cause of death was asphyxiation, alongside multiple stab wounds.

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At the time of the killing, Arroyo told authorities she was showering when at least two armed men broke into the home, threatened them with a gun, restrained her with zip ties, and stole valuables. She was not seriously injured. 

However, OIJ Deputy Director Vladimir Muñoz said certain elements of the attack appeared to be "staged" and alleged that suspects beat and tortured Van Dyke when they could not access his banking details.

Born into a prominent Santa Cruz surfing family—his father Gene was a Northern California surfing pioneer and his mother Betty helped pave the way for women surfers in the 1950s and 1960s—Van Dyke became a standout Central Coast surfer by the mid-1980s. He later relocated to Costa Rica’s Caribbean coast, where he earned the nickname "King" riding the Salsa Brava break and ran the Hotel Puerto Viejo for decades. 

What we don't know:

The investigation remains active, and Costa Rican authorities have not filed formal criminal charges against Arroyo or Gutiérrez. It is also unknown whether either suspect has retained an attorney. 

What they're saying:

Following the February attack, Kurt’s older brother, Peter Van Dyke, told The California Post at the family’s Gilroy farm that he suspected the killing was not a random robbery and warned there were people in the area "who did not like him." 

Peter added, "There are people who like him and there are people who don’t. It was more nefarious." Although the brothers spoke weekly and Kurt assured Peter "he had everything under control," Peter noted he knew very little about his brother's girlfriend.

Reflecting on the devastating loss, Peter said, "Everybody’s still in shock. There have been tears, conversations, reflections, memories. I think we’re all going through that process everybody goes through when somebody close to them passes." Remembering his brother’s lifelong devotion to the ocean, he added, "Kurt — he was always there for us. He always had this adventurous nature to him when it came to the ocean. We spent a lot of time exploring the ocean north of Santa Cruz and south."