A California surf legend who once chased monster waves for a living has been killed in a nightmare attack that has rocked an otherwise tranquil Costa Rican beach town.
Kurt Van Dyke, 66, a longtime expat and hotel owner in Puerto Viejo de Talamanca, was found dead Saturday morning inside his home in Cahuita, a small Caribbean-side community known more for palm trees and pounding surf than violent crime.
Local reports say Van Dyke’s body was discovered under his bed with a sheet covering his head. A knife was found nearby. Authorities believe he was strangled and stabbed multiple times.
His 31-year-old girlfriend, identified only as Arroyo, survived the terrifying ordeal — but not without trauma. She reportedly told investigators she was in the shower when two armed men burst into the home. The intruders forced the couple into a room at gunpoint.
Arroyo said the men zip-tied her hands and feet, assaulted her, and ransacked the home. They allegedly stole several valuables and fled in the couple’s 2013 Hyundai Elantra.
The brazen attack has stunned locals in Puerto Viejo, a laid-back surf town that markets itself as a peaceful Caribbean escape.
“I am deeply saddened,” Roger Sams, president of Costa Rica’s Southern Caribbean Chamber of Tourism and Commerce, told La Nación, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. “We’ve had a long period of calm and tranquility. This shocks and saddens us because the Caribbean has been so peaceful.”
Van Dyke wasn’t just another foreign retiree living out a beach dream. He was part of Costa Rica’s surf fabric.
After arriving in the early 1980s, he became known for tackling Salsa Brava, one of the most powerful and dangerous reef breaks in Central America. His fearless runs earned him the nickname “King” along the Caribbean coast. Over the decades, he built a reputation as both a standout surfer and the owner of a modest hotel that became a home base for wave chasers from around the world.
Surfing ran in the family.
His father, Gene Van Dyke, was considered a pioneer of Northern California’s early surf scene. His mother, Betty Van Dyke, helped push the boundaries for women surfers in the 1950s and 1960s — long before the sport became mainstream.
Back in California, the Van Dyke name is also tied to agriculture. The family operated the longtime Van Dyke Ranch near Gilroy, known for its apricots and cherries sold at local farmers markets.
Now, instead of celebrating swell reports and sunset sessions, friends and family are mourning a life that began on California’s rugged coastline and ended in shocking violence thousands of miles away.
Authorities in Costa Rica are investigating the killing. No arrests have been announced.
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