Murder of Haley Anderson

Haley Anderson was a 22-year-old fifth-year nursing student at Binghamton University from Westbury, New York. She was the daughter of Karen and Gordon Anderson and older sister to Madeline Anderson. Anderson worked at the on-campus coffee shop Jazzman's for over three years and had accepted a job with Northwell Health at a Long Island hospital emergency room upon her planned May 2018 graduation. Friends described her as hard working, friendly, and compassionate, with a love of music.

Anderson had a prior on-and-off romantic relationship with fellow nursing student Orlando Tercero lasting up to a year and a half. In September 2017, Tercero confronted Anderson at a party about her new relationship with a mutual friend; the following day, he was suspected of slashing the tires on her car, causing roughly $600 in damage. Anderson declined to press charges over the tire-slashing incident and reportedly wanted to remain friends with Tercero even as she moved on romantically.

On March 8, 2018, after a night out with friends during which she had been drinking, Anderson went to Tercero's Oak Street apartment on Binghamton's West Side. Surveillance footage showed the two entering the apartment early that morning and Tercero leaving alone hours later. Tercero strangled Anderson manually and via the necklace she was wearing; his likely motive was jealousy over her having moved on from their relationship. Tercero then drove to John F. Kennedy International Airport and flew to Nicaragua. Evidence at the scene, including an apparent suicide attempt and a note apologizing to his family, suggested he may have tried to take his own life before fleeing.

When Anderson did not return home, her roommates tracked her phone to Tercero's apartment on March 9, broke in through a window, and discovered her body with severe bruising to her neck and arms. Police, who had earlier conducted an inconclusive welfare check after Tercero's sister called 9-1-1, returned and officially found Anderson's body at 12:53 p.m. that day. Her death was ruled a homicide on March 10 following an autopsy at Lourdes Hospital. On March 11, Binghamton Police named Tercero as a suspect and confirmed he had already left the country. Broome County District Attorney Steve Cornwell announced plans to seek an indictment and extradition.

Tercero was apprehended by Nicaraguan National Police on March 13, 2018, at a hospital in León, where he had been placed in psychiatric care after his own apparent suicide attempt. On March 17, 2018, Broome County charged Tercero with second-degree murder. In Nicaragua, he was separately charged with femicide, making his first court appearance there in September 2019. He was convicted and sentenced to 30 years in a Nicaraguan prison; his appeal to reduce the sentence was rejected in March 2020. The second-degree murder charge in Broome County remains outstanding, pending a possible future extradition request after Tercero completes his Nicaraguan sentence.