This week for BuzzReads, Tim Stelloh and Freda Moon investigate a real estate deal gone very wrong on the isolated coast of Nicaragua. Read that and these other great stories.
Murder and Manifest Destiny on the Mosquito Coast — BuzzFeed
Fifteen years ago, a mysterious Greek entrepreneur bought and resold a series of tiny islands off the coast of Nicaragua, setting off a bizarre and tragic chain of events that included a reality-TV sensation and allegations of an insidious murder plot. The ensuing chaos brought to light a centuries-old question: Who does land really belong to? Read it at BuzzFeed.
Freda Moon for BuzzFeed
The Strange & Curious Tale of the Last True Hermit — GQ
Michael Frinkel brings the almost unbelievable story of a man who for nearly thirty years lived in the Maine woods until he was captured robbing a cabin last spring. Why did it he do it? And how did he survive? Read it at GQ.
Photo: Andy Molloy/ Kennebec Journal / AP Photo
The Witness — Texas Monthly
As the public face of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice for over a decade, Michelle Lyons witnessed 278 executions. Pam Colloff reports on the toll this took on her. Read it at Texas Monthly.
Photograph by Matthew Mahon for Texas Monthly
You Can't Quit Cold Turkey — ESPN The Magazine
The story of Jared Lorenzen, a former NFL quarterback, still struggling as his weight rises well past 300 lbs.: "When you're fat, every day is a prompt to start your life over. Lorenzen has a new office, a new apartment, a new life after football. He's a Super Bowl champion, a cult hero, a father of two. Now he has to try to be a man." Read it at ESPN the Magazine.
Photograph by Jonathan Robert Willis for ESPN