Deficient Care Not A Factor In Baldwin’s Death

Regarding the allegations in a Dec. 4 newspaper article (“Last chance for love ends in death, coercion,” News) involving Charles “Jack” Baldwin and my sister, Doris Martinez Villamizar, it’s not fair to imply that Jack Baldwin received substandard care that resulted in his death in Colombia.

Also, his son, Troy Baldwin, might like to imply that Jack Baldwin’s new wife is a gold digger and doesn’t deserve to inherit any property that would come to her under Idaho law. That is still to be settled and there remains about $12,500 in unpaid medical bills.

After exchanging letters for six months, Jack and Doris agreed marriage was in their best interests. I would be his cure to a lonely life and a way for Doris to improve the circumstances of her children and herself.

Before starting his trip, Jack Baldwin was advised to take $5,000 to cover expenses; he left with $2,000.

On the way to the Seattle airport he was arrested for driving under the influence. He paid a $140 towing charge and $700 in bail. By the time he arrived in Bogota he had $600. He was met at the airport by Doris, her two children and her brother, and Jack paid more than $100 each for them to fly to Cucuta, where Doris and her family live.

During his stay in Cucuta, Jack stayed at the home of her family. Doris had previously sold all her furniture and given up her rental house nearby.

On Oct. 16, they were married in Venezuela. But at the U.S. Embassy in Bogota they were told they would have to remarry in Colombia before visas could be issued.

To conform with Colombian laws, divorce papers from Jack’s previous marriages would have to be translated into Spanish and stamped at a Colombian embassy in the United States. He flew to Houston, where he learned his documents would have to be stamped at the embassy in California. He mailed the documents, then returned to Bogota.

The Baldwin family makes absurd allegations that Doris ripped him off. He arrived in Colombia with $600. While there for six weeks, he called home for more money four different times for a total of $6,000.

I talked to Jack when he was in Houston, and he was very happy and told me the marriage had been consummated.

After Jack returned to Bogota, he received his documents from California. Four days later he went to the clinic for severe back pain. They paid the clinic $500 when he checked in. When the doctors realized they would have to operate, they wanted assurance that more money would be paid prior to the operation.

Doris paid the clinic $1,300 she had borrowed from a friend with the expectation that her husband would repay the debt upon his recovery.

The Spokesman-Review stated that the family gave Troy Baldwin $2,000 to fly to Bogota and care for his father and pay medical bills. Since the Baldwin family placed its trust in Troy, its members shouldn’t be bashful about asking him to present receipts.

He was emotionally unstable, and not being able to count his pesos soon left him flat broke. The only help he gave Doris was $100 to pay taxi fares for the 15 miles across town to the clinic.

Doris signed for responsibility of the doctor and hospital bills, and it is likely she will be imprisoned for the $12,500 still owed. And her inability to repay the borrowed $1,300 could result in acts of revenge.

After his father’s death, Troy Baldwin had no wish to help make arrangements to send the corpse home. He went to the airport with Jack’s passport and the unused plane tickets. The corpse couldn’t be shipped without the passport, so the consul officer had to accompany Doris to the airport to recover the passport and unused plane tickets.

In December 1995, Doris sent her sister in Athol, Idaho, a package containing her marriage certificate, her husband’s death certificate, the insurance policy making his wife beneficiary, wedding photos, the unused plane tickets and an authorization to cash in the tickets so that the money could be used to repay the borrowed $1,300.

The package was intercepted and the unused plane tickets are suspected to have been cashed by someone who was able to penetrate the security of the U.S. Postal Service.

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