Both Kot and Coffey had international ties. Coffey was born in Ireland but has family in Pennsylvania. Kot was raised by his parents in Auckland before heading to graduate school at Cornell, but for some reason married Coffey in Costa Rica.
The Howick and Pakuranga Times has been busy interviewing former teachers and neighbors of Kot's in Auckland (for a front page article), reprinting Ithaca Journal reports about court proceedings, and poring through the comments section on the IJ site to gauge community reactions to the tragedy.
The Times dug into Kot's life from years ago:
Macleans’ principal, Byron Bentley, remembers the former pupil who graduated in 2001.“I do remember him, not in any great depth, but he was a bright boy, extremely intelligent, very affable and a top student,” he told the Times.
The Times has reported on Kot before, in 2005, when his invention to eliminate standby power consumption of household appliances made it to the finals of a nationwide competition. At that time, Kot was only 19 yet was less than a year away from earning a triple major in physics, mathematics, and computer science. Try doing that one at Cornell.
Kot, who was taken to a Pennsylvania hospital after leading police on a chase, is fighting his extradition to New York. His lawyer claims that Kot wasn't running away from the police and should not be considered a fugitive. I'm sure there's much more to the story than has been uncovered so far.
It's not that unusual for them to get married in Costa Rica. A growing number of couples get married in vacation destinations. With both of their families from so far away, it was probably a compromise. Instead of spending a huge amount of money on a big wedding that only one of them would be able to enjoy with most of their family, they had a small group of family members and friends probably join them in Costa Rica.
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