By Maribel Hernández Pérez
Puerto Rico – All divisions of the Puerto Rico Police Bureau (NPPR) are activated in search of fugitive Jenniel Alexander Rodríguez García, 18, who was charged Monday in absentia with seven criminal charges for the murder of a couple of the elderly in Naguabo.
At present, authorities understand that Rodríguez García has not traveled outside the island.
Judge Enid Rivera García, of the Humacao Court, yesterday issued an arrest warrant with a bail of $1.4 million, for two counts of first-degree murder, violation of article 6.06 (Carrying and use of Bladed Weapons) of the Weapons Law , aggravated robbery, aggravated arson and destruction of evidence.
The charges were formulated by prosecutor Miguel García and the investigation was led by agent José Caraballo, assigned to the Humacao Homicide Division.
Young man would have committed the murders in the middle of a robbery
It emerges from the investigation, the evidence collected and the interviews, including those of a crony who has cooperated with the authorities, that on November 22, Rodríguez García murdered Henry Irizarry, 75 years old, and Genevive Rodríguez, 80 years old. , when he was discovered trying to steal a motor vehicle that was at the couple’s residence, located in the Húcares neighborhood, in Naguabo.
It is alleged that when they were surprised, the perpetrators armed themselves with shovels and other yard tools, beat and burned the couple, who had been married for 40 years. The suspects were neighbors of the victims.
Lieutenant Colonel Wilson Lebron Otaño, director of the Bureau of Drugs, Narcotics, Vice Control and Illegal Weapons, who is acting as assistant chief of Special Operations, explained that all confidences are attended to and corroborated.
“The Arrests, Intelligence, Drugs divisions, the entire investigative branch is active to find the whereabouts of this person,” said Lebron Otaño.
They ask Rodríguez García to surrender
When asked if information has emerged about death threats against Rodríguez García, the official responded that they have not been verified and urged that he surrender to the authorities.
He added that the accused has not had any communication with the NPPR, nor through family members or lawyers in this regard.
“Within a lot of information, the possibility is there and when there are crimes like that, that’s how the underworld works. For this reason, we urge that the person surrender and submit to the process, because every action has its consequences. This mechanism is better than what the underworld offers and it would be safer if it undergoes the process,” said Lebron Otaño.
Authorities were alerted of a fire in the victims’ home
The events occurred on the eve of Thanksgiving Day, around 10:40 pm, when the authorities were alerted about a fire on the ground floor of the house. After the flames were extinguished, firefighters found the two bodies in the yard near an apartment next to the residence.
The bodies showed that they had been severely beaten with some tool and had been burned.
Another similar case that shocked the country was revealed on October 30, when agent José Miguel Centeno Sánchez took his own life while his residence was going to be raided, in search of evidence that would connect him to the murder of his godfather in Santería, Idelfonso Janeiro Rodríguez, 83, and his wife, Angélica Adorno Cruzado, 77.
The bodies of this couple were found on the night of October 11, tied, gagged and shot in their home on the PR-112 highway, in the Arenales Bajos neighborhood, in Isabela.
Original note from Primera Hora: “Let him turn himself in”, that is the message from the Police to the fugitive for crimes against the elderly in Naguabo
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They search in Puerto Rico for an 18-year-old man accused of murdering and burning elderly neighbors