By The newspaper
03 Aug 2024, 01:57 AM EDT
Gustavo Hernandez (38) and his nephews Walter (19) and Wilson Ramirez Jerónimo (18) have been charged as suspects of carrying out a “deeply disturbing” kidnapping in broad daylight, after which they caused the death of the victim by strangulation in Long Island (NY), according to prosecutors.
The three relatives have been charged in connection with the death of Juan Carlos Diaz Jeronimo, a 48-year-old man, the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office said Friday.
According to a statement from District Attorney Raymond Tierney, the teenage brothers and their uncle were driving a blue Isuzu in Farmingdale on the evening of June 21 when they saw Diaz Jeronimo walking along Broadhollow Road.
“Video surveillance shows the defendants allegedly exiting the vehicle, attacking the victim and attempting to drag her into the Isuzu,” prosecutors said. “Their efforts were thwarted by a passing motorist, allowing the victim to escape to a gas station across the street.” The teens and their uncle then allegedly followed the victim to the gas station, where video shows them slamming Diaz Jeronimo to the ground, choking him and forcing him into the back of the car in broad daylight.
The suspects allegedly drove away with the victim in their trunk and then dumped her body in a grassy spot off a residential street. Diaz Jeronimo was found the next morning around 1:30 a.m. by a local resident, the report said. News12.
The victim was later determined to have suffered numerous injuries, including fatal asphyxiation “due to neck compression, severe blunt force trauma to the abdomen and what appeared to be a stab wound to the upper chest,” the district attorney’s office said. Despite sharing the same last name, “there is no known familial relationship between the victim, Juan Carlos Diaz Jeronimo” and the Ramirez Jeronimo brothers, prosecutors said.
Hernandez and his nephews were arraigned Thursday and held without bail. They are due back in court on Sept. 10. If convicted, they could face between 25 years and life in prison on each of the murder and kidnapping charges, while the attempted kidnapping charge carries a sentence of up to 15 years, he said. Daily News.
The motive for the crime is unclear. All charges are merely accusations and the defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.