The parents of José Rafael Llenas Aybar, the 12-year-old boy who was brutally murdered on 3 May, allegedly by his 19-year-old cousin and his friend, were questioned by Judge Alexis Henríquez Núñez on 12 June. The next day, the father of Mario José Redondo Llenas, José Rafael’s cousin, was called for an interview with Judge Henríquez. On 14 June, José Rafael’s uncle, Omar Llenas, was also questioned in regard to the case. No details of the investigations, which have been under the supervision of Judge Henríquez since the two young men confessed to the murders on 5 May, have been released. The case has been well-publicized in the news media and has shocked most members of Dominican society. In the area surrounding the Palace of Justice where the interviews have been taking place, tens of people have gathered to shout insults at Mr. Redondo Llenas and his confessed accomplice, Juan Manuel Moliné Rodriguez.
In related news, the Attorney General of the National District, Julio Cesar Castaños Guzmán, has passed the official file on the son of the Argentine Ambassador Teresa Meccía de Palma, Luis Martin Palma Meccía, to Judge Henríquez. News reports have indicated that Mr. Redondo Llenas told authorities during questioning that he, Mr Moliné Rodriguez and Mr. Palma Meccía had planned the kidnapping of a young woman in Santo Domingo in order to demand a considerable ransom. The connection, however, of that plan which was never carried out, and the murder of José Rafael remains unclear. But according to the confessed killers the murder was the result of a failed attempt to kidnap him and demand RD$10 million from his parents. Mr. Moliné Rodriguez and Mr. Redondo Llenas claim that they killed the boy for fear he would tell his parents and the authorities about the plan.
Ambassador Meccía de Palma told the news media on 14 June that her son, who left the country one day before the murders and is currently in Miami, will not return to the D.R. until his connection with the murder of José Rafael is cleared up. She claims that her son “has nothing to do with that case”. Although the news media report that the Dominican Foreign Ministry has requested that Mr. Palma Meccía be forced to return to the D.R. to face possible criminal charges, several newspapers in Buenos Aires have claimed that no such request has been received by the Argentine authorities.
Despite Ambassador Meccía de Palma’s claim that her son has nothing to do with the murder of José Rafael, Mr. Castaños told the Listín Diario that the public would be “shocked” with the results of the investigation into the murder and the involvement of Mr. Palma Meccía, but that the details of the case cannot be released because Judge Henríquez is still in the preliminary questioning stage.