Gregorio Antonio Lider, a correspondent for Radio Mil Informando, was found murdered and his body burned in La Romana on 6 August. At first, the president of the Colegio Dominicano de Periodistas, Mercedes Castillo, speculated that the crime might have been an act of revenge because of an unspecified news report he might have carried out for Radio Mil, and mentioned an incident that occurred several years before when his house was burned down days after reporting on alleged drug use by the citizens of La Romana.
Two days after the body was found, however, the National Police produced Domingo Echavarria Diaz as having confessed to the murder. The 8 August edition of the newspaper Hoy reported that Mr. Echavarria, a sergeant in the La Romana’s Fire Brigade, lived with a woman called Julia, the sister of one Mr Payano, to whom the journalist had lent a piece of land on which to live. Upon asking for the land back, according to the National Police, Julia Payano and Mr. Echavarria decided to kill him. Miss Payano has been arrested as an accomplice to the murder.