The magistrate for investigations (Juez de Instruccion) remanded a pair of accused serial killers to one year of preventive custody. The pair, Joel Rodriguez Dias, 34, his companion Yosy Rossana de Leon Vicente, 18, and their two teenage sons are accused of killing Luis Armando Diaz Perez and policeman Andres D’Oleo Quezada. The bodies of both men were found in a shallow grave at the back of a house in Mendoza, in eastern Santo Domingo. The house has been labeled as “house of terror” for the grim happenings that have been reported recently. The District Attorney’s office is investigating the possibility of links with at least 12 other murders, mostly of motorcycle taxi drivers who were killed for their motorcycles.
On Sunday, El Caribe newspaper announced that a police sergeant, Pablo Valdez Valdez (Uva), had been arrested in connection with this case. Statements by the accused indicated that the sergeant was the actual killer of many of the motorcycle drivers. The house, located in the Coquitos neighborhood in Mendoza, is still being searched for more bodies and other evidence of the multiple crimes. Santo Domingo province prosecutor, Perfecto Acosta told reporters that the excavations had been suspended due to darkness, but that his workers had found a left arm and a clavicle in the mass grave.
According to Hoy, one of the teenagers (15 years old) confessed to involvement in at least twelve of the killings. Hew said that he and his father would throw the victims’ bodies into the sea to erase all evidence of their crimes. The authorities are looking for at least another five people linked to the pair’s criminal activities. Most of these crimes took place around the area known as Kilometer 15 of the Las Americas Expressway.