Judge Alexis Henriquez Nuñez, who is still conducting the preliminary stage of the investigation into the brutal murder of 12-year-old Jose Rafael Llenas Aybar, questioned one of the confessed killers, Juan Manuel Moline Rodriguez, on 4 October. Mr. Moline Rodriguez, 19, and Mario Jose Redondo Llenas, also 19, confessed to the 3 May murder of the young boy, who was stabbed 34 stab times.
Judge Henriquez Nuñez has also questioned Juan Guzman on three occasions in the last two weeks. Mr. Guzman was an employee of the family of ex-Argentine Ambassador to the D.R., Teresa Meccia de Palma, whose husband and son have allegedly been implicated in the crime by Mr. Redondo Llenas. Mr. Guzman worked at the farm owned by the Palma-Meccia family very near where the boy’s body was found. He is currently being held at La Victoria prison in the National District, although his possible connection with the crime has not been established by the news media.
The 4 October edition of the newspaper Listin Diario contained an article by Manuel A. Quiroz, who quoted an unidentified group of “lawyers and criminologists” who claim that the two confessed killers did not act alone and were guided by “superiors”. The article also says that there have been efforts to have the two removed from the country to undergo “behavior therapy”, for the purpose of avoiding a trial.
Since the beginning of the case, there have been fears that because of the social status of the confessed killers’ families, the investigation would drag on with no conclusive evidence released and no punishment for those responsible. One example pointed out by critics of the process is the fact that Mr. Guzman, a comparatively poor ex-employee of the Palma-Meccia family, was sent to the dreaded prison La Victoria, while Mr. Redondo Llenas and Mr. Moline Rodriguez are confined in the Najayo, San Cristobal, jail which provides them with greater personal safety.
Finally, no news has been released about the efforts to obtain the extradition of Mrs. Meccia de Palma’s son, Martin Palma, and husband, Luis Palma, from Argentina. Such extraditions appear unlikely, due to the diplomatic immunity that the family enjoyed at the time of the murder.