Judge Francisco Alberto Valera has ordered a year of prison for Irma Diaz de Valenzuela, sister of suspended Roman Catholic Church deacon Meregildo Diaz y Diaz, accused of the murder of Joel Alexander Sarmientos and Yaniris Ruiz Sanchez. The judge based his decision on the fact that Irma Diaz could be considered an accomplice to the murder because she had issued a RD$30,000 check on 10 February 2005, ten days before the murder, to former sergeant Valentin Vicioso de Jesus, who has confessed to the couple’s murder. Irma Diaz had denied that she had paid money to Vicioso.
The victims’ family’s lawyer said that Irma Diaz could not explain the check issued to Vicioso. He also said that a taped call that she made by Diaz to her brother Meregildo at 12 midnight, he commented “mission accomplished.”
In another development in the case, Sergio Sarita Valez, director of the Forensic Pathology Institute, wrote an article in Hoy newspaper saying that the autopsy performed on the body of Quirco Rojas Caram, a fugitive in the case, discounts the theory that he had committed suicide. The body was found on Tuesday, 24 in a room in a Jarabacoa cabana and beside him were toxic substances that would make it appear he had committed suicide. He said the body showed signs of violence and of having been moved several times before it was deposited where it was found. He commented that it is possible that there are people interested in closing the case but the autopsy shows signs of asphyxia and violence that need to be explored further. In the article, Sarita Valdez asks, “Why the rush to present the case as a suicide to the press? Why did they not wait to conclude the autopsy to issue an opinion?”