Left (Clockwise from top left): Geraldina Peguero-Mancebo, Junior Cabrera-Colon, and their son Jayden (GoFundMe). Right: Jose Luis Rodriguez (Reading Police Department).
A Pennsylvania man who was charged with the murder of one member of a family now faces charges in connection with three of their deaths.
During a press conference held on Monday, Berks County District Attorney John Adams stated that 61-year-old Jose Luis Rodriguez faces two further charges of first-degree murder related to the deaths of Geraldina Peguero-Mancebo, aged 30, and her 1-year-old son Jayden. As reported in a criminal complaint accessed by Law&Crime, Rodriguez allegedly confessed to shooting Peguero-Mancebo in the head before discarding her body “due to her unwillingness to leave her spouse.”
Police charged Rodriguez with the murder of Peguero-Mancebo”s husband, 33-year-old Junior Cabrera-Colon, on Sept. 19.
Peguero-Mancebo and her son were discovered at different sites near Reading, Pennsylvania, on Sept. 19 and 20, respectively. Based on the criminal complaint, Peguero-Mancebo was last seen entering a white Nissan Quest registered to Rodriguez around 8:30 p.m. on Sept. 12, with Jayden in her arms as she got into the back seat. Police tracked their cellphones, which showed both Rodriguez and Peguero-Mancebo stationed at a location on East Huller Lane, where Rodriguez allegedly confessed to planning the murder.
Rodriguez informed the police about his “intimate relationship” with Peguero-Mancebo, mentioning that he “provided financial support” for her, including rent payments for her apartment. Upon being told that she “did not want to leave her husband,” Rodriguez reportedly admitted to becoming “enraged” because “she was continually taking his money.”
According to the police, Rodriguez shot Peguero-Mancebo “in the back of the head” and then drove to a different site to dispose of her body. He then allegedly “drove Jayden to another location and threw him into a lake,” admitting to the police that the infant “was alive when he was placed face-down in the muddy water.” An autopsy on Jayden revealed that “[m]ud was present in the lungs, suggesting Jayden was alive during the submersion.”
Rodriguez reportedly chose not to take the baby to a hospital “to avoid being apprehended.” He eventually informed police of the murder weapon’s location, hidden beneath someone else’s porch. The 9 mm handgun had been reported as “lost in shipping” by UPS in June.
During Monday’s press conference, Adams confirmed that the mother and baby were allegedly killed before the father was. Cabrera-Colon was found dead on Sept. 13 of a gunshot wound to the head near Baer Park in Reading.
Rodriguez remains in Berks County Jail where he is being held without bond. He is now charged with three counts of first-degree murder, three counts of third-degree murder, two counts of abuse of a corpse, two counts of possession of an instrument of crime, tampering with evidence, and carrying a firearm without a license. He is scheduled to appear in court on Oct. 3.
A GoFundMe page raising money to have the family’s bodies returned to their native Dominican Republic said that the couple also shared three other children, ages 8, 10, and 13 years old.
