Authorities detained two men on Wednesday after the killing of Jonathan Meléndez, the keyboardist and producer of Camilo Séptimo, his pregnant wife, their three-year-old daughter and a housekeeper inside a residence in Atizapán de Zaragoza, State of Mexico. A six-year-old child was pulled from the home alive.
The arrests give the case a new frame: investigators now say the line of inquiry points to robbery as the motive. Meléndez was 38 years old. His wife, Ana Paola, was 35 and pregnant. The housekeeper was 21. The family pet was also found dead at the scene.
The violence was discovered after neighbors heard screams and gunshots in the early hours of Wednesday and alerted municipal police. Officers later entered the residence and found the bodies, while emergency services rescued the six-year-old child unharmed. The child’s survival stands out in a scene that left four people and the pet dead inside the same home.
Investigators identified Diego Sebastián N as the alleged author of the crime and a commercial partner of the artist, while Gerardo N was also detained in the same operation. Both men were placed at the disposal of the Public Ministry as the State of Mexico prosecutor’s office continues to process the case for aggravated homicide.
What remains unanswered is what investigators believe was taken in the robbery and how that evidence led them to Diego Sebastián N. For now, the case has moved from a brutal scene in one home to a prosecution that will have to explain how a family was wiped out and one child was left alive.
