Four Held Over Killing of Julián Oro Duro’s Wife

Crime: Dominican Republic

A Dominican judge has ordered four men held for 18 months while prosecutors build the case over the killing of Zeneida Socorro Castillo, wife of merengue singer Julián Oro Duro, in the couple’s home in Santo Domingo Este. Police say two of the accused were people the family trusted, and the victim cooked for her attackers hours before she died. The case has become a test of President Luis Abinader’s promise of a tough line on violent crime in a country popular with American travellers.

The Attack in Santo Domingo Este

According to the Policía Nacional, two men arrived at the home of Julián Oro Duro and his wife in the Brisa Oriental VI sector, near the San Isidro motorway, at about 5:00 p.m. on Sunday 20 September 2026. Zeneida Socorro Castillo let them in and, police spokesman Colonel Diego Pesqueira said, prepared food and drinks for them. The two stayed until the early hours, waiting for the singer to come home.

She was killed before her husband returned at about 1:00 a.m. on Monday 21 September. When he walked in, two men beat him and took cash, jewellery and a mobile phone, police said. Police were alerted through the 911 emergency system and found her dead at the scene.

The singer, 58, was taken to the Hospital General de la Plaza de la Salud, which reported multiple fractures of the skull and face on the left side and a bleed on the brain. He was later discharged to recover at home.

The Autopsy Rules Homicide

The Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Forenses (INACIF), the state forensic service, concluded that Zeneida Socorro Castillo died a violent death of homicidal origin, according to its report as published on Friday 2 October by N Digital and De Último Minuto. The report names a blow to the left temple, which caused a crushed and depressed fracture of the skull, as the cause of death; the bleeding and swelling it caused starved the brain of oxygen.

The autopsy also records eight knife wounds, four of them deep wounds to the left side of the neck that reached the thyroid gland, the windpipe, the gullet and the jugular vein, as well as bruises across her body and two broken ribs. It found that death came quickly.

Four Suspects From the Singer’s Circle

On Tuesday 22 September police identified Kevin Dariel Germán Troncoso, 23, known as ‘Yandel’, and asked him to surrender. He walked into a police post in Los Mina with relatives at about 3:00 a.m. on Wednesday 23 September, Diario Libre reported. That afternoon police named all four suspects: three were in custody and the fourth, Lawrence Mark Liranzo Marcos, 18, alias ‘Chiquito’, was being sought. He was arrested on a judicial order later that day, Pesqueira said.

Police describe the four as follows; none of these allegations has been tested in court:

• Phillips Michael Tejeda Vásquez, an air-conditioning technician who had worked on the singer’s properties, ran errands for the household and sometimes went with him to performances. The singer described him to investigators as a man of great trust who knew where he kept his money and when he was paid. Police say he recruited the others.
• Lawrence Mark Liranzo Marcos (‘Chiquito’), 18, who worked at a villa the singer is building in San Antonio de Guerra and was known to the family. Police say he and Germán Troncoso were the two men inside the house.
• Kevin Dariel Germán Troncoso (‘Yandel’), 23, who denied involvement in other crimes when he surrendered and said he wanted “everything to be cleared up”.
• Juan Carlos Hernández García (‘Peña’), the nephew of Tejeda Vásquez. His lawyer says he is linked to the case only because he allegedly fetched the motorcyclist.

In raids by the police investigations unit, DICRIM, officers recovered US$33,690 and RD$196,500 in cash (about US$3,200 at the Banco Central de la República Dominicana reference selling rate of RD$61.10 per US dollar on Monday 5 October 2026), two watches (a Rolex and a Cardo), chains, a Louis Vuitton bag and a car key. By suspect, police listed US$19,900 and RD$78,000 (about US$1,280) for Liranzo Marcos, US$9,800 for Tejeda Vásquez, US$3,750 and RD$88,000 (about US$1,440) for Germán Troncoso, and US$240 and RD$30,500 (about US$500) for Hernández García. A motorcycle allegedly used to reach the house was found in Los Guaricanos, Santo Domingo Norte. According to the accusation reported by Diario Libre, about US$50,000 in cash and jewellery were taken.

Eighteen Months of Pre-Trial Detention

The four first appeared on Friday 25 September before judge Leomar Cruz Quezada of the Oficina de Atención Permanente in Santo Domingo Este, the duty court that rules on detention. He postponed the hearing at the defence’s request and sent them to the San Luis holding prison. At that hearing, Tejeda Vásquez’s lawyer said events “did not happen” the way they had been described in an interview or by the police, and Hernández García’s lawyer said his client declares himself innocent.

On Wednesday 30 September the judge granted the Ministerio Público, the Dominican public prosecution service, its request: 18 months of pre-trial detention for all four at the Las Parras correctional centre in San Antonio de Guerra, Santo Domingo province. He also declared the case complex, which gives prosecutors more time to investigate. The four are accused of criminal association, aggravated robbery, homicide and attempted homicide. Prosecutors allege that Germán Troncoso and Liranzo Marcos carried out the killing and the attack on the singer. Julián Oro Duro attended the hearing with his daughters.

Pre-trial detention is not a verdict. The four have not been tried, and all are presumed innocent until a court rules otherwise.

After the ruling, Plutarco Jáquez, the lawyer for the victim’s mother and brother, asked prosecutors to open a new line of investigation to rule out other people, including a possible fifth participant, El Día reported. Cándido Simó, the singer’s lawyer, said the investigation should “go as far as it has to go”.

The President’s Warning

President Luis Abinader, of the governing Partido Revolucionario Moderno, spoke about the case on Monday 21 September during a visit to New York, hours after the killing. He offered condolences to the family and told those responsible to turn themselves in: “que se entreguen”, adding that if they did not, “les va a ir peor”, things would go worse for them. One suspect surrendered two days later.

Julián Oro Duro is a well-known figure in merengue típico, the accordion-driven traditional strand of the Dominican Republic’s national music, and the killing drew grief across the country’s entertainment world, Diario Libre reported.

What It Means for You

For the large Dominican community in the United States, much of it in New York, the case is followed closely, and Abinader’s warning was issued from New York. For travellers and investors, police describe a targeted home robbery by people who knew where the singer kept his cash, not a random attack on visitors. Anyone planning a trip should still check the US State Department’s current advice for the Dominican Republic, avoid keeping large sums of cash at home or in hotel rooms, and be careful about who has access to their property.

What Is Not Known

Police have not said which of the two men allegedly inside the house struck the fatal blow, or why the victim was killed hours before her husband came home. It is not known whether anyone beyond the four accused was involved; the victim’s family has asked prosecutors to examine that. The full INACIF report has not been released by the authorities, only extracts published by Dominican media. No trial date has been set.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What happened to Julián Oro Duro and his wife?

Between the afternoon of Sunday 20 September and the early hours of Monday 21 September 2026, two men stayed inside the couple’s home in Brisa Oriental VI, Santo Domingo Este, police say. Zeneida Socorro Castillo, 60, was killed there; the singer was beaten when he came home at about 1:00 a.m. He survived, was treated at the Hospital General de la Plaza de la Salud and has since been discharged.

Who has been charged in the Zeneida Castillo murder case?

Four men: Kevin Dariel Germán Troncoso (‘Yandel’), Lawrence Mark Liranzo Marcos (‘Chiquito’), Phillips Michael Tejeda Vásquez and Juan Carlos Hernández García (‘Peña’). The Ministerio Público accuses them of criminal association, aggravated robbery, homicide and attempted homicide. On Wednesday 30 September judge Leomar Cruz Quezada ordered 18 months of pre-trial detention at Las Parras prison and declared the case complex. They have not been tried and are presumed innocent.

How did Zeneida Socorro Castillo die?

The autopsy by the Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Forenses (INACIF), reported on Friday 2 October, classed the death as homicide. It names a blow to the left temple, which fractured her skull, as the cause of death, and also records eight knife wounds, four of them deep wounds to the left side of the neck.

Is merengue singer Julián Oro Duro alive?

Yes. Julián Oro Duro, 58, whose real name is Gilberto Julián Sarante Perdomo, suffered skull and facial fractures and a brain bleed, was treated at the Hospital General de la Plaza de la Salud and was later discharged. He attended the 30 September hearing with his daughters.

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