A federal judge sentenced Sean Díaz León to 35 years and Juan Carlos Pagán Bonilla to 25 years in prison after both pleaded guilty in December to the April 2020 murders of Serena Angelique Velázquez Ramos and Layla Peláez Sánchez, two transgender women, the Federal Prosecutor’s Office announced. The victims’ burned bodies were found inside a 2020 Hyundai Elantra under a bridge on PR-927 in the Mambiche Prieto neighborhood of Humacao.
The defendants had initially faced the possibility of the death penalty since federal investigators determined the killings were motivated by the victims’ gender identity, a hate crime, but prosecutors later dropped that pursuit. Court documents state that on April 21, 2020, the two friends arranged a double date with the victims at a Las Piedras residence, where the group socialized, smoked marijuana, and filmed a video posted on social media. After sexual encounters, each victim revealed to her partner that she was transgender.