Puerto Rico police have reclassified the death of a 70-year-old woman as a homicide after new autopsy findings. The victim, identified as Providencia Reyes Bonilla, was found dead on August 8 in the bathroom of her apartment at the Jardines de Sellés public housing complex in Río Piedras, after a report that she was unresponsive.
Responding officers initially found her with a wound to the neck area and handled the case as a death investigation. However, results from an autopsy protocol conducted by the Institute of Forensic Sciences (ICF) determined that Reyes Bonilla died from a stab wound to the neck combined with asphyxiation by strangulation, prompting authorities to reclassify the case as a violent death.
The investigation is being led by Agent Esdras Plaza of the Homicide Division of the Bureau of Criminal Investigations (CIC) in San Juan, working alongside prosecutor Christian Castro Plaza.