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61-Year-Old Sugar Daddy Killed 32-Year-Old Woman · Murder Files Unsealed

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Speaker 1: Welcome to the deep dive. Today, we're looking into a
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case that just rips through the quiet surface of suburban life.
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A story from New Jersey that really forces us to
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confront how financial power, obsession, and entitlement can explode into violence.
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Speaker 2: It really does. We're talking about the Union City sugar
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dating triple murder and Union City, New Jersey, paints this
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picture of quiet streets, family homes, pretty typical suburb.
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Speaker 1: Until September thirteenth, twenty twenty five. That's when everything changed.
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Speaker 2: That's the date the body of thirty two year old
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Junior Cabrera Coulon was found, and the way he died
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it was brutal, A single gunshot execution style, immediately raised alarms.
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Speaker 1: But it wasn't just the murder, was it. It quickly
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became clear this was part of something much bigger, much
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more horrifying.
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Speaker 2: Exactly because right before that discovery, Junior's wife, Cheral Dina
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Pigero Manchebo, also thirty two, and their little boy, Jaden
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Junior Paguero, who is only one year.
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Speaker 1: Old, they vanish vanish, So police weren't just looking at
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a homicid, they were staring at the potential annihilation of
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an entire family.
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Speaker 2: That's what they realized. Yes, and the person responsible wasn't
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some random attacker. It pointed towards someone known somewhat involved.
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Speaker 1: Which led them to sixty one year old Jose Rodriguez
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Roozre Rodriguez.
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Speaker 2: He described himself as a sugar daddy, and the investigation
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revealed this intense possessive fixation he had on Geraldina, who
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was married. It seems his rage over perceived rejection just spiraled.
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Speaker 1: Into calculation, into murder.
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Speaker 2: His confection was chilling. I mean, he laid it all out,
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strangling Geraldina, drowning the baby, methodically removing anyone he saw
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I was standing in the way of this fantasy he'd built.
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Speaker 1: Okay, so that's the horrific outline. Our goal here for
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you listening is to really go beyond those initial shock headlines.
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We want to understand the dynamics at.
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Speaker 2: Play, right. We need to explore that lethal possessiveness, the
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real human cost. These lives were completely extinguished. And you
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know what larger conversations does this force us to have.
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Speaker 1: About the sugar dating world, about power imbalances, about what
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happens when rejection meets a profound sense of entitlement. We've
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got police reports, sociological analyzes, victim impact statements, quite a
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stack of sources to dig into.
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Speaker 2: Let's get into it.
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Speaker 1: All right, So to really grasp how this happened, we
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need to understand the foundation. This whole thing starts within
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the context of sugar dating. For a lot of people,
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that term might conjure up specific images, maybe sensationalized ones.
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Can you sort of define the basic dynamic here, Yeah.
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Speaker 2: It's important to start neutral. So sugar dating, at its
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core is an arrangement. Usually it involves an older person,
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often wealthier than sugar daddy or mommy, providing financial support,
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gifts that sort of thing.
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Speaker 1: To a younger partner, the sugar.
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Speaker 2: Baby correct and in return, the sugar baby provides companionship, affection,
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sometimes intimacy. It's often set up through specific websites or
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apps designed just for.
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Speaker 1: This, and these platforms like seeking dot com they've done
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a pretty good job of marketing this as well as
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a smart arrangement, haven't they? Mutually beneficial?
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Speaker 2: Absolutely? They frame it as transparency. You know, the younger
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person gets financial help, maybe tuition, rent bills covered. The
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older person gets well companionship maybe excitement, feeling needed or desired.
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It's sold almost like a business contract.
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Speaker 1: But it's rarely just business, is it. That's the dangerous part.
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Speaker 2: It's almost never just business because underneath that transactional surface
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you have inherent power imbalances. Almost always the financial provider
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holds significantly more power, and that imbalance, as we see
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so starkly here, can create a really volatile environment. Emotions
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get tangled, expectations.
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Speaker 1: Diverge, and things can go terribly wrong. Okay, let's zoom
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in on the killer Jose Rodriguez, sixty one, divorced, father
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of three grown kids. He fits the older man profile.
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But his finances they weren't exactly tycoon level, were they?
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Speaker 2: No, not at all, And that's key. His financial situation
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seems to be more about projecting wealth than actually possessing
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vast amounts of it. He worked as a maintenance supervisor
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for a local housing authority. Okayalary was about fifty five
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thousand dollars a year, which is, you know, respectable, but
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certainly not rich, especially not in New Jersey.
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Speaker 1: So where did the sugar daddy funds come from?
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Speaker 2: He'd recently received a small inheritance, and it seems He
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used that money, that windfall quite strategically to build this persona.
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He bought a newer SUV, funded weekend trips, expensive dinners
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out in Manhattan, things that created an image.
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Speaker 1: An image of wealth and generosity he couldn't sustain on
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his salary alone. He was essentially buying the role.
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Speaker 2: Precisely, The money was finite, but he deployed it specifically
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to cultivate these relationships and the status that came with them.
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Speaker 1: How did people describe his personality? Did it match the
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generous benefactor image outwardly?
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Speaker 2: Yes? Often, Colleagues and others who knew him said he
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could be very charismatic. He knew how to play the part,
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flashing cash, buying nice gifts. You know that Macy's handbaggs
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are mentioned specifically, that initial charm, that love bombing.
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Speaker 1: But there was a flip side, a.
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Speaker 2: Very sharp flip side. Sources are clear. Ye if the
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women he was supporting didn't quote play by his rules,
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or if they showed too much independence, he'd turn cold instantly.
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His generosity wasn't selfless. It was an investment.
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Speaker 1: An investment he expected a specific return on compliance, maybe
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even devotion.
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Speaker 2: Exactly it wasn't a gift. It was psychological currency, buying control.
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That context is crucial for understanding what happened next.
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Speaker 1: Okay, now let's turn to the victims. It's so important
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we don't lose sight of them as people. Geraldina Pigero Manchebo,
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thirty two years old.
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Speaker 2: Yes, Geraldina, by all accounts, just a vibrant person. She'd
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immigrated from the Dominican Republic when she was twenty two,
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seeking better opportunities. Like so many, she was working part
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time as a cashier in a bodega. People remember her
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warm smile.
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Speaker 1: She and her husband, Junior Cabrera Kalon, were building a life.
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Speaker 2: They were. Junior, also thirty two, worked in a warehouse.
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He was described as quieter maybe, but very driven. He
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had dreams. He'd gone back and gotten his ged at
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twenty five.
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Speaker 1: What was his main ambition.
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Speaker 2: He wanted to start his own trucking business. He was saving,
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working hard towards that goal. Really focused on building something solid,
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something legitimate.
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Speaker 1: For his family and their son, Jaden Junior Buguero, just
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a baby born in twenty twenty four.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, the light of their lives. As the family described him,
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you know, just a happy toddler always running around the park.
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Their life wasn't glamorous. They definitely struggle financially, but it
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sounds like it was built on real partnership and.
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Speaker 1: Love, which makes the next part even harder to understand.
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Why did Geraldina get involved with Rodriguez? How did that
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connection even happen?
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Speaker 2: It really boils down to financial desperation, that's what the
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sources point to. They met Rodriguez on one of those
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sugar dating apps sometime in early twenty.
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Speaker 1: Twenty four, so about a year and a half before
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the murders.
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Speaker 2: Right, and Geraldina's motivation seems tragically straightforward. Her part time
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job plus Junior's warehouse pay, it just wasn't cutting it.
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The cost of living in North Jersey daycare for Jaden
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was a huge expense. Bills were piling up.
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Speaker 1: She needed help, and Rodriguez present himself as a solution.
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He targeted that vulnerability.
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Speaker 2: It seems, so he offered what looked like easy money.
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The report's detail a five hundred dollars weekly allowance deposited
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directly into her account, plus those designer handbags, other.
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Speaker 1: Gifts, and there was something about a car.
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Speaker 2: Yes, this is a really telling detail. Showing the layers
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of secrecy involved. He apparently gave Geraldina money for a
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down payment on a used car for Junior from her.
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Speaker 1: Husband, and Junior didn't know where the money came from.
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Speaker 2: Apparently not Junior was unaware that Rodriguez funded it. Imagine
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the pressure that put on Geraldina using this money from
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a secret arrangement to try and shore up her actual
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family life. It just deepened the entanglement, the secrecy, the
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potential danger. So this arrangement, which started sometime in early
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twenty twenty four, it didn't stay transactional for long, at
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least not in Rodriguez's mind.
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Speaker 1: It sounds like his feelings, or maybe his sense of ownership,
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deepened pretty quickly.
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Speaker 2: Exactly. It shifted from him providing support to him developing
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this in tense, possessive obsession with Geraldina.
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Speaker 1: He wasn't just paying for companionship anymore. He felt he
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was investing in her, maybe investing in a future with her.
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Speaker 2: That seems to be how he saw it. The financial
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support became leverage in his view. He started believing he
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was essentially funding her exit from her marriage. The recovered
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text really painted a picture of this escalation.
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Speaker 1: What did they say what kinds of demands was he making?
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Speaker 2: They went from suggestive hints to outright demands, things like
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when are you leaving him? Yeah, and then escalating to
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I can give you everything he can't. It became very
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clear he saw Junior as competition, as an obstacle.
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Speaker 1: In Geraldina, how is she feeling about this intensifying pressure?
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By say, the summer of twenty twenty.
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Speaker 2: Five, she was clearly feeling trapped and deeply uncomfortable. The
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sources say she recognized the danger, the intensity. She knew
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the arrangement had crossed the line.
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Speaker 1: Did she try to pull back?
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Speaker 2: Yes, she did. She started trying to create distance. There's
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a heartbreaking detail where she can fight it. In a coworker.
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She told her something like he's nice, you know, helps out,
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but he's just too intense. I love my husband.
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Speaker 1: Wow. So she articulated it. She loved her husband. This
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arrangement was purely financial and it was getting scary right.
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Speaker 2: But for Rodriguez, hearing that or sensing her withdrawal, he
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didn't see it as her setting a boundary.
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Speaker 1: He saw it his betrayal, a betrayal of his investment.
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Speaker 2: Precisely a betrayal of the fantasy he was paying for.
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And that's when his behavior shifted from possessive demands to
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active stocking stocking.
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Speaker 1: How this is where the digital footprint becomes critical, isn't it.
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Speaker 2: Absolutely chillingly critical? He started tracking her movements, and the
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mechanism was disturbingly simple. He used a shared location app
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on her phone.
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Speaker 1: Like find my Friends or something similar.
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Speaker 2: Exactly something she had apparently enabled months earlier, probably innocently,
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you know, Maso Junior could see where she was or
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for general family safety coordination, standard.
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Speaker 1: Stuff these days, but Rodriguez weaponized, He.
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Speaker 2: Completely weaponized it. He used it to monitor her constantly,
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where she went, who she might be seeing, whether she
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was spending time with Junior when she should have been
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available to him. It gave him this invisible, real time
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surveillance capability, so he.
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Speaker 1: Wasn't just stewing in his anger. He was actively gathering data,
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monitoring her life, confirming his suspicions, reinforcing his sense of
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being wronged.
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Speaker 2: Yes, it shows a level of calculation. He felt entitled
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not just to her time or affection, but to information
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about her life, to control over her movements.
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Speaker 1: And when she tried to reclaim her life, her commitment
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to her actual family.
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Speaker 2: That's when, in his mind, Geraldina Junior and even little
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Jaden transformed from people into problems, obstacles to his fantasy
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that needed to be dealt with. The stalking proves the
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premeditation was already building before the violence erupted.
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Speaker 1: Okay, this brings us to the timeline of the murders themselves,
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the final fatal forty eight hours September eleventh to September thirteenth,
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twenty twenty five. It starts with a final meeting.
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Speaker 2: Yes September eleventh, gerald Dina, likely sensing how volatile he'd become,
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maybe trying to de escalate, agreed to meet Rodriguez one
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last time. The plan, at least in her mind, was
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to end the arrangement cleanly, properly.
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Speaker 1: Where did they meet.
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Speaker 2: They met at a secluded park over in Secaucus. Cell
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Phone data confirms her location there around seven pm.
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Speaker 1: And the sources say she brought Jaydon with her the baby.
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Speaker 2: Tragically, yes, Jaden was with her. You can only speculate why.
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Maybe she thought having her child there would keep things calm,
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act as a sort of buffer.
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Speaker 1: A buffer that tragically failed. What happened at the park.
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Speaker 2: Well, we know there was a confrontation. Some early witness
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accounts mentioned hearing raised voices near the Hackensack River, which
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borders the park, and Rodriguez himself in his confession, he
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was disturbingly calm describing the motive.
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Speaker 1: What did he say triggered the violence?
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Speaker 2: It boiled down to her reaffirming her love for her husband.
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He recounted her saying, she said she loved him, not me.
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That was the breaking point for his ego, and he snapped.
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He flew into a ray. The autopsy confirmed it, and
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he confessed to it. He strangled Geraldina right there with
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his bare hands, ligature marks on her neck.
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Speaker 1: Told the story horrifying. But then the baby. What happened
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to Jaden?
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Speaker 2: This part is just it's almost unthinkable and its coldness
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to silence Jayden, who was obviously distressed crying. Rodriguez carried
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the one year old boy to the edge of the
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Hackensack River. Oh no, and he held him underwater. He
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admitted this, held him under until he stopped struggling. The
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autopsy confirmed drowning is the cause of death.
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Speaker 1: He didn't just kill Geraldina in a rage. He deliberately
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murdered her child to eliminate a witness, to eliminate everything.
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Speaker 2: It seems so it was about silencing the problem, erasing
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the evidence, and the next step shows even more.
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Speaker 1: Calculation, dispoval of the bodies.
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Speaker 2: Right immediately after the murders, he retrieved cinder blocks from
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his truck, the same truck he used to project his
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sugar daddy status. He used those cinder blocks to weigh
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down both Geraldina's and Jaden's bodies and submerge them in
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the river.
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Speaker 1: So rage shifted instantly to methodical concealment, no panic, just
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action exactly.
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Speaker 2: It shows a terrifying level of control even after such violence.
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He wanted them gone.
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Speaker 1: Vanished with Geraldina and Jaden disposed of, his focus then
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turned to Junior the next day, September twelfth.
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Speaker 2: Yes, Junior was by this point frantic his wife and
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child were missing. He was desperately searching, calling, trying to
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find them. Rodriguez knew this and exploited it completely. He
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contacted Junior, pretending to be a concerned friend. He lured
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him to a deserted industrial lot, saying he wanted to talk,
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maybe help figure out where Geraldina.
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Speaker 1: Might be Junior must have gone there thinking he might
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get answers help, hopeful.
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Speaker 2: Even tragically hopeful. He arrived and Rodriguez was waiting, but
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not to talk.
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Speaker 1: This is when the den came out.
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Speaker 2: Yes, he shot Junior once point blank in the forehead
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with a point three to eight revolver.
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Speaker 1: A point three eight revolver had he just acquired that?
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Speaker 2: The investigation uncovered that he'd bought it illegally off the street,
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likely specifically for this purpose. It wasn't a gun he
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legally owned. This purchase points directly to premeditation for killing Junior.
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Speaker 1: After shooting him, did he just leave him there?
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Speaker 2: No, Again, there was staging involved. He moved Junior's body,
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dumping in along Route one to nine busy highway corridor.
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Then he took Junior's wallet and phone.
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Speaker 1: To make it look like a robbery.
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Speaker 2: Exactly a robbery gone wrong, a random act of violence.
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He was trying desperately to divert attention from himself from
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the real motive, but that.
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Speaker 1: Stage scene didn't hold up for long. Junior's body was
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found the next morning, September thirteenth.
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Speaker 2: Right at dawn. A jogger found him. Police were called,
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identified him and had the terrible task of notifying the family,
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and that's.
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Speaker 1: When the family immediately reported Geraldina and Jaden missing.
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Speaker 2: Yes, Suddenly, the police narrative shifted dramatically. This wasn't just
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a roadside body dump. This was potentially a triple homicide
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centered on one family. The robbery motive started to look
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very thin, very.
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Speaker 1: Quickly, and Rodriguez didn't just lay low diddy. He actually
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inserted himself into the situation.
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Speaker 2: This was maybe his first big mistake looking back. He
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actually showed up later that day and an impromptu vigil
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the family held tried to act like the grieving friend,
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offering condolences. Terribly. People there, including family members, said his
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grief felt forced, overly familiar. One person specifically recalled him
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saying over and over something like she was like a
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daughter to me.
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Speaker 1: Wow, that possessive, paternal framing again, even after allegedly murdering her.
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Speaker 2: Exactly, it just didn't sit right. As a witness put it,
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that inappropriate language, that attempt to control the narrative, even
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in grief. It raised serious red flags for the family,
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and you can bet the observing police officers took note too.
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The investigation that followed was thankfully incredibly efficient. The Union
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City Police Department and the Hudson County Prosecutor's Office really
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jumped on this.
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Speaker 1: It sounds like they moved fast. You mentioned Detective Marie
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Lpez leading the charge, particularly with the digital side of things.
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Speaker 2: Yes, her expertise in digital forensics was apparently crucial because
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while Rodriguez tried to stage the physical crime scene, he
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left a very clear digital trail.
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Speaker 1: So how did they connect the dots so quickly? What
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were the first clues pointing definitively at Rodriguez.
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Speaker 2: It was a combination of old fashioned police work and
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modern tech. Tips started coming in. A neighbor remembered seeing
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Rodriguez's specific black Ford explorer idling near the victim's apartment
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building around the time Junior would have been lured.
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Speaker 1: Out, okay, placing him nearby.
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Speaker 2: And crucially, Geraldina's sister told investigators about the creaky old guy,
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as she put it, who had been pressuring Geraldina financially
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and emotionally. She gave them Rodriguez his name.
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Speaker 1: So the personal connection was established early, but they needed
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more than suspicion.
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Speaker 2: Right, That's where the digital evidence became paramount. They pulled
16:52
surveillance footage, and they found it video showing Rodriguez's SUV
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near that Secaucus park right around seven and September eleventh,
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shortly after Geraldine's phone last pinged in that exact location.
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Speaker 1: That's huge. It puts his vehicle at the scene of
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the first two murders around the time they happened precisely.
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Speaker 2: That gave them the probable cause they needed to get
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a search warrant for his home and vehicle, and that search,
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conducted on September fourteenth, just blew the case wide open.
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Speaker 1: What did they find? What was the damning evidence?
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Speaker 2: It was overwhelming. In his garage, they found a tarp
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with traces of blood. Later DNA tests matched that blood to.
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Speaker 1: Geraldina Okay direct physical link.
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Speaker 2: They found a damp towel that contained silt matching the
17:34
specific sediment found in the Hackensack River near the.
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Speaker 1: Disposal site, tying him to the river disposal.
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Speaker 2: Then hidden under a neighbor's porch, likely stashed there after
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the murders. They found the point three eight revolver used
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to kill Junior. Ballistics confirmed it was the murder weapon.
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Speaker 1: The illegal gun, proving premeditation for Junior's murder.
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Speaker 2: Absolutely, But perhaps the most critical piece of evidence, the
17:58
one that unlocked the psychological motive, was found in his suv,
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Geraldina's phone. Geraldina's phone. It was in the glove compartment.
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Detective Lopez and our digital forensics team went to work immediately.
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Speaker 1: And they recovered deleted messages.
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Speaker 2: They did, they were able to recover a significant number
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of deleted texts between Rodriguez and Geraldina, and those texts
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laid bare the entire history, the escalating demands, the threats,
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the possessiveness.
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Speaker 1: Including the really chilling ones.
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Speaker 2: Including messages that explicitly stated things like if you don't
18:28
leave him, you'll regret it, and most damningly, the declaration
18:32
I own you now, I.
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Speaker 1: Own you now. That just says everything about his mindset.
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Speaker 2: It completely demolished any potential defense about a crime of
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passion or a sudden argument. It showed cold, calculated, possessive intent.
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Speaker 1: So, armed with the DNA, the river salt, the murder weapon,
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and those texts, they brought him in for questioning, yes.
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Speaker 2: And confronted with all of it. He didn't hold out long.
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Speaker 1: How long did the interrogation last.
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Speaker 2: Sources say it was only about two hours before he
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completely crumbled. As one port put it, he started sobbing
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and confessed. He confessed to everything he reportedly said, just
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simply I couldn't let her go back to him. He
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then detailed the strangulation of Geraldina, the drowning of Jaden,
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the luring and shooting of Junior. Gave them the whole
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horrific sequence.
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Speaker 1: And his confession directly led to finding Geraldina and Jaden.
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Speaker 2: Yes, based on the location he provided in his confession,
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dive teams searched the Hackensack River on September fifteenth and recovered.
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Speaker 1: Both bodies, bringing some measure of well, not cloder, but
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confirmation for the family.
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Speaker 2: Confirmation exactly, and the autopsies performed subsequently corroborated every detail
19:40
of his confession, the strangulation marks on Geraldina, the drowning
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evidence for Jaden, the gunshot wound for Junior. The case
19:47
from an investigative standpoint was tragically clear cut.
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Speaker 1: It's easy to get lost in the mechanics of the
19:52
crime the investigation, but we really need to pause and
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make sure we fully absorb the human cost here. These
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were real people of family with.
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Speaker 2: Dreams absolutely essential. Geraldina, Junior, and Jaden weren't just names
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in a case file. Their story is one of striving
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of immigrant hope colliding with economic reality.
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Speaker 1: Tell us more about Geraldina's background, her journey.
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Speaker 2: She came from Santo Domingo at twenty two. Like so
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many immigrants, she worked incredibly hard, double shifts, sometimes learning English,
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all while sending money back home to help support her parents.
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Her big dream, the one people in her community knew about,
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was saving enough to open her own small hair salon.
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Speaker 1: One day, a symbol of independence and success and or
20:36
His story is also one of perseverance.
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Speaker 2: Isn't that very much?
20:38
Speaker 1: So?
20:39
Speaker 2: He'd dropped out of high school, but he didn't let
20:40
that define him. He went back, got his ged when
20:43
he was twenty five. He was involved in the community,
20:46
coached youth soccer on weekends.
20:47
Speaker 1: A positive influence.
20:49
Speaker 2: Yes, and his focus was clear, saving money, not for
20:53
flashy things, but specifically for Jaden's future, for a college fund.
20:58
There was this final face book post of his that
21:01
just breaks your heart. A picture of Jaden taking his
21:03
first steps. What was the caption my world in motion
21:06
hashtag proud Papa. And he shows where his heart was,
21:09
what his priorities were, His family was everything thank little Jaden.
21:13
Speaker 1: The loss of a one year old is just It's
21:15
a loss of pure potential. Is death had any broader impact.
21:19
Speaker 2: It has, sadly, but perhaps meaningfully. The sheer brutality and
21:24
senselessness of drowning a toddler to cover a crime has
21:27
really shaken people, including legislators in New Jersey. It sparked
21:31
serious discussions and proposed reforms around child.
21:33
Speaker 1: Safety like what specifically.
21:35
Speaker 2: There are calls for things like mandatory tracking or more
21:38
frequent check ins for families identified as being of potentially
21:41
volatile situations, especially where financial dependency or known domestic tensions exist.
21:46
It's a tragic catalyst, but hopefully it might prevent future harm.
21:49
Speaker 1: The community reaction was strong too, wasn't it. Led by
21:52
Geraldina's sister Anna immense outpouring.
21:55
Speaker 2: Anna Pagero really rallied support. There was a candlelight vigil
21:58
shortly after the body's were recovered, drew over two hundred people.
22:02
They were chanting Justicia parijadon.
22:05
Speaker 1: Justice for Jaden and the Gofundman.
22:07
Speaker 2: And a started one and it raised over fifty thousand
22:10
dollars very quickly covered funeral costs held grieving family. It
22:15
showed that people understood this wasn't just a crime statistic.
22:17
It was an attack on a family on hope, fueled
22:20
by one man's toxic entitlement.
22:23
Speaker 1: Which brings us squarely to the environment that allowed this
22:25
to fester. The sources strong to suggests this case isn't
22:28
an isolated anomaly, but symptomatic of deeper issues within the
22:32
sugar dating world.
22:33
Speaker 2: That's a major theme in the analysis. Yes, this isn't
22:36
just about one disturbed individual. It highlights the inherent risks
22:40
in an industry now valued globally at around a billion dollars.
22:43
Speaker 1: A billion dollars. It thrives on economic disparity, doesn't it Absolutely?
22:46
Speaker 2: It connects people with significant financial power to those like
22:50
Geraldina facing real economic hardship, stagnant wages, high living costs,
22:54
lack of opportunity. It creates fertile ground for exploitation.
22:58
Speaker 1: You mentioned the Urban Institute study from twenty twenty four earlier.
23:01
Can we revisit those statistics? They're quite alarming.
23:04
Speaker 2: They really are. That study found that roughly twenty percent
23:07
one in five sugar arrangements involves some form of coercion
23:11
that could be financial manipulation, intense psychological pressure threats and
23:15
it gets worse. Yes, five percent one in twenty were
23:19
found to exolate to actual physical abuse. Now think about
23:22
the sheer number of people using these platforms worldwide. Those
23:26
percentages represent a huge number of individuals being put at
23:29
serious risk.
23:31
Speaker 1: So much for a clean, mutually beneficial transaction.
23:34
Speaker 2: It's often anything but, and Doctor Lena Rivera, a sociologist
23:38
at Rutgers University who studied this case, points to the
23:41
core problem. The dynamic itself often leads the financial provider,
23:46
the sugar daddy, to view the recipient, the sugar baby,
23:50
not as a partner, but as.
23:51
Speaker 1: A possession, something bought and paid for exactly.
23:54
Speaker 2: Compliance is expected because it's been purchased. So when rejection happens,
23:57
when the possession tries to assert independence or leave like
24:01
Geraldina did, it triggers what doctor Rivera calls entitlement rage.
24:05
Speaker 1: Entitlement rage that perfectly describes Rodriguez's reaction.
24:08
Speaker 2: It does, and she knows it can be particularly potent
24:10
in older men who might be dealing with their own
24:13
issues around aging, feeling irrelevant, maybe losing status in other
24:17
areas of their life. The sugar arrangement provides a sense
24:20
of power and control they crave.
24:22
Speaker 1: So for Rodriguez with his fifty five day k salary
24:25
and using inheritance money, this wasn't just about companionship. It
24:29
was about buying power, buying control he didn't otherwise feel
24:33
he had.
24:34
Speaker 2: That's a very plausible interpretation based on the analysis the
24:37
five hundred dollars a week, the gifts, they were reinforcing
24:41
his sense of dominance. When Jeraldina said I love my husband,
24:44
she wasn't just rejecting him personally. She was dismantling the
24:48
entire power structure he'd paid to create.
24:50
Speaker 1: And that perceived loss of control, that threat to his
24:53
purchase masculinity, was unbearable.
24:55
Speaker 2: Leading him to believe he had the right to eliminate
24:57
the people who threaten that fantasy, verifying blend of financial
25:01
power and psychological fragility.
25:03
Speaker 1: And tragically, as you said, this isn't the only case
25:05
like this. There's a pattern emerging.
25:07
Speaker 2: Unfortunately. Yes, the sources mention other high profile homicides linked
25:11
to these arrangements. McKenzie Lack in Utah back in twenty nineteen,
25:15
Facial Techyomarium in DC, more recently in twenty twenty four.
25:19
These aren't just isolated incidents anymore?
25:22
Speaker 1: Is there data on this trend?
25:23
Speaker 2: Experts cited in the reports noted a disturbing statistic something
25:27
like a fifteen percent increase in homicides where a sugar
25:30
dating connection was a central factor just since twenty twenty.
25:33
Speaker 1: It's a significant rise, which clearly signals a need for
25:37
scrutiny for regulation. What's happening on that front? Particularly in
25:40
New Jersey?
25:41
Speaker 2: The state acted quite quickly after this tragedy. Governor Phil
25:44
Murphy signed a bill into law just weeks later in
25:47
late September twenty twenty five.
25:49
Speaker 1: What does the bill do?
25:50
Speaker 2: It mandates that all dating apps operating in the state
25:53
must include explicit warnings about the risks of financial exploitation
25:56
and coercion inherent in these kinds of arrangements. It's a
26:00
step toward consumer protection acknowledging the dangers.
26:03
Speaker 1: Is there talk of federal action?
26:05
Speaker 2: Yes, there are increasing calls for federal oversight. These are
26:09
billion dollar platforms, often operating internationally. The argument is they
26:13
need to be held more accountable for the power dynamics
26:15
they facilitate and profit from, and for the safety of
26:18
their users.
26:19
Speaker 1: So, as we wrap up this deep dive, Let's get
26:21
an update on where things stand legally for Haseer Rodriguez.
26:24
This is as of October tenth, twenty twenty five.
26:27
Speaker 2: Okay. Jose Rodriguez is currently facing three counts of first
26:30
degree murder, one for Geraldina or for Jaden, and one
26:33
for Junior. He's also facing related weapons charges for that
26:37
illegal point three to eight revolver.
26:39
Speaker 1: Has bail been set?
26:40
Speaker 2: No bail was denied flat out at the arraignment. The prosecutor,
26:44
Elena Asquez, argued very strongly against it. She characterized the
26:48
crimes not as impulsive acts, but as the premeditated elimination
26:52
of obstacles to his fantasy.
26:53
Speaker 1: Life, essentially arguing he systematically removed the family that stood
26:57
in his way. When is the trial expected.
26:59
Speaker 2: The trial is currently scheduled to begin sometime in the
27:01
spring of twenty twenty six, so still several months away.
27:04
Speaker 1: Given the confession, the physical evidence, the digital trail, it
27:08
seems like an incredibly strong case for the prosecution. What's
27:11
a defense strategy likely to be well?
27:13
Speaker 2: His public defender has made some initial suggestions hinting towards
27:16
a possible insanity plea. They've mentioned potential factors like untreated
27:21
depression or maybe better line, personality disorder.
27:24
Speaker 1: Two legal experts think that has any chance of succeeding.
27:27
Speaker 2: The consensus seems to be that it's a very, very
27:29
long shot. The level of planning involved buying the illegal
27:32
gun beforehand, the deliberate luring of Junior, the methodical disposal
27:37
of the bodies with cinder blocks, the staging of the
27:39
robbery scene, all that points strongly towards calculation and control,
27:44
not a momentary break from reality.
27:46
Speaker 1: It seems the evidence of premeditation is just too extensive
27:49
to overcome with that defense.
27:50
Speaker 2: That's the general view. Yes, it'll be a difficult defense
27:53
to mount successfully.
27:54
Speaker 1: This entire case, the horrific loss of Geraldina, Junior, and Jaden.
28:00
It's just such a stark, dark reminder, isn't it that
28:03
behind these online profiles, these financial arrangements, there are real
28:07
human beings, vulnerable.
28:09
Speaker 2: People, deeply vulnerable. Their lives were just extinguished because one
28:13
man couldn't handle rejection, because his sense of entitlement, fueled
28:17
by the financial power he wielded in that specific dynamic,
28:21
turned lethal.
28:22
Speaker 1: It forces us to look really hard at the systems,
28:24
the platforms, the societal norms that can allow money to
28:27
be weaponized in this way, allow it to translate into
28:31
a feeling of ownership over another person.
28:33
Speaker 2: They absolutely have to. We need to demand better safeguards,
28:36
more accountability from these platforms, and foster a culture that
28:39
recognizes the inherent dangers when financial power and balances are
28:43
treated so casually.
28:44
Speaker 1: Which leads us to our final, really provocative thought for you,
28:48
the listener, to consider today, in a world that seems
28:51
increasingly comfortable with commodifying human connection, putting a price tag
28:55
on companionship, when these transactions inevitably sour, when expectations clash
29:00
with reality, who ultimately bears the cost? Who pays the
29:03
price for that broken transaction?
29:04
Speaker 2: And maybe we should end by echoing the words of
29:06
Geraldina's sister Anna Paguero. Her plea born from unimaginable grief,
29:11
resonates so powerfully. Love shouldn't cost lives. It's a call
29:15
for change, a demand that we create safer spaces and
29:18
protect the vulnerable from being consumed by someone else's fantasy.
29:22
Speaker 1: A truly sobering case in an essential discussion. Thank you
29:25
for joining us for this deep dive