A massacre perpetrated on Tuesday afternoon in Atizapán, in the State of Mexico, near the country's capital, has left four people murdered, including two women, one of them pregnant, and a three-year-old girl. The fourth victim is Jonathan Meléndez, the pregnant woman's husband, keyboardist and founder of the well-known musical band Camilo Séptimo. The authorities found the couple with the coup de grace, both tied up. The girl also had the coup de grace. The other woman, a domestic worker, had a gunshot wound to her back.
The authorities have arrested two men for the murder and point to robbery as one of the main lines of investigation. The Prosecutor's Office of the State of Mexico has reported that one of the two detainees, Diego Sebastián “N”, was an associate of Meléndez. “As they were partners, that is why he was able to enter the house with the consent of the victims,” explain sources close to the investigation that EL PAÍS has consulted. “A possible cause of the homicide is robbery,” the same sources added. “They had houses in Valle de Bravo that they rented through Airbnb,” they explained.
The case has once again shaken Mexico, subjected to savage levels of violence for two decades. Although the federal government has recently celebrated the statistical reduction of homicidal violence in the country, massacres like this (murders of three or more people) remain relatively common. Between January 2020 and March 2026, the civil association Causa en Común has documented 3,036 massacres. Only until March of this year there were 60.
Meléndez and his family lived in an apartment in a residential tower inside the Grand Viure subdivision, located in “Bosque Esmeralda”, in the aforementioned municipality, northwest of Mexico City, in the metropolitan area. Along with the victims, the authorities found another son of the couple, a child under six years old, alive and without apparent injuries. The authorities still do not know why the little boy was saved from the massacre, unlike the others. The killers even killed the family pet, a dog, which the police found tied up.
Before Diego Sebastián N, the authorities captured Gerardo N, whom they also relate to the murders. The State Prosecutor's Office points out, however, that the alleged perpetrator is Diego Sebastián N. In images leaked to Nota Roja reporters in the capital, the latter appears, presumably in the elevator that gave access to the victims' apartment, on Tuesday afternoon. In the images he is seen wearing a cap, sunglasses and a backpack. It is not known what role Gerardo N. would have had in the massacre.
The ages of the victims range from three years old for the murdered girl, to 38 years old for Meléndez, known in the artistic world as Honas. The artist's wife was 35 years old. The Prosecutor's Office of the State of Mexico has reported that the woman was four months pregnant. The events, according to the agency, occurred between 5:30 and 7:40 p.m. on Tuesday afternoon. The first authorities to arrive, Atizapán police, did so at 11:50 p.m. The arrests occurred this Wednesday morning.
The Secretary of Security and Citizen Protection, Omar García Harfuch, has published a message on his X account, referring to the case. "The coordination between authorities of the State of Mexico, Mexico City and the Government of Mexico made it possible to locate and arrest both subjects in less than 12 hours. Faced with a crime of this severity, the institutions acted immediately and in a coordinated manner. The two probable perpetrators are already detained and will be brought to justice," he said.
