Jose Luis Rodriguez, a 61-year-old from Pennsylvania, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in the deaths of a couple and their one-year-old son, receiving three consecutive life sentences without parole. The killings occurred in September 2025, after Rodriguez shot the mother in his car, drowned the toddler in a pond, and later killed the father. Berks County authorities described the child's death as particularly horrific.
Rodriguez killed Geraldina Peguero-Mancebo because she refused to leave her husband, Junior Cabrera-Colon, according to prosecutors. He picked up Peguero-Mancebo and their son Jeyden, shot her in the head inside his car, and dumped her body. He then drove the boy to Ontelaunee Township and threw him into a pond, where an autopsy revealed mud in the child's lungs, confirming he was alive when submerged. Rodriguez later shot Cabrera-Colon during an altercation in Reading; the father's body was found in Baer Park near basketball courts. Police arrested Rodriguez on September 19, 2025, after he directed them to the 9 mm handgun used in the crimes, hidden under a porch at another home. He had contacted the mother's family pretending to be a concerned friend. Heinel Medrano, Peguero-Mancebo's cousin, said, 'Everyone thought he was helping us until we found out a few days later that it was him.' She added, 'The baby got the worst of it.' Berks County District Attorney John Adams, at the sentencing on April 15, 2026, stated, 'I don't think we can express in words the tragedy and the horrific circumstances of that child's death. That child was thrown into an algae laden pond and left there to die.' The couple, who hailed from the Dominican Republic, left behind three other children aged 8, 10, and 13. Medrano told WFMZ, 'We're grateful because it's not a relief, but the closing of a chapter.' Adams noted, 'There's no punishment that could ever equalize the pain he has caused.'