A rock musician, his pregnant wife, their three-year-old daughter and the young woman the couple employed as a nanny were shot dead, and Mexican authorities have now arrested two men over the killings. All four bodies turned up on Tuesday, September 1, 2026, in an apartment in an upscale area on the outskirts of Mexico City.
The arrests came on Wednesday, September 2, authorities said, in an operation that brought together prosecutors from the State of Mexico, the federal Secretariat of Security and Citizen Protection and Mexico City’s Secretariat of Citizen Security. A multiple homicide in Atizapán de Zaragoza, in the State of Mexico, is the crime the two men are suspected of taking part in, the Office of the Secretary of Security and Citizen Protection of Mexico confirmed. The same office confirmed that the dead included Jonathan Meléndez, keyboardist for the well-known indie rock band Camilo Séptimo.
One of the men, named by the prosecutor’s office only as Diego Sebastián “N,” was an associate of Meléndez and is accused of being the probable perpetrator. The other, identified as Gerardo “N,” is being investigated over the part he is alleged to have played. Omar García Harfuch, who leads Mexico’s Secretariat of Security and Citizen Protection, said one of the suspects used his relationship with one of the victims to get inside the home.
What Officers Found in the Apartment
Officers in Atizapán de Zaragoza said the four bodies turned up at roughly 11:50 p.m. local time Tuesday inside an apartment tower in the Zona Esmeralda neighborhood of Greater Mexico City. Reporting as of September 5 placed the killings in the family’s penthouse. The shootings, Investigators believe, took place hours before anyone found the bodies, in a window between 5:30 p.m. and 7:40 p.m.
Gunmen shot three of those killed in the head, including the couple’s small daughter, officials said, while the fourth was hit in the back. The prosecutor’s office said two of the victims had their hands bound. The household’s dog was also killed, its legs tied.
Authorities said a six-year-old boy lived through the attack and was found physically unharmed at the scene. He is the couple’s other son.
The State of Mexico Attorney General’s Office verified the circumstances of the deaths. Ana Paula, 35, four months into a pregnancy, died with her husband Meléndez, 38, and with the couple’s three-year-old daughter.
Four Victims and a Grieving Family
Relatives told reporters that the fourth person killed, Aleida Romero Victorio, 21, worked for the couple as their nanny.
“She was a very hardworking and responsible girl who did not deserve for this to be done to her,” said Lorena Victorio Cabrera, an aunt of the young woman.
Who the victims were is one reason the case has commanded attention throughout Mexico; the setting is another. An apartment building in one of the wealthier corners of the metropolitan area was where the family lived, and officers found them dead inside their home there.
Bandmates Mourn Their Keyboardist
Camilo Séptimo, which has made a prominent name for itself in the Mexican indie rock scene, put its tribute to Meléndez on Instagram: “With deep sorrow we bid farewell to our dear brother Jonathan Samuel Melendez Ochoa. To his wife Ana Paula and his daughter Sofia. They will live forever in our hearts. We celebrate your music, your life and your light. Rest in peace.” The post had drawn more than 280,000 likes and thousands of comments as of September 5.
Meléndez contributed to the band’s recordings and its live shows for years. Among the photographs of him is one taken at a 2024 press conference at the Palacio de los Deportes in Mexico City.
Since the deaths were confirmed, fans and fellow musicians have filled social media with tributes. Many of them observed that a single evening had wiped out a whole young family, and an unborn child with it.
Where the Investigation Stands
Millions of dollars in bitcoin was what the two men believed the family kept, prosecutors told the court at an initial hearing on Saturday, September 5. The State of Mexico Attorney General’s Office is pursuing charges of multiple homicide, unlawful termination of a pregnancy, and cruelty to a sentient being, the last count stemming from the killing of the family’s dog, a one-year-old golden retriever named Nala.
Diego Sebastián “N” has admitted to taking apart the pistol used in the killings and throwing it into a ravine, prosecutors said; the weapon carried a silencer, which is why neighbors heard no gunfire. Gerardo “N” acted as his driver, according to the investigation, taking the pair into the gated development and out again, and he provided the equipment they used — zip ties, gloves and face masks. The hearing ran nearly nine hours before the judge ordered both men held in pretrial detention at the Barrientos prison in Tlalnepantla.
By Mexican convention, a suspect goes by a first name and an initial until charges are formally filed, and that practice is why the two have been publicly identified only as Diego Sebastián “N” and Gerardo “N.”
Jurisdiction over the killings in Atizapán de Zaragoza rests with State of Mexico prosecutors, and federal security officials and Mexico City police joined in making the arrests. No one beyond Diego Sebastián “N” and Gerardo “N” has been charged in connection with the deaths so far, and investigators continue to examine the roles each is alleged to have played.