SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – United States District Court Judge Pedro A. Delgado-Hernández sentenced two defendants, Sean Díaz-De León and Juan Carlos Pagán-Bonilla, charged with the murder of two transgender women in April 2020 in Humacao, PR. The defendants were arrested on May 4, 2020, indicted on May 13, 2020, and pleaded guilty in October and December 2025.According to court documents, on June 30, 2026, defendant Sean Díaz-De León was sentenced to 35 years in prison and five years of supervised release for carrying and using a firearm during a crime of violence which resulted in the murder of L.P.S. and S.A.V.R., two transgender women. On December 4, 2025, Díaz-De León pleaded guilty to shooting and killing both victims and disposing of their bodies with co-defendant Pagán-Bonilla.
On May 22, 2026, Juan Carlos Pagán-Bonilla was sentence to 25 years in prison and five years of supervised release for using and carrying a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence which resulted in the double murder of the transgender women. Pagán-Bonilla pleaded guilty on October 20, 2025.On April 21, 2020, Sean Díaz-De León and Juan Carlos Pagán-Bonilla agreed and planned to meet on a double date with L.P.S. and S.A.V.R. at L.P.S.’s residence in the municipality of Las Piedras. The defendants and the victims socialized, smoked marihuana, made small talk, and got to know each other. L.P.S. recorded a short video showing all their faces that she published online on the Snapchat social media application.
At some point, Díaz-DeLeón and L.P.S. moved to a different bedroom and had sexual relations. Afterwards L.P.S. admitted to Díaz-De León that she was transgender and Díaz-De León got angry.Pagán-Bonilla and S.A.V.R. also had sexual relations. Subsequently, Díaz-De León told Pagán-Bonilla that S.A.V.R. was also transgender and that he wanted to kill both women because he felt like they tricked them into having sex without telling them that they were transgender. The victims tried to calm down the defendants and proposed that they get more marihuana to smoke and talk.
The defendants however, decided to shoot the victims once they reached the highway. Díaz-De León shot and killed both victims. Both defendants, to conceal their crimes, filled the car with trash to make it more flammable and set the car on fire under a bridge in Barrio Mambiche Prieto in Humacao. U.S.
Attorney W. Stephen Muldrow of the District of Puerto Rico; and Carlos R. Goris, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI San Juan Field Office made the announcement. The FBI and the Puerto Rico Police Department investigated the case.
Assistant U.S. Attorney José Contreras prosecuted the case.###