John Jefferson
Clockwise from top left: Fraime Ubaldo, Evangeline Ubaldo-Moreno, Sebastian Ubaldo-Moreno, and Marangely Moreno-Santiago (WHAM).
Police have arrested a man in connection with the killing of a family of four in New York state — and authorities believe more people may have participated in the brutal homicides.
Right now, only Julio Cesar Pimentel-Soriano, 34, has been charged. He is originally from the Dominican Republic, and is wanted there for a 2019 murder.
The case for the new quadruple killings started Aug. 31. Police in the town of Irondequoit, New York, which borders Lake Ontario to the south, say that first responders were called at approximately 5:23 a.m. to a fire at 329 Knapp Avenue. They found the victims in the basement, Police Chief Scott Peters told reporters in a press conference on Sept. 2.
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Officers identified the victims as a couple and their two young children:
- Marangely Moreno-Santiago, 26
- Fraime Ubaldo, 30
- Evangeline Ubaldo-Moreno, 4
- Sebastian Ubaldo-Moreno, 2
“Due to the nature of the scene, our processing took almost 2 full days,” officers wrote on Facebook. “Limited information was initially given out due to the need to inform family members that had to be located in other states.”
Police arrested Pimentel-Soriano on Sept. 7. He had allegedly used a sharp object to stab the victims to death, striking them in the neck and chest, according to documents obtained by Rochester ABC/CW affiliate WHAM. Authorities have not suggested a motive. They have said that they are looking for more suspects. The case was reportedly waived to a grand jury.
Pimentel-Soriano apparently came to the United States by arriving in Puerto Rico without documentation, got fraudulent identification for New York, and used that to travel to the mainland United States, officers said.
Monroe County Assistant District Attorney Perry Duckles has said that he did not think the attack was random, according to WHAM. Pimentel-Soriano, who has ties to the Rochester area, has used the name Rafael Jose Vargas, the prosecutor reportedly said.
“More information will be provided when we are able to release it,” officers wrote Friday. “Anyone with information is asked to call the Irondequoit Police Department at 585-336-6000 or if you wish to remain anonymous, call Crimestoppers at 585-423-9300.”
A GoFundMe has been set up to support the family.
“It’s two little children. They don’t know nothing. All they know what to do is play,” local man Samuel Rivera, who lived in the neighborhood for 26 years, told Rochester NBC affiliate WHEC. “To me, they look like a good family. They come out to the porch and do their little get together. They talk to me all the time. One day they invited my granddaughter for a birthday party.”
Fraime Ubaldo’s friend Tim Luckey said he knew him for almost eight years.
“[I’m] just having a hard time believing that this great kid that I knew and loved — for that matter, him and his family — being killed this way, was just unacceptable,” he told WHAM.
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