What could have driven Michael Adrián Salmerón to commit the heinous crime in Matapalo?
As determined by the judge, a deep hatred against Yeimmy Jessica Durán Guerra was the trigger for the multiple homicide against five members of the Beauchamp Durán family.
Salmerón, 24, was sentenced to 183 years in prison for stabbing to death U.S. citizen Dirk Beauchamp, his wife Yeimmy Durán and 3 of their children, aged 12, 8 and 6.
According to judge Betancourt,
All deaths occur within the context of hatred towards Yeimmy Jessica Durán Guerra, because more than eliminating any witness who could incriminate him, killing the daughters and sons of Yeimmy was the externalization of a desire to exterminate any link that remind him that she was not completely his and therefore was linked to other aspects and other attentions to her children from an previous relationship.”
Two of the Beauchamp Durán children, aged 4 years and 6 months old, survived the slaughter and are now in the care of the National Child Welfare Agency (PANI). In fact, the 4-year-old girl’s declarations were key to solve the case.
Despite the high sentence imposed, the young man will only spend 30 years behind the cold prison bars because that is the maximum penalty allowed by Nicaraguan law.