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Dominican Republic · Duarte and Espaillat · 2017–2020

The Murder of Emely Peguero and the Final 30-Year Sentence

Emely Peguero Polanco was 16 and five months pregnant when she disappeared in August 2017. The search ended with the discovery of her body eight days after she was reported missing. Dominican courts later imposed separate convictions: murder for Marlon Martínez and concealment of the body for his mother, Marlin Martínez.

Reported missing23 August 2017
Body recovered31 August 2017
VictimEmely Peguero Polanco, 16
StatusFinal convictions affirmed
Symbolic, non-graphic artwork of a memorial light, search route, suitcase outline and final court judgment
Murder · concealment of a body · final Supreme Court judgment

Emely’s disappearance

Emely lived in Cenoví, in the municipality of San Francisco de Macorís. Reporting on the court record says she was last seen going with her boyfriend, Marlon Martínez, in connection with medical tests related to her pregnancy. Her family reported her missing on 23 August 2017. During the search, Marlon and his mother publicly appealed for her return.

On 31 August, investigators recovered Emely’s body from a suitcase beside a road in the municipality of Cayetano Germosén, Espaillat Province. Contemporary and later reporting located the killing in San Francisco de Macorís. This page omits graphic injury details that are not necessary to understand the evidence or the judgments.

Editorial distinction: the courts did not assign the same offense to both defendants. Marlon Martínez was convicted of killing Emely. Marlin Martínez was not convicted as a murderer; the final outcome treated her conduct as concealment of the body.

The first judgment

On 7 November 2018, the Second Collegiate Court of San Francisco de Macorís sentenced Marlon Martínez to 30 years. Reporting on the judgment described the first-instance conviction as voluntary homicide, acts of barbarity and removal of a minor. The same court sentenced Marlin Martínez to five years for offenses including concealment of the body and removal of a minor, while acquitting her of complicity in the killing.

The distinction mattered. Prosecutors and Emely’s parents argued that Marlin should face a much heavier penalty as a participant in the murder. The trial court found that the evidence did not establish advance participation in the killing, the legal threshold the court applied to complicity.

Appeal: murder for Marlon, two years for Marlin

On 15 May 2019, the Criminal Chamber of the Court of Appeal in San Francisco de Macorís kept Marlon’s 30-year term but classified his offense as murder. It reduced Marlin’s punishment from five years to two, concluding that complicity and removal of a minor had not been proved and leaving concealment of the body as the basis for punishment.

Marlin completed the reduced term and was released from the Rafey Mujeres correctional center on 17 September 2020. Her release did not mean the courts had treated her as innocent of all wrongdoing; it reflected the narrower offense and the two-year appellate sentence.

The final Supreme Court ruling

Multiple parties sought cassation review. Marlon requested a new trial. Prosecutors and Emely’s parents challenged the reduced outcome for Marlin and sought a more serious finding. In judgment 001-022-2020-SSEN-01119, issued on 28 December 2020, the Second Chamber of the Dominican Supreme Court rejected the appeals and preserved the appellate result: 30 years for Marlon and two years for Marlin.

That final decision closed the ordinary dispute over the convictions described here. It did not erase disagreement about the conduct attributed to Marlin; it established the controlling legal outcome and requires the two defendants’ roles to be reported separately.

Chronology

  1. August 2017 — Emely, 16 and five months pregnant, is last seen with Marlon Martínez in San Francisco de Macorís.
  2. 23 August 2017 — Her family reports her missing.
  3. 31 August 2017 — Her body is recovered in a suitcase by a road in Cayetano Germosén, Espaillat.
  4. 7 November 2018 — A trial court sentences Marlon to 30 years and Marlin to five years on distinct findings.
  5. 15 May 2019 — The Court of Appeal classifies Marlon’s offense as murder and reduces Marlin’s term to two years for concealment.
  6. 17 September 2020 — Marlin is released after completing the reduced sentence.
  7. 28 December 2020 — The Supreme Court rejects the cassation appeals, leaving both appellate sentences in place.

What the record establishes

  • Emely Peguero was a minor and was pregnant when she was killed.
  • Marlon Martínez received a final 30-year sentence for murder.
  • Marlin Martínez’s final criminal liability was for concealment of the body, not murder; her term was two years.
  • The Supreme Court judgment ended the cassation stage on 28 December 2020.

Victim-aware reporting

Emely is identified first as a teenager whose life was taken, not merely as the subject of a prosecution. The article avoids unnecessary graphic detail and does not turn disputed advocacy positions into findings. Public anger, demonstrations and competing sentencing requests are part of the history, but the final judgments govern how criminal responsibility is described.

Sources

  1. Diario Libre — Supreme Court affirms the final sentences, 29 December 2020.
  2. Listín Diario — report on Supreme Court judgment 001-022-2020-SSEN-01119, 29 December 2020.
  3. Hoy — Supreme Court outcome for Marlon and Marlin Martínez, 29 December 2020.
  4. Diario Libre — five-year reconstruction of the search, trial and appeal, 31 August 2022.

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