Jose Luis Rodriguez sentenced to life for triple murder of Berks County family

A 61-year-old man from Reading will spend the rest of his life in prison after admitting to the brutal murders of a local couple and their one-year-old son.

Jose Luis Rodriguez was sentenced to three consecutive life terms on Tuesday, after pleading guilty to three counts of first-degree murder.

The Berks County District Attorney’s Office described the acts as "premeditated" and "undertaken with the specific intent to kill."

The tragic sequence of events began on 12 September 2025, when Rodriguez picked up 31-year-old Geraldina Peguero-Mancebo and her son, Jeyden.

Prosecutors revealed that Rodriguez shot the mother in the head with a 9mm handgun before drowning the toddler in a nearby marshy area in Ontelaunee Township.

Later that same night, Rodriguez lured the woman’s husband, Junior Cabrera-Colon, and shot him in the head, dumping his body along River Road in Reading.

According to court testimony, Rodriguez confessed to the slayings, citing a financial dispute and an obsession with Peguero-Mancebo, who had reportedly refused to leave her husband for him.

Following the sentencing, the victim's cousin, Heinel Medrano, noted that while the pain remains, the family is "grateful" for the closure.

The couple is survived by three other children, aged 8 to 13, for whom a GoFundMe campaign has been established.

District Attorney John Adams previously condemned the crimes, particularly the death of the infant, as "cruel and unnecessary."