October 13, 2025 • 56 mins
In September 2025, Reading, Pennsylvania became the scene of one of the most horrific family annihilation in recent memory. Three bodies.Three locations. One devil's work.
Geraldina Peguero Mancebo was a 31-year-old Dominican immigrant trying to keep her family afloat in one of America's poorest cities.Working a warehouse job while supporting four children, she made a choice that millions of desperate women make every day—she accepted financial help from an older man who wanted something in return.
Jose Luis Rodriguez was 61 years old. Thirty years her senior. He rented her an apartment. He gave her money. And he believed that money bought him ownership of her life.
When Geraldina refused to leave her husband, Rodriguez's"generosity" revealed itself as something far more sinister. Within 48 hours, he would execute her husband Junior with a shot to the back of the head, murder Geraldina the same way while she held their baby, and throw one-year-old Jeyden face down into a muddy pond—alive—leaving him to drown.
The autopsy would later confirm mud in the baby's lungs. Hewas conscious. He struggled. He drowned.
This is the story of what happens when male entitlement meets financial desperation. When a woman's "no" becomes a death sentence. When poverty forces impossible choices that end in tragedy.
This is a story about the hidden dangers of sugar daddy culture, the systems that fail women of color, and three orphaned children left behind to make sense of the senseless.
Content Warning: This episode contains detailed descriptions of violence against women and children, murder, and drowning.Listener discretion is strongly advised.
Resources:
- National Domestic Violence Hotline: 1-800-799-7233
- National Sexual Assault Hotline: 1-800-656-4673
- Financial Abuse Resources: www.nnedv.org/content/about-financial-abuse
No Tears For Black Girls tells these stories because silence protects predators. We tell them because Black and brown women's lives matter. We tell them because there should be tears—and action—for every woman whose survival choices lead to tragedy.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
The following story contains descriptions of violence against
women and children, murder and drowning.
Listener discretion is advised. This is no tears for black
girls. I'm your host, Samantha Paul.
No tears for black girls when they disappear.
No tears for black girls like they were never here.
(00:26):
But we're in birth. The price of survival when a
sugar daddy's money turned to murder.
Prologue 3 bodies, three locations, one devil's work.
The morning of September 13th, 2025 donned Gray and cold over
(00:47):
Reading, PA, a city that had seen better days.
Once a thriving railroad hub, Redding now carried the weight
of economic decline in its bones.
Abandoned factories stood like tombstones along the Schwilkill
River. Neighborhoods that once hummed
with working class prosperity now struggled with poverty rates
(01:10):
that ranked among the highest inthe nation.
It was in this landscape of desperation that three lives
would be stolen, three bodies would be discovered in three
separate locations, and one family's American dream would
become an American nightmare. At 6:30 that Friday morning,
(01:31):
Redding police officers responding to a call at Bear
Park along River Rd. made a discovery that would launch one
of the most horrific murder investigations Berks County
District Attorney John Adams hadever seen.
A body. Male.
Hispanic shot execution style inthe back of the head.
(01:52):
The victim was 33 year old Junior Cabrera Colon, a
Dominican immigrant trying to build a life in America.
But Junior's murder was just thebeginning, because somewhere in
Reading, his wife and baby son were already dead, their bodies
hidden, waiting to be found. This was the devil's work, A
family member would later say. This is not normal.
(02:15):
District Attorney Adams, a seasoned prosecutor who had seen
countless horrors, would stand before cameras days later with
tears threatening to spill from his eyes.
Just makes me want to cry, he would say.
I don't think that any of us canimagine the tragedy that took
place here and how horrific thiscrime was.
(02:35):
This is the story of how financial desperation, male
entitlement, jealousy, and possessiveness created a perfect
storm that destroyed an entire family.
This is the story of what happens when a woman becomes
property in a man's mind, when her refusal becomes his
justification for murder. This is the story of Geraldina
(02:56):
Peguero Mansebo, who made a dealwith the devil to survive and
paid for it with her life, her husband's life, and the life of
her baby boy. Part 1.
The victim's dreams deferred. Geraldina, the woman who tried
to have it all. Geraldina Peguero Manchebo was
(03:18):
31 years old, though some reports listed her as 32.
In the Dominican community of Reading, she was known as a
woman who worked hard, loved fiercely, and carried the weight
of 2 worlds on her shoulders. She had the kind of beauty that
turned heads, dark eyes that held both warmth and weariness,
(03:38):
a smile that could light up a room when she chose to share it.
But beneath that exterior was a woman navigating an impossible
situation, trying to keep her family afloat in a country that
promised opportunity but delivered struggle.
Geraldina and Junior had three other children, ages 813 and
(03:59):
somewhere in between, who lived back in the Dominican Republic,
attending school, being raised by family.
It's a story as old as immigration itself, parents
sacrificing proximity to their children working in America to
send money home, hoping to buildsomething better for the next
generation. But building something better
(04:20):
required money, and money was always the problem.
Reading PA wasn't supposed to bethis hard.
The city of 95,000 sat about 60 miles northwest of Philadelphia,
close enough to feel the pull ofurban opportunity, far enough to
maintain its own struggling identity.
For Dominican immigrants like Geraldina and Junior, Redding
(04:42):
represented a foothold in America, a place where you could
find work, even if that work barely paid enough to survive.
Geraldina had worked at a warehouse.
It was there she met Jose Luis Rodriguez Junior.
The husband who never knew Junior Cabrera Colon was 33
(05:03):
years old when he died. He was Geraldina's husband, the
father of her children, the man she came home to at night.
He was trying to make it in America the honest way, working,
providing, building. Friends and family described him
as a good man, a family man, someone who loved his wife and
(05:24):
children, who worked hard, who didn't deserve what happened to
him. But Junior didn't know
everything about his wife's life.
He didn't know about the apartment.
He didn't know about the money. He didn't know that his wife had
made a bargain to keep their family afloat, A bargain that
would cost him everything. On September 11th, 2025, Junior
(05:47):
met someone he thought was a friend, someone Geraldina knew,
someone who had been helping them.
That someone put a gun to the back of Junior's head and pulled
the trigger. Jayden, the baby who drowned in
mud. Jayden Junior Peguero was one
year old, just a baby. He had his whole life ahead of
(06:09):
him. First words, first steps, first
days of school, all the milestones that make a life.
He had his mother's eyes, his father's smile.
He was the youngest of four children, the baby of the
family, the one who would grow up American while his siblings
grew up Dominican. On September 12th, 2025, Jayden
(06:31):
was in his mother's arms when she was shot in the back of the
head. The bullet that killed Geraldina
didn't touch him. He survived that moment, but he
wouldn't survive what came next.The autopsy would reveal mud in
his lungs, mud from the shallow pond where he was thrown face
down while still alive. Mud that filled his tiny Airways
(06:55):
as he struggled, as he drowned, as his one year old brain tried
to understand why the world had suddenly become water and
darkness and suffocation. District Attorney John Adams,
who had prosecuted countless murders, would later say that
this detail, the mud in the baby's lungs, was what made him
want to cry. Because it meant Jayden was
(07:18):
alive when he hit the water. It meant he felt everything.
It meant his last moments were terror and confusion and the
desperate, instinctive fight forair that every drowning victim
experiences. Jayden Junior Peguero drowned in
a shallow pond in Ontolani Township while his killer walked
away. He was one year old.
(07:41):
Part 2, the Predator. When money becomes control.
Jose Luis Rodriguez, the sugar daddy.
Jose Luis Rodriguez was 61 yearsold, 30 years older than
Geraldina, old enough to be her father.
He had worked at the same warehouse where Geraldina
(08:02):
worked. That's where they met.
That's where the arrangement began.
The details of their relationship remain murky.
Investigators described it as personal, the nature unclear.
But the evidence paints a picture that's all too familiar.
An older man with money, a younger woman in desperate need,
(08:22):
and a transaction that masqueraded as generosity but
was really about power, Rodriguez rented an apartment
for Geraldina. He gave her money.
He financially supported her. As police reports would later
state, in the language of the streets, in the vernacular of
transactional relationships, Jose Luis Rodriguez was
(08:45):
Geraldina's sugar daddy. But what did Geraldina give in
return? The investigation doesn't
explicitly say, but the implications hang heavy in the
air. Rodriguez believed he owned her.
He believed his money bought himrights to her life, her choices,
her future. And when Geraldina refused to
leave her husband, when she madeit clear that Rodriguez's money
(09:07):
didn't buy him ownership of her heart, he decided that if he
couldn't have her, no one would.The psychology of possession.
This is where we need to talk about what happens when men view
women as property, when financial support becomes a
chain, when generosity is reallyjust control.
Wearing a prettier mask. Rodriguez wasn't helping
(09:30):
Geraldina out of kindness. He was investing in what he
believed was his future with her.
Every dollar he spent, every bill he paid, every month of
rent on that apartment. These weren't gifts, they were
down payments on a woman he believed he was purchasing.
This is the dark underbelly of sugar daddy culture that nobody
(09:51):
wants to talk about. We see the Instagram posts, the
designer bags, the luxury vacations.
We see young women living lives they couldn't otherwise afford.
And we judge them. We call them gold diggers,
opportunists, women who are asking for it.
But we don't talk about the men.We don't talk about the power
(10:12):
imbalance. We don't talk about what happens
when a woman in desperate circumstances makes a deal with
a man who has resources and thentries to set boundaries, tries
to say this far and no further, tries to maintain her humanity,
her marriage, her real life outside of the transaction.
We don't talk about what happenswhen she says no.
(10:34):
Jose Luis Rodriguez heard no anddecided it was time for murder.
Part 3. The murders.
A calculated massacre September 11th, 2025.
The husband The first to die wasJunior Cabrera Colon.
Rodriguez's confession would later reveal the cold
(10:55):
calculation behind this murder. He met with Junior in Reading.
Maybe Junior thought they were friends.
Maybe he knew Rodriguez was helping his wife financially and
wanted to thank him. Maybe he had no idea what was
coming. Rodriguez shot him in the back
of the head, execution style, the kind of kill that speaks to
(11:17):
premeditation, to planning, to aman who had decided that Junior
Cabrera Cologne was an obstacle that needed to be removed.
Rodriguez would later claim self-defense.
The junior had pulled a gun on him, that he wrestled it away,
that he fired in fear for his life.
But the physical evidence told adifferent story.
(11:38):
A shot to the back of the head isn't self-defense.
It's assassination. Rodriguez dumped Junior's body
along River Rd. in Bear Park, leaving him like trash among the
trees and overgrown grass of Redding's forgotten spaces.
Junior Cabrera Colon, 33 years old, father of four, husband,
(11:59):
immigrant, Dreamer, reduced to abody in a park waiting to be
found. September 12th, 2025.
The mother The next day, Rodriguez picked up Geraldina
and baby Jayden. Surveillance footage would later
capture this moment. Geraldina getting into
Rodriguez's vehicle on N 5th St.her baby in her arms, no idea
(12:23):
that she was climbing into her own coffin.
Maybe she thought it was a normal visit.
Maybe Rodriguez had called her, told her he needed to see her,
told her to bring the baby. Maybe she went willingly, still
believing that this arrangement could be managed, that she could
take his money and keep her marriage and somehow navigate
the impossible tightrope she'd been walking.
(12:46):
Or maybe she knew. Maybe she felt it in her gut,
that primal warning system that women learn to trust.
Maybe she hesitated before getting in that car.
Maybe she held Jayden a little tighter.
Rodriguez drove them to AntolaniTownship, a rural area several
miles outside Reading. Quiet, isolated.
(13:08):
The kind of place where screams don't carry.
According to Rodriguez's confession, he confronted
Geraldina. He demanded that she leave her
husband. He told her that after
everything he'd done for her, the apartment, the money, the
support she owed him, she belonged to him.
(13:29):
Geraldina refused. She was holding her baby when
Rodriguez shot her in the back of the head.
The same execution style kill, the same cold calculation.
Geraldina Peguero Manchebo, 31 years old, mother of four, died
instantly. Her last conscious thought
probably of the baby in her arms, the baby who was about to
(13:52):
be orphaned, the baby who was still alive, the baby.
The most horrific detail. This is where the story becomes
almost unbearable. This is where District Attorney
John Adams's voice would crack during the press conference.
This is where even hardened investigators had to step away
(14:13):
and collect themselves. After shooting, Geraldina
Rodriguez was left with a problem.
A1 year old baby alive, probablycrying, definitely a witness.
Even if he was too young to testify, Rodriguez could have
done many things at that moment.He could have left the baby with
his dead mother and driven away.He could have dropped him at a
(14:34):
hospital, a fire station, anywhere.
He could have shown even a shredof humanity.
Instead, Jose Luis Rodriguez picked up Jayden Junior Peguero,
carried him to a nearby shallow pond and threw him face down
into the muddy water. Then he walked away.
(14:54):
The autopsy would later confirm what investigators suspected.
Jayden was alive when he hit thewater.
The mud in his lungs proved it. He inhaled.
He struggled. He drowned.
A1 year old baby thrown into a pond like garbage, left to drown
in mud and shallow water while his mother's body lay nearby and
(15:16):
his father's body cooled in a park miles away.
The defendant confirmed that Jayden was alive when he threw
him face down into the muddy water, District Attorney Adams
would later tell the press, his voice heavy with the weight of
that sentence. Part 4.
The investigation unraveling, the horror, the discovery.
(15:38):
September 13th, 2025, 6:30 AM Junior Cabrera Colon's body is
discovered in Bear Park, Reading.
Police launch a homicide investigation, but something
doesn't add up. Junior lived with a woman,
Geraldina Peguero Monsebo, and they had a one year old baby.
(15:59):
Jayden, where are they? Pennsylvania State Police
launched a missing persons investigation.
Geraldina and Jayden are nowhereto be found.
Their apartment is empty. No one has seen them since
September 12th. The investigation moves quickly.
Detectives canvas the neighborhood, pull surveillance
footage, and interview witnesses.
(16:21):
They discover that Junior knew aman named Jose Luis Rodriguez,
That Rodriguez had some kind of relationship with Geraldina,
that Rodriguez had been seen with the family.
On September 18th, 5 days after Junior's body was found,
investigators brought Rodriguez in for questioning the
confession. Jose Luis Rodriguez confessed
(16:45):
not to everything at first, justto killing Junior Cabrera Colon.
He spun a story about self-defense, about Junior
pulling a gun, about fear for his life.
But the physical evidence didn'tsupport his claims.
Meanwhile, the search for Geraldina and Jayden
intensified. If Rodriguez killed Junior,
(17:06):
where were the mother and baby? September 19th, 2025, 8:15 PM.
Geraldina's body is found in a grassy area along E Huller Lane
in Antolani Township, several miles outside Reading.
She's been dead for a week. September 20th, 2025 Jayden's
(17:27):
body is discovered nearby, about150 yards from his mother.
The tiny body in the shallow pond, the mud in his lungs,
telling the story of his final moments.
Confronted with the discovery ofthe bodies, Rodriguez confessed
to everything. He admitted he was infuriated
because Geraldina was taking hismoney.
(17:49):
He admitted he shot her in the back of the head while she was
holding Jayden. He admitted he threw the baby
into the pond while the child was still alive.
The defendant indicated to detectives that he was
infuriated because he said that Geraldina was taking his money,
and he admitted that he shot Geraldina in the back of the
head. District Attorney Adams revealed
(18:12):
taking his money as if she had stolen from him, as if the
financial support he provided wasn't a choice he made, but a
debt she owed. As if her life, her body, her
choices were commodities he had purchased.
This is the language of ownership.
This is what happens when men believe women are property.
(18:32):
Part 5 The Aftermath 3 Orphans and a community in mourning the
family left behind Geraldina andJunior's three other children,
ages 8 to 13, were in the Dominican Republic when their
parents were murdered. They were in school, being
raised by extended family, waiting for the money their
(18:53):
parents sent from America. Now they're orphans.
They took the person that was the brightest person of our
family, said Heinel Medrano Manseebo, Geraldina's cousin.
My family is devastated. My auntie cannot even eat right
now. My grandmother, she cannot even
(19:14):
eat either. The family launched A GoFundMe
campaign to raise money to repatriate the bodies to the
Dominican Republic. Because even in death, poverty
follows. Even in grief, there are bills
to pay. The cost of bringing your
murdered loved ones home becomesanother burden on a family
already destroyed. Three children will grow up
(19:36):
without parents. They'll grow up knowing their
mother was murdered by a man whobelieved he owned her.
They'll grow up knowing their father was killed because he
stood in the way of that ownership.
They'll grow up knowing their baby brother drowned in mud
because a 61 year old man couldn't handle rejection.
The community response readings Dominican community rallied
(19:59):
around the family. Memorials appeared at Bear Park
where Junior's body was found. Candles, flowers, photos of the
family smiling and happier times.
This was the devil's work. This is not normal, 1 relative
told reporters. But here's the uncomfortable
truth. It is normal.
(20:21):
Maybe not. The specific horror of a baby
drowned in Redding's Dominican community rallied around the
family. Memorials appeared at Bear Park,
where Junior's body was found. Candles, flowers, photos of the
family smiling in happier times.This was the devil's work.
This is not normal, one relativetold reporters.
(20:42):
But here's the uncomfortable truth.
It is normal. Maybe not the specific horror of
a baby drowning in mud, but the underlying dynamics.
Those are devastatingly common. Women murdered by men who
believe they own them. Women killed for saying no.
Women destroyed because they dared to set boundaries with men
(21:04):
who had power over them. Financial power, Physical power,
Social power. In Reading, PA, a city where
nearly 30% of residents live below the poverty line, where
the median household income hovers around $38,000, where
immigrant families struggle to survive, Geraldina's story
resonates in ways that make people uncomfortable.
(21:28):
Because how many other women in Redding are making similar
bargains right now? How many are accepting money
from men they don't love, tryingto keep their families afloat,
walking that same impossible tightrope between survival and
danger? The Dominican community knows.
The immigrant community knows. The women know.
(21:49):
They know that Geraldina wasn't stupid.
She wasn't greedy. She wasn't asking for it.
She was desperate. And Jose Luis Rodriguez
exploited that desperation, thenpunished her for it.
Part 6. The legal proceedings.
Justice delayed the charges. Jose Luis Rodriguez was arrested
(22:11):
and charged with three counts offirst degree murder.
Junior Cabrera, Colon, GeraldinaPeguero Manchabo Jayden Junior
Peguero kidnapping, Geraldina and Jayden abuse of corpse all
three victims criminal homicide,firearms violations, tampering
(22:32):
with evidence. He was denied bail and remanded
to Berks County Prison, where heremains as of December 2025.
District Attorney John Adams made it clear that his office
would be seeking the maximum penalties.
This is one of the most horrificcases I've seen in my career,
Adams told reporters at a press conference, his voice thick with
(22:54):
emotion. The premeditation, the execution
style killings, and especially what was done to that baby just
makes me want to cry. Adams revealed that Rodriguez
had confessed to all three murders, admitting that he was
infuriated because Geraldina wastaking his money and refused to
leave her husband for him. The defense's impossible task.
(23:19):
Rodriguez's defense attorney faces an uphill battle.
The confession is damning. The physical evidence is
overwhelming. The autopsy results on Baby
Jayden, the mud in his lungs proving he was alive when thrown
into the water, eliminate any possibility of arguing the
baby's death was accidental or merciful.
(23:40):
Rodriguez initially tried to claim self-defense in Junior's
killing, saying Junior had pulled a gun on him, but the
execution style shot to the backof the head contradicts that
narrative. You don't shoot someone in the
back of the head while defendingyourself.
As of late 2025, Rodriguez remains in Berks County Prison
awaiting trial. The legal process moves slowly,
(24:03):
but the outcome seems inevitable.
Pennsylvania is not a death penalty state.
In practice, the state has had amoratorium on execution since
2015, but Rodriguez faces three consecutive life sentences
without the possibility of parole.
The preliminary hearing At Rodriguez's preliminary hearing
(24:25):
in October 2025, Magisterial District Judge Andrea Book heard
testimony from investigators detailing the timeline of the
murders, the discovery of the bodies, and Rodriguez's
confession. The courtroom was packed with
family members, community supporters and media.
When prosecutors described how Jayden was thrown into the pond
(24:48):
while still alive, audible gaspsand sobs filled the room.
Judge Book ordered Rodriguez held without bail on all
charges, calling the crimes among the most heinous she had
encountered in her years on the bench.
Rodriguez showed little emotion during the hearing, sitting
quietly in his orange prison jumpsuit, occasionally
(25:09):
conferring with his attorney. Family members of the victims
stared at him with a mixture of rage and disbelief.
How could he? Geraldina's cousin whispered to
reporters outside the courtroom.How could anyone do that to a
baby? Part 7 The setting Reading, PA
(25:30):
and the geography of desperation.
A city in decline To understand this story, you have to
understand Reading, PA. Once a thriving industrial city,
Reading has spent the last 50 years in economic decline.
The factories that once employedthousands have closed or moved
overseas. The railroad industry that made
(25:52):
Reading a hub has diminished. What's left is a city struggling
with poverty, crime and the kindof desperation that makes people
do things they never thought they'd do.
Reading has been ranked as one of the poorest cities in
America. Nearly one in three residents
lives below the poverty line. The median household income is
(26:12):
roughly half the national average.
Unemployment runs high. Opportunities run low for
immigrant communities, particularly Latino immigrants
from the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and Mexico.
Redding represents both hope andhardship.
It's close enough to major cities like Philadelphia and New
York to feel connected to opportunity.
(26:33):
It's affordable enough that families can find housing.
But it's also a place where making ends meet requires
sacrifice, hustle, and sometimesdangerous compromises.
The geography of murder The three locations where bodies
were found tell their own story about Redding's landscape of
Bear Park Junior's body, Locatedalong River Rd.
(26:57):
Bear Park is one of Redding's public green spaces, but it's
also isolated, poorly maintained, and the kind of
place where bodies can be dumpedwithout immediate discovery.
The park sits near the Schoolkill River in an area that
sees little foot traffic, especially at night.
It's the kind of place where thecity's decline is visible in
(27:18):
overgrown grass, broken playground equipment, and the
sense that this space has been forgotten.
N 5th St. last seen alive. This is where surveillance
cameras captured Geraldina getting into Rodriguez's vehicle
with baby Jayden on September 12th.
N 5th St. runs through one of Redding's predominantly Latino
(27:39):
neighborhoods, blocks of row houses, small businesses with
signs in Spanish, bodegas, and the everyday life of working
class immigrant families. This is where Geraldina lived
her public life, where neighborsknew her, where she was just
another young mother trying to make it on Tolani Township.
Geraldina and Jayden's bodies. Several miles outside Reading
(28:03):
proper on Tolani Township is rural Pennsylvania.
Farms, woods, isolated roads andthe kind of privacy that makes
it perfect for murder. E Huller Lane, where the bodies
were found, is a quiet country Rd. surrounded by fields and
forest. The shallow pond where Jayden
drowned is the kind of place kids might play on a summer day,
(28:27):
catching frogs and skipping stones.
Instead, it became a baby's grave.
The distance between these locations, from the urban core
of Reading to the rural outskirts, mirrors the distance
between Geraldina's two lives, her public life in the city with
her husband and baby, her secretlife in the apartment Rodriguez
(28:49):
rented. In the transactional
relationship she kept hidden, Rodriguez used Redding's
geography to his advantage. He killed Junior in the city and
dumped him in a park. He killed Geraldina and Jayden
in the isolated countryside where screams wouldn't carry and
bodies might not be found for days or weeks.
It was calculated, it was planned.
(29:11):
It was the work of a man who hadthought through every step.
Part 8. The sugar daddy culture When
survival becomes a transaction. The unspoken economy.
Let's talk about what nobody wants to talk about.
The economy of sugar daddy relationships and how poverty
makes women vulnerable to predatory men.
(29:34):
Geraldina Peguero Manchabo was not a sex worker.
She was not an escort. She was a wife, a mother, a
woman working a warehouse job, trying to support four children,
3 in the Dominican Republic, onein America.
But somewhere along the way, shemade a calculation that millions
of women make every day. She accepted financial help from
(29:57):
a man who wanted something in return.
We don't know exactly what Rodriguez expected or what
Geraldina provided. The investigation describes
their relationship as personal with unclear nature.
But we know he rented her an apartment.
We know he gave her money. We know he believed he had
rights to her, rights that included demanding she leave her
(30:18):
husband. This is the reality of sugar
daddy culture that Instagram influencers and sugar baby
lifestyle blogs don't show you. Behind the designer bags and
luxury vacations is a power dynamic built on desperation and
exploitation. The poverty pipeline.
Here's how it works. A woman is struggling
(30:39):
financially. Maybe she's working minimum
wage. Maybe she's supporting family
back home. Maybe she's one emergency away
from homelessness. She's exhausted, scared and
running out of options. An older man with money notices
her. He offers help.
Dinner, rent money, Bills paid, no strings attached, he says.
(31:02):
I just want to help. At first, maybe it really is
just help. But slowly the strings appear.
He wants more time, more attention, more access to her
life. The help becomes leverage.
The generosity becomes debt. And when she tries to set
boundaries, when she says I havea husband or I can't do this
(31:26):
anymore or simply no, the man who positioned himself as her
savior reveals himself as her captor.
This is what happened to Geraldina Rodriguez positioned
himself as a benefactor, but he was really a predator.
He used her financial desperation to gain access to
her life, then became enraged when she wouldn't give him
(31:48):
everything he believed he'd purchased.
The victim blaming trap. Here's where the conversation
usually goes wrong. Someone will say, well, she
shouldn't have taken his money. She was cheating on her husband.
She knew what she was getting into.
This is victim blaming and it's exactly what allows men like
(32:09):
Rodriguez to operate. Yes, Geraldina made choices.
Yes, she accepted money from Rodriguez.
Yes, she kept it secret from herhusband.
But none of that justifies murder.
None of that means she deserved to be shot in the back of the
head. None of that means her baby
deserved to drown in mud. The power imbalance in sugar
(32:31):
daddy relationships is real. When a 61 year old man with
resources targets a 31 year old woman in poverty, that's not a
relationship between equals, that's exploitation.
When that man believes his moneybuys him ownership of her body,
her choices, her future, that's not generosity, that's control.
(32:54):
And when that man murders her for refusing to leave her
husband, that's not a crime of passion, that's femicide.
That's what happens when men view women as property.
The broader pattern Geraldina's story is not unique.
Women are murdered by intimate partners and former partners at
alarming rates. In the United States,
(33:15):
approximately 3 women are killedby intimate partners every day.
But sugar daddy relationships add to another layer of danger.
Financial dependency creates additional barriers to leaving.
Secrecy creates isolation. The transactional nature of the
relationship dehumanizes the woman, making it easier for the
(33:35):
man to justify violence when shedoesn't comply with his
expectations. Research shows that financial
abuse is one of the strongest predictors of intimate partner
violence. When men use money to control
women, that control often escalates to physical violence.
Rodriguez's rage at Geraldina taking his money reveals this
(33:57):
mindset perfectly. He didn't see the money as gifts
or even as payment for services.He saw it as an investment in
ownership. When Geraldina refused to
deliver what he believed he'd purchased, he felt justified in
taking everything from her. Her life, her husband's life,
her baby's life. Part 9 The Message No Tears for
(34:20):
Black Girls Why this story matters This is a No Tears for
Black Girls story because it's about a woman of color
navigating systems that were never designed to protect her.
Geraldina was Dominican, an immigrant working class
struggling in a city with limited resources and
opportunities. When she needed help, there was
(34:43):
no safety net, no affordable childcare, no living wage, no
way to support four children on a warehouse salary.
So she made a choice that seemedlike survival.
She accepted help from a man whooffered it.
And that choice killed her. This is what happens when we
don't support women. When we don't pay living wages.
(35:04):
When we don't provide affordablehousing, childcare, healthcare.
When we force women to choose between poverty and dangerous
compromises. Geraldina shouldn't have had to
make that choice. She should have been able to
support her family without accepting money from a predatory
man. She should have had options that
didn't include becoming financially dependent on someone
(35:27):
who viewed her as property. The three orphans somewhere in
the Dominican Republic, three children are growing up without
parents. They're being raised by extended
family, trying to process a trauma that no child should have
to understand. Their mother was murdered.
Their father was murdered. Their baby brother was drowned.
(35:49):
And why? Because their mother tried to
survive. Because she accepted money from
a man who believed that money bought him ownership.
Because she dared to say no. These three children are the
living legacy of this tragedy. They're also a reminder of
what's at stake when we don't address the systemic issues that
(36:10):
make women vulnerable to predatory men.
The baby in the mud. But it's Jayden's death that
haunts this story. It's the detail that made
District Attorney John Adams want to cry.
It's the image that will stay with investigators for the rest
of their careers. A one year old baby, thrown face
(36:30):
down into muddy water, alive, struggling, drowning.
Jayden didn't make any choices. He didn't accept money from
anyone. He didn't have a secret
relationship. He was just a baby, held in his
mother's arms, present at the wrong moment, and Jose Luis
Rodriguez threw him away like garbage.
(36:53):
This is what male entitlement looks like at its most extreme.
Rodriguez was so consumed by rage at Geraldina's refusal, so
convinced of his right to own her, that he murdered an
innocent baby just to complete his revenge.
Jaden's death is the ultimate proof that this wasn't about
love or passion, or even jealousy in any romantic sense.
(37:16):
This was about power, about a man who couldn't accept that a
woman he'd financially supportedstill had the right to say no.
Part 10, the latest updates and current status where the case
stands now. As of December 2025, Jose Luis
Rodriguez remains in Berks County Prison awaiting trial.
(37:39):
His case is moving through the Pennsylvania court system, with
a trial date expected to be set in early 2026.
The Berks County District Attorney's Office has made it
clear they will seek the maximumpenalties available under
Pennsylvania law. While Pennsylvania maintains a
moratorium on the death penalty,Rodriguez faces three
(37:59):
consecutive life sentences without the possibility of
parole if convicted on all counts.
Legal experts say the case is open and shut.
Rodriguez's confession, combinedwith physical evidence,
surveillance footage and autopsyresults, creates an overwhelming
case for the prosecution. The defense's only real strategy
(38:22):
may be to negotiate a plea deal that avoids trial, sparing the
family from having to relive thehorror in court.
The family's ongoing struggle The GoFundMe campaign to
repatriate the bodies to the Dominican Republic successfully
raised enough money to bring Junior, Geraldina and Jayden
home. The family held Funeral services
(38:44):
in the Dominican Republic, wherethe three were buried together.
But the financial struggle continues.
The three surviving children need ongoing support.
Extended family members who havetaken them in are now
responsible for raising them, feeding them, educating them,
all while processing their own grief and trauma.
(39:06):
The family has also expressed frustration with the pace of the
legal system. We want justice, Geraldina's
cousin told reporters. But justice moves so slowly, and
every day we wait is another daythose children are without
answers. Community Impact In Redding's
(39:26):
Dominican community, Geraldina'sstory has sparked difficult
conversations about financial desperation, secret
relationships, and the dangers women face when they accept help
from men with ulterior motives. Some community members have
organized support groups for women in similar situations.
Women who are struggling financially, who may be in
(39:46):
relationships with men, who provide financial support, who
need resources and exit strategies.
Local domestic violence organizations have reported an
increase in calls from women seeking help.
Geraldina's story has prompted some women to recognize
dangerous patterns in their own relationships and reach out for
support before it's too late. Media coverage The case has
(40:11):
received significant media attention both locally and
nationally. The horrific details,
particularly Jayden's death, have made it a story that
captures public attention and outrage.
But some coverage has been problematic, focusing on
sensational details while ignoring the systemic issues
(40:32):
that made Geraldina vulnerable. Headlines like Sugar Daddy Kills
Family reduce a complex story ofpoverty, desperation, and male
violence to a salacious tagline.This is why platforms like No
Tears for Black Girls are so important.
We tell these stories with context.
(40:52):
We center the victim's humanity.We ask the hard questions about
why women like Geraldina end up in these situations in the 1st
place. Calls for systemic change
Advocates are using Geraldina's story to push for policy
changes. Living wages If Geraldina had
been able to support her family on her warehouse salary, she
(41:14):
wouldn't have needed Rodriguez'smoney.
Poverty wages force women into dangerous compromises.
Affordable housing. The housing crisis in cities
like Redding means families can't afford rent on legitimate
incomes, making them vulnerable to predators who offer to pay
their bills. Immigration support services.
(41:35):
Immigrant families need access to resources, financial literacy
programs, and community support that doesn't leave them isolated
and vulnerable. Financial abuse education.
Recognizing financial abuse as aform of domestic violence and
providing resources for women trapped in financially
controlling relationships. Stronger enforcement of stalking
(41:58):
and harassment laws. Rodriguez's escalating behavior
showed warning signs before the murders.
Better intervention could potentially save lives.
Epilogue The Cost of Survival What Geraldina Paid Geraldina
Peguero Mancebo made a choice that millions of women make
every day. She accepted help from a man who
(42:20):
offered it. She tried to keep her family
afloat in a system designed to let people like her drown.
She paid for that choice with her life.
Her husband paid with his life. Her baby paid with his life.
Her three surviving children paid with their childhood, their
innocence, their parents. And Jose Luis Rodriguez, he sits
(42:43):
in a prison cell waiting for trial, having destroyed an
entire family because a woman dared to tell him no, the
uncomfortable truth. Here's what we need to
understand. Geraldina's story is playing out
right now in cities across America.
Women are making impossible choices between poverty and
dangerous compromises. They're accepting money from men
(43:05):
who view them as property. They're walking tight ropes
between survival and destruction.
Some of them will make it across.
Some of them won't. The ones who don't make it
become statistics. They become headlines.
They become cautionary tales that other women read and think.
That won't happen to me. I'm smarter.
(43:26):
I'm more careful. I can handle it.
But Geraldina thought the same thing.
She believed she could take Rodriguez's money and maintain
her boundaries. She thought she was in control
until the moment she realized she wasn't the baby's last
moments. Let's end where we began, with
(43:46):
Jayden Junior Peguero, one year old, thrown face down into muddy
water in his last moments. Jayden didn't understand what
was happening. He didn't understand why the
world had suddenly become cold and wet and dark.
He didn't understand why he couldn't breathe.
He didn't understand why his mother wasn't saving him.
(44:08):
He just knew terror. He just knew the instinctive,
desperate fight for air that every drowning victim
experiences. He just knew that something was
very, very wrong. And then he knew nothing at all.
The mud filled his lungs. The water took him, and Jose
Luis Rodriguez walked away, leaving a baby's body floating
(44:30):
in a shallow pond like it was nothing like Jaden's life meant
nothing, like the only thing that mattered was Rodriguez's
wounded pride and his rage at a woman who refused to be owned.
The message? This is what happens when men
view women as property. This is what happens when
(44:50):
poverty forces women into dangerous compromises.
This is what happens when financial desperation meets male
entitlement. This is what happens when a
woman's no is treated as a crimepunishable by death.
Geraldina Peguero Manchabo was not perfect.
She made choices that some will judge.
(45:11):
But she didn't deserve to die. Junior didn't deserve to die.
And Jayden, innocent, helpless one year old Jayden certainly
didn't deserve to drown in mud while his killer walked away.
No tears for black girls. We tell these stories because
someone has to. We tell them with context, with
(45:32):
compassion, with an understanding of the systems
that fail women of color every single day.
We tell them because Geraldina'sname deserves to be remembered
as more than just a victim. She was a mother, a wife, a
woman trying to survive in a world that gave her impossible
choices. We tell them because Junior's
name deserves to be remembered as more than just collateral
(45:54):
damage. He was a father, a husband, a
man building a life in America. We tell them because Jayden's
name deserves to be remembered as more than just the most
horrific detail in a murder case.
He was a baby with his whole life ahead of him, stolen before
he could even speak his first words.
(46:15):
We tell these stories because silence protects predators.
Silence allows men like Jose Luis Rodriguez to operate.
Silence lets the systems that failed Geraldina continue
failing other women. We tell these stories because
black and brown women's lives matter.
Because immigrant women's lives matter.
(46:35):
Because poor women's lives matter.
We tell these stories because there should be tears for black
girls, for Dominican girls, for every woman who makes an
impossible choice and pays the ultimate price.
The three orphans Somewhere in the Dominican Republic tonight,
three children are going to bed without their parents.
(46:56):
They're being tucked in by auntsand grandmothers and cousins who
are doing their best but who cannever replace what was stolen.
Those children will grow up withquestions.
They'll want to know why. They'll want to understand how
their mother's choice to accept help from a man led to the
destruction of their entire family.
And someday, someone will have to tell them the truth.
(47:18):
That their mother was trying to survive.
That she was trying to give thema better life.
That she made a choice that seemed like the only option
available to her. And that a man who believed he
owned her decided that if he couldn't have her, no one would.
Those three children are the living legacy of this tragedy.
(47:40):
They're also a reminder of what's at stake every time we
ignore the systemic issues that make women vulnerable.
Every time we blame victims instead of predators, Every time
we look away from uncomfortable truths about poverty, power, and
male violence. Justice delayed.
Jose Luis Rodriguez will eventually face trial.
(48:02):
He'll likely be convicted. He'll probably spend the rest of
his life in prison. But that's not justice.
Not really. Justice would be Geraldina
alive, raising her four childrenfree from financial desperation.
Justice would be Junior, alive, working, building his American
dream. Justice would be Jaden alive,
(48:23):
taking his first steps, saying his first words growing up.
Justice would be a world where women don't have to choose
between poverty and predatory men.
Justice would be a world where awoman's no is respected, not
punished with death. Justice would be a world where
babies don't drown in mud because a man's ego was wounded.
(48:46):
We don't live in that world. We live in this one where
Geraldina is dead, Junior is dead, Jayden is dead, and three
children are orphans. All because a 61 year old man
believed his money bought him ownership of a 31 year old
woman's life. All because male entitlement met
financial desperation and created a perfect storm of
(49:07):
violence. All because we live in a world
that fails women of color over and over and over again.
The final word. This is the story of Geraldina
Peguero, Monsebo Junior Cabrera Cologne, and Jayden Junior
Peguero. This is the story of what
happens when survival becomes a transaction.
(49:31):
This is the story of the true cost of sugar daddy culture.
This is the story of three livesstolen, three bodies in three
locations, and one man's belief that he had the right to destroy
an entire family. This is a no tears for black
girls story, but there should betears.
(49:51):
There should be rage. There should be a commitment to
changing the systems that made Geraldina vulnerable in the 1st
place. Because somewhere, right now,
another woman is making the sameimpossible choice Geraldina
made. Another woman is accepting money
from a man who views her as property.
Another woman is walking the same tightrope between survival
(50:13):
and destruction. And we have to ask ourselves,
will we let her story end the same way, or will we finally do
something to change the world that creates these tragedies in
the 1st place? Rest in power, Geraldina
Peguero, Monsebo, 31 years old. Rest in power, Junior Cabrera,
(50:33):
Colon, 33 years old. Rest in power Jayden, Junior
Peguero, one year old. Your lives mattered.
Your stories matter, and we willnot let the world forget what
was done to you. Author's Note This story is
based on the real murders of Geraldina Peguero, Mansebo
(50:53):
Junior Cabrera Colon and Jayden Junior Peguero in Reading, PA in
September 2025. Jose Luis Rodriguez has been
charged with their murders and awaits trial.
As of December 2025, the detailsof the sugar daddy relationship,
the financial arrangement, and the specific dynamics between
(51:14):
Rodriguez and Geraldina have been reconstructed from police
reports, court documents, and media coverage.
While some narrative elements have been dramatized for
storytelling purposes, all majorfacts, including the timeline of
murders, the methods used, the discovery of bodies, Rodriguez's
confession, and the autopsy finding of mud in Baby Jayden's
(51:38):
lungs, are based on official investigative findings.
This story is told to honor the victims, to provide context for
the systemic issues that made Geraldina vulnerable, and to
spark conversation about the dangers of sugar daddy culture,
financial abuse, and male violence against women.
If you or someone you know is ina financially controlling or
(52:00):
abusive relationship, please reach out for help.
National Domestic Violence Hotline 1-800-799-7233 National
Sexual Assault hotline 1-800-656-4673 Financial Abuse
(52:20):
resources wwww.nnedv.org/content/about
Financial abuse For the No Tearsfor Black Girls podcast.
This is a story we tell because silence protects predators.
We tell it because black and brown women's lives matter.
We tell it because there should be tears and action for every
(52:44):
woman whose survival choices lead to tragedy.
Stay loved, stay blessed, and stay safe.
This is Samantha Paul. Up next is Truth Teller, a song
from the upcoming No Tears for Black Girls soundtrack featuring
Jada Truth, a character from Dead Mike, the next novel in the
No Tears for Black Girls universe.
(53:05):
Both the book and soundtrack dropped this Halloween.
Until next time, hopefully I'll see you there.
They always ask me, do you regret it?
Regret telling the truth? Never Mama wasn't there when I
needed a most, let me searching for love, chasing girls 15 years
(53:29):
old, looking for oh in the arms of a man who should've let me
alone, promised me safety, why he planted a sea, a dependency
rather than false cafe. While my family acted like they
weren't aware they knew. But I learned to play the game
he taught, aren't quick. Turn his lessons into what I
(53:50):
saw. Money in my pocket, power in my
hand even when I didn't understand.
True Teller. True Teller.
That's what I became as me when I spoiled the light, destroyed
his game. True Teller.
True Teller found my power, found it in that moment of true.
My finest hour. My moment he thought he would
sleep, thought he had controlledour own.
(54:11):
But I was learning how to save myself, save myself every dollar
that he gave to me. Everyone was buying back my
future, set me free, my freedom.I want your love face every
night, every night. And when I had the power to make
it right and the power I'll makeit wrong depending how you see
how you see the wreck in that was building inside of me,
building up so I get it on my courage and my red all the time.
(54:33):
I burned down this day. Burn it down in this chapter of
my stolen you stolen from nothing but the burning truth
truth teller. That's what I became when I
exposed the lies. Told her everything, didn't
(55:07):
sugarcoat all about her husband and what he done.
I always stole my childhood. 31 Told her I was 15.
Washed her face fall. Watch it fall.
Watch this Kingdom crumble. Watched it, all of it.
And I won't lie, I enjoyed the show watching everybody chose a
soul. Bloody soul.
Just a surf code on a silver plate.
(55:28):
Sometimes the truth just can't wait, can't wait.
His world in ashes. Myself for me free.
That's what's speaking True differently.
Differently True teller. True teller.
That's what I became. And
(56:13):
by the way, it was my aunt's husband, the man at every family
dinner, the one they all trusted.
They trusted him. Family don't always mean family.
The truth will set you free. Set you free.
The following story contains descriptions of violence against
women and children, murder and drowning.
Listener discretion is advised. This is no tears for black
girls. I'm your host, Samantha Paul.
No tears for black girls when they disappear.
No tears for black girls like they were never here.
(00:26):
But we're in birth. The price of survival when a
sugar daddy's money turned to murder.
Prologue 3 bodies, three locations, one devil's work.
The morning of September 13th, 2025 donned Gray and cold over
(00:47):
Reading, PA, a city that had seen better days.
Once a thriving railroad hub, Redding now carried the weight
of economic decline in its bones.
Abandoned factories stood like tombstones along the Schwilkill
River. Neighborhoods that once hummed
with working class prosperity now struggled with poverty rates
(01:10):
that ranked among the highest inthe nation.
It was in this landscape of desperation that three lives
would be stolen, three bodies would be discovered in three
separate locations, and one family's American dream would
become an American nightmare. At 6:30 that Friday morning,
(01:31):
Redding police officers responding to a call at Bear
Park along River Rd. made a discovery that would launch one
of the most horrific murder investigations Berks County
District Attorney John Adams hadever seen.
A body. Male.
Hispanic shot execution style inthe back of the head.
(01:52):
The victim was 33 year old Junior Cabrera Colon, a
Dominican immigrant trying to build a life in America.
But Junior's murder was just thebeginning, because somewhere in
Reading, his wife and baby son were already dead, their bodies
hidden, waiting to be found. This was the devil's work, A
family member would later say. This is not normal.
(02:15):
District Attorney Adams, a seasoned prosecutor who had seen
countless horrors, would stand before cameras days later with
tears threatening to spill from his eyes.
Just makes me want to cry, he would say.
I don't think that any of us canimagine the tragedy that took
place here and how horrific thiscrime was.
(02:35):
This is the story of how financial desperation, male
entitlement, jealousy, and possessiveness created a perfect
storm that destroyed an entire family.
This is the story of what happens when a woman becomes
property in a man's mind, when her refusal becomes his
justification for murder. This is the story of Geraldina
(02:56):
Peguero Mansebo, who made a dealwith the devil to survive and
paid for it with her life, her husband's life, and the life of
her baby boy. Part 1.
The victim's dreams deferred. Geraldina, the woman who tried
to have it all. Geraldina Peguero Manchebo was
(03:18):
31 years old, though some reports listed her as 32.
In the Dominican community of Reading, she was known as a
woman who worked hard, loved fiercely, and carried the weight
of 2 worlds on her shoulders. She had the kind of beauty that
turned heads, dark eyes that held both warmth and weariness,
(03:38):
a smile that could light up a room when she chose to share it.
But beneath that exterior was a woman navigating an impossible
situation, trying to keep her family afloat in a country that
promised opportunity but delivered struggle.
Geraldina and Junior had three other children, ages 813 and
(03:59):
somewhere in between, who lived back in the Dominican Republic,
attending school, being raised by family.
It's a story as old as immigration itself, parents
sacrificing proximity to their children working in America to
send money home, hoping to buildsomething better for the next
generation. But building something better
(04:20):
required money, and money was always the problem.
Reading PA wasn't supposed to bethis hard.
The city of 95,000 sat about 60 miles northwest of Philadelphia,
close enough to feel the pull ofurban opportunity, far enough to
maintain its own struggling identity.
For Dominican immigrants like Geraldina and Junior, Redding
(04:42):
represented a foothold in America, a place where you could
find work, even if that work barely paid enough to survive.
Geraldina had worked at a warehouse.
It was there she met Jose Luis Rodriguez Junior.
The husband who never knew Junior Cabrera Colon was 33
(05:03):
years old when he died. He was Geraldina's husband, the
father of her children, the man she came home to at night.
He was trying to make it in America the honest way, working,
providing, building. Friends and family described him
as a good man, a family man, someone who loved his wife and
(05:24):
children, who worked hard, who didn't deserve what happened to
him. But Junior didn't know
everything about his wife's life.
He didn't know about the apartment.
He didn't know about the money. He didn't know that his wife had
made a bargain to keep their family afloat, A bargain that
would cost him everything. On September 11th, 2025, Junior
(05:47):
met someone he thought was a friend, someone Geraldina knew,
someone who had been helping them.
That someone put a gun to the back of Junior's head and pulled
the trigger. Jayden, the baby who drowned in
mud. Jayden Junior Peguero was one
year old, just a baby. He had his whole life ahead of
(06:09):
him. First words, first steps, first
days of school, all the milestones that make a life.
He had his mother's eyes, his father's smile.
He was the youngest of four children, the baby of the
family, the one who would grow up American while his siblings
grew up Dominican. On September 12th, 2025, Jayden
(06:31):
was in his mother's arms when she was shot in the back of the
head. The bullet that killed Geraldina
didn't touch him. He survived that moment, but he
wouldn't survive what came next.The autopsy would reveal mud in
his lungs, mud from the shallow pond where he was thrown face
down while still alive. Mud that filled his tiny Airways
(06:55):
as he struggled, as he drowned, as his one year old brain tried
to understand why the world had suddenly become water and
darkness and suffocation. District Attorney John Adams,
who had prosecuted countless murders, would later say that
this detail, the mud in the baby's lungs, was what made him
want to cry. Because it meant Jayden was
(07:18):
alive when he hit the water. It meant he felt everything.
It meant his last moments were terror and confusion and the
desperate, instinctive fight forair that every drowning victim
experiences. Jayden Junior Peguero drowned in
a shallow pond in Ontolani Township while his killer walked
away. He was one year old.
(07:41):
Part 2, the Predator. When money becomes control.
Jose Luis Rodriguez, the sugar daddy.
Jose Luis Rodriguez was 61 yearsold, 30 years older than
Geraldina, old enough to be her father.
He had worked at the same warehouse where Geraldina
(08:02):
worked. That's where they met.
That's where the arrangement began.
The details of their relationship remain murky.
Investigators described it as personal, the nature unclear.
But the evidence paints a picture that's all too familiar.
An older man with money, a younger woman in desperate need,
(08:22):
and a transaction that masqueraded as generosity but
was really about power, Rodriguez rented an apartment
for Geraldina. He gave her money.
He financially supported her. As police reports would later
state, in the language of the streets, in the vernacular of
transactional relationships, Jose Luis Rodriguez was
(08:45):
Geraldina's sugar daddy. But what did Geraldina give in
return? The investigation doesn't
explicitly say, but the implications hang heavy in the
air. Rodriguez believed he owned her.
He believed his money bought himrights to her life, her choices,
her future. And when Geraldina refused to
leave her husband, when she madeit clear that Rodriguez's money
(09:07):
didn't buy him ownership of her heart, he decided that if he
couldn't have her, no one would.The psychology of possession.
This is where we need to talk about what happens when men view
women as property, when financial support becomes a
chain, when generosity is reallyjust control.
Wearing a prettier mask. Rodriguez wasn't helping
(09:30):
Geraldina out of kindness. He was investing in what he
believed was his future with her.
Every dollar he spent, every bill he paid, every month of
rent on that apartment. These weren't gifts, they were
down payments on a woman he believed he was purchasing.
This is the dark underbelly of sugar daddy culture that nobody
(09:51):
wants to talk about. We see the Instagram posts, the
designer bags, the luxury vacations.
We see young women living lives they couldn't otherwise afford.
And we judge them. We call them gold diggers,
opportunists, women who are asking for it.
But we don't talk about the men.We don't talk about the power
(10:12):
imbalance. We don't talk about what happens
when a woman in desperate circumstances makes a deal with
a man who has resources and thentries to set boundaries, tries
to say this far and no further, tries to maintain her humanity,
her marriage, her real life outside of the transaction.
We don't talk about what happenswhen she says no.
(10:34):
Jose Luis Rodriguez heard no anddecided it was time for murder.
Part 3. The murders.
A calculated massacre September 11th, 2025.
The husband The first to die wasJunior Cabrera Colon.
Rodriguez's confession would later reveal the cold
(10:55):
calculation behind this murder. He met with Junior in Reading.
Maybe Junior thought they were friends.
Maybe he knew Rodriguez was helping his wife financially and
wanted to thank him. Maybe he had no idea what was
coming. Rodriguez shot him in the back
of the head, execution style, the kind of kill that speaks to
(11:17):
premeditation, to planning, to aman who had decided that Junior
Cabrera Cologne was an obstacle that needed to be removed.
Rodriguez would later claim self-defense.
The junior had pulled a gun on him, that he wrestled it away,
that he fired in fear for his life.
But the physical evidence told adifferent story.
(11:38):
A shot to the back of the head isn't self-defense.
It's assassination. Rodriguez dumped Junior's body
along River Rd. in Bear Park, leaving him like trash among the
trees and overgrown grass of Redding's forgotten spaces.
Junior Cabrera Colon, 33 years old, father of four, husband,
(11:59):
immigrant, Dreamer, reduced to abody in a park waiting to be
found. September 12th, 2025.
The mother The next day, Rodriguez picked up Geraldina
and baby Jayden. Surveillance footage would later
capture this moment. Geraldina getting into
Rodriguez's vehicle on N 5th St.her baby in her arms, no idea
(12:23):
that she was climbing into her own coffin.
Maybe she thought it was a normal visit.
Maybe Rodriguez had called her, told her he needed to see her,
told her to bring the baby. Maybe she went willingly, still
believing that this arrangement could be managed, that she could
take his money and keep her marriage and somehow navigate
the impossible tightrope she'd been walking.
(12:46):
Or maybe she knew. Maybe she felt it in her gut,
that primal warning system that women learn to trust.
Maybe she hesitated before getting in that car.
Maybe she held Jayden a little tighter.
Rodriguez drove them to AntolaniTownship, a rural area several
miles outside Reading. Quiet, isolated.
(13:08):
The kind of place where screams don't carry.
According to Rodriguez's confession, he confronted
Geraldina. He demanded that she leave her
husband. He told her that after
everything he'd done for her, the apartment, the money, the
support she owed him, she belonged to him.
(13:29):
Geraldina refused. She was holding her baby when
Rodriguez shot her in the back of the head.
The same execution style kill, the same cold calculation.
Geraldina Peguero Manchebo, 31 years old, mother of four, died
instantly. Her last conscious thought
probably of the baby in her arms, the baby who was about to
(13:52):
be orphaned, the baby who was still alive, the baby.
The most horrific detail. This is where the story becomes
almost unbearable. This is where District Attorney
John Adams's voice would crack during the press conference.
This is where even hardened investigators had to step away
(14:13):
and collect themselves. After shooting, Geraldina
Rodriguez was left with a problem.
A1 year old baby alive, probablycrying, definitely a witness.
Even if he was too young to testify, Rodriguez could have
done many things at that moment.He could have left the baby with
his dead mother and driven away.He could have dropped him at a
(14:34):
hospital, a fire station, anywhere.
He could have shown even a shredof humanity.
Instead, Jose Luis Rodriguez picked up Jayden Junior Peguero,
carried him to a nearby shallow pond and threw him face down
into the muddy water. Then he walked away.
(14:54):
The autopsy would later confirm what investigators suspected.
Jayden was alive when he hit thewater.
The mud in his lungs proved it. He inhaled.
He struggled. He drowned.
A1 year old baby thrown into a pond like garbage, left to drown
in mud and shallow water while his mother's body lay nearby and
(15:16):
his father's body cooled in a park miles away.
The defendant confirmed that Jayden was alive when he threw
him face down into the muddy water, District Attorney Adams
would later tell the press, his voice heavy with the weight of
that sentence. Part 4.
The investigation unraveling, the horror, the discovery.
(15:38):
September 13th, 2025, 6:30 AM Junior Cabrera Colon's body is
discovered in Bear Park, Reading.
Police launch a homicide investigation, but something
doesn't add up. Junior lived with a woman,
Geraldina Peguero Monsebo, and they had a one year old baby.
(15:59):
Jayden, where are they? Pennsylvania State Police
launched a missing persons investigation.
Geraldina and Jayden are nowhereto be found.
Their apartment is empty. No one has seen them since
September 12th. The investigation moves quickly.
Detectives canvas the neighborhood, pull surveillance
footage, and interview witnesses.
(16:21):
They discover that Junior knew aman named Jose Luis Rodriguez,
That Rodriguez had some kind of relationship with Geraldina,
that Rodriguez had been seen with the family.
On September 18th, 5 days after Junior's body was found,
investigators brought Rodriguez in for questioning the
confession. Jose Luis Rodriguez confessed
(16:45):
not to everything at first, justto killing Junior Cabrera Colon.
He spun a story about self-defense, about Junior
pulling a gun, about fear for his life.
But the physical evidence didn'tsupport his claims.
Meanwhile, the search for Geraldina and Jayden
intensified. If Rodriguez killed Junior,
(17:06):
where were the mother and baby? September 19th, 2025, 8:15 PM.
Geraldina's body is found in a grassy area along E Huller Lane
in Antolani Township, several miles outside Reading.
She's been dead for a week. September 20th, 2025 Jayden's
(17:27):
body is discovered nearby, about150 yards from his mother.
The tiny body in the shallow pond, the mud in his lungs,
telling the story of his final moments.
Confronted with the discovery ofthe bodies, Rodriguez confessed
to everything. He admitted he was infuriated
because Geraldina was taking hismoney.
(17:49):
He admitted he shot her in the back of the head while she was
holding Jayden. He admitted he threw the baby
into the pond while the child was still alive.
The defendant indicated to detectives that he was
infuriated because he said that Geraldina was taking his money,
and he admitted that he shot Geraldina in the back of the
head. District Attorney Adams revealed
(18:12):
taking his money as if she had stolen from him, as if the
financial support he provided wasn't a choice he made, but a
debt she owed. As if her life, her body, her
choices were commodities he had purchased.
This is the language of ownership.
This is what happens when men believe women are property.
(18:32):
Part 5 The Aftermath 3 Orphans and a community in mourning the
family left behind Geraldina andJunior's three other children,
ages 8 to 13, were in the Dominican Republic when their
parents were murdered. They were in school, being
raised by extended family, waiting for the money their
(18:53):
parents sent from America. Now they're orphans.
They took the person that was the brightest person of our
family, said Heinel Medrano Manseebo, Geraldina's cousin.
My family is devastated. My auntie cannot even eat right
now. My grandmother, she cannot even
(19:14):
eat either. The family launched A GoFundMe
campaign to raise money to repatriate the bodies to the
Dominican Republic. Because even in death, poverty
follows. Even in grief, there are bills
to pay. The cost of bringing your
murdered loved ones home becomesanother burden on a family
already destroyed. Three children will grow up
(19:36):
without parents. They'll grow up knowing their
mother was murdered by a man whobelieved he owned her.
They'll grow up knowing their father was killed because he
stood in the way of that ownership.
They'll grow up knowing their baby brother drowned in mud
because a 61 year old man couldn't handle rejection.
The community response readings Dominican community rallied
(19:59):
around the family. Memorials appeared at Bear Park
where Junior's body was found. Candles, flowers, photos of the
family smiling and happier times.
This was the devil's work. This is not normal, 1 relative
told reporters. But here's the uncomfortable
truth. It is normal.
(20:21):
Maybe not. The specific horror of a baby
drowned in Redding's Dominican community rallied around the
family. Memorials appeared at Bear Park,
where Junior's body was found. Candles, flowers, photos of the
family smiling in happier times.This was the devil's work.
This is not normal, one relativetold reporters.
(20:42):
But here's the uncomfortable truth.
It is normal. Maybe not the specific horror of
a baby drowning in mud, but the underlying dynamics.
Those are devastatingly common. Women murdered by men who
believe they own them. Women killed for saying no.
Women destroyed because they dared to set boundaries with men
(21:04):
who had power over them. Financial power, Physical power,
Social power. In Reading, PA, a city where
nearly 30% of residents live below the poverty line, where
the median household income hovers around $38,000, where
immigrant families struggle to survive, Geraldina's story
resonates in ways that make people uncomfortable.
(21:28):
Because how many other women in Redding are making similar
bargains right now? How many are accepting money
from men they don't love, tryingto keep their families afloat,
walking that same impossible tightrope between survival and
danger? The Dominican community knows.
The immigrant community knows. The women know.
(21:49):
They know that Geraldina wasn't stupid.
She wasn't greedy. She wasn't asking for it.
She was desperate. And Jose Luis Rodriguez
exploited that desperation, thenpunished her for it.
Part 6. The legal proceedings.
Justice delayed the charges. Jose Luis Rodriguez was arrested
(22:11):
and charged with three counts offirst degree murder.
Junior Cabrera, Colon, GeraldinaPeguero Manchabo Jayden Junior
Peguero kidnapping, Geraldina and Jayden abuse of corpse all
three victims criminal homicide,firearms violations, tampering
(22:32):
with evidence. He was denied bail and remanded
to Berks County Prison, where heremains as of December 2025.
District Attorney John Adams made it clear that his office
would be seeking the maximum penalties.
This is one of the most horrificcases I've seen in my career,
Adams told reporters at a press conference, his voice thick with
(22:54):
emotion. The premeditation, the execution
style killings, and especially what was done to that baby just
makes me want to cry. Adams revealed that Rodriguez
had confessed to all three murders, admitting that he was
infuriated because Geraldina wastaking his money and refused to
leave her husband for him. The defense's impossible task.
(23:19):
Rodriguez's defense attorney faces an uphill battle.
The confession is damning. The physical evidence is
overwhelming. The autopsy results on Baby
Jayden, the mud in his lungs proving he was alive when thrown
into the water, eliminate any possibility of arguing the
baby's death was accidental or merciful.
(23:40):
Rodriguez initially tried to claim self-defense in Junior's
killing, saying Junior had pulled a gun on him, but the
execution style shot to the backof the head contradicts that
narrative. You don't shoot someone in the
back of the head while defendingyourself.
As of late 2025, Rodriguez remains in Berks County Prison
awaiting trial. The legal process moves slowly,
(24:03):
but the outcome seems inevitable.
Pennsylvania is not a death penalty state.
In practice, the state has had amoratorium on execution since
2015, but Rodriguez faces three consecutive life sentences
without the possibility of parole.
The preliminary hearing At Rodriguez's preliminary hearing
(24:25):
in October 2025, Magisterial District Judge Andrea Book heard
testimony from investigators detailing the timeline of the
murders, the discovery of the bodies, and Rodriguez's
confession. The courtroom was packed with
family members, community supporters and media.
When prosecutors described how Jayden was thrown into the pond
(24:48):
while still alive, audible gaspsand sobs filled the room.
Judge Book ordered Rodriguez held without bail on all
charges, calling the crimes among the most heinous she had
encountered in her years on the bench.
Rodriguez showed little emotion during the hearing, sitting
quietly in his orange prison jumpsuit, occasionally
(25:09):
conferring with his attorney. Family members of the victims
stared at him with a mixture of rage and disbelief.
How could he? Geraldina's cousin whispered to
reporters outside the courtroom.How could anyone do that to a
baby? Part 7 The setting Reading, PA
(25:30):
and the geography of desperation.
A city in decline To understand this story, you have to
understand Reading, PA. Once a thriving industrial city,
Reading has spent the last 50 years in economic decline.
The factories that once employedthousands have closed or moved
overseas. The railroad industry that made
(25:52):
Reading a hub has diminished. What's left is a city struggling
with poverty, crime and the kindof desperation that makes people
do things they never thought they'd do.
Reading has been ranked as one of the poorest cities in
America. Nearly one in three residents
lives below the poverty line. The median household income is
(26:12):
roughly half the national average.
Unemployment runs high. Opportunities run low for
immigrant communities, particularly Latino immigrants
from the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and Mexico.
Redding represents both hope andhardship.
It's close enough to major cities like Philadelphia and New
York to feel connected to opportunity.
(26:33):
It's affordable enough that families can find housing.
But it's also a place where making ends meet requires
sacrifice, hustle, and sometimesdangerous compromises.
The geography of murder The three locations where bodies
were found tell their own story about Redding's landscape of
Bear Park Junior's body, Locatedalong River Rd.
(26:57):
Bear Park is one of Redding's public green spaces, but it's
also isolated, poorly maintained, and the kind of
place where bodies can be dumpedwithout immediate discovery.
The park sits near the Schoolkill River in an area that
sees little foot traffic, especially at night.
It's the kind of place where thecity's decline is visible in
(27:18):
overgrown grass, broken playground equipment, and the
sense that this space has been forgotten.
N 5th St. last seen alive. This is where surveillance
cameras captured Geraldina getting into Rodriguez's vehicle
with baby Jayden on September 12th.
N 5th St. runs through one of Redding's predominantly Latino
(27:39):
neighborhoods, blocks of row houses, small businesses with
signs in Spanish, bodegas, and the everyday life of working
class immigrant families. This is where Geraldina lived
her public life, where neighborsknew her, where she was just
another young mother trying to make it on Tolani Township.
Geraldina and Jayden's bodies. Several miles outside Reading
(28:03):
proper on Tolani Township is rural Pennsylvania.
Farms, woods, isolated roads andthe kind of privacy that makes
it perfect for murder. E Huller Lane, where the bodies
were found, is a quiet country Rd. surrounded by fields and
forest. The shallow pond where Jayden
drowned is the kind of place kids might play on a summer day,
(28:27):
catching frogs and skipping stones.
Instead, it became a baby's grave.
The distance between these locations, from the urban core
of Reading to the rural outskirts, mirrors the distance
between Geraldina's two lives, her public life in the city with
her husband and baby, her secretlife in the apartment Rodriguez
(28:49):
rented. In the transactional
relationship she kept hidden, Rodriguez used Redding's
geography to his advantage. He killed Junior in the city and
dumped him in a park. He killed Geraldina and Jayden
in the isolated countryside where screams wouldn't carry and
bodies might not be found for days or weeks.
It was calculated, it was planned.
(29:11):
It was the work of a man who hadthought through every step.
Part 8. The sugar daddy culture When
survival becomes a transaction. The unspoken economy.
Let's talk about what nobody wants to talk about.
The economy of sugar daddy relationships and how poverty
makes women vulnerable to predatory men.
(29:34):
Geraldina Peguero Manchabo was not a sex worker.
She was not an escort. She was a wife, a mother, a
woman working a warehouse job, trying to support four children,
3 in the Dominican Republic, onein America.
But somewhere along the way, shemade a calculation that millions
of women make every day. She accepted financial help from
(29:57):
a man who wanted something in return.
We don't know exactly what Rodriguez expected or what
Geraldina provided. The investigation describes
their relationship as personal with unclear nature.
But we know he rented her an apartment.
We know he gave her money. We know he believed he had
rights to her, rights that included demanding she leave her
(30:18):
husband. This is the reality of sugar
daddy culture that Instagram influencers and sugar baby
lifestyle blogs don't show you. Behind the designer bags and
luxury vacations is a power dynamic built on desperation and
exploitation. The poverty pipeline.
Here's how it works. A woman is struggling
(30:39):
financially. Maybe she's working minimum
wage. Maybe she's supporting family
back home. Maybe she's one emergency away
from homelessness. She's exhausted, scared and
running out of options. An older man with money notices
her. He offers help.
Dinner, rent money, Bills paid, no strings attached, he says.
(31:02):
I just want to help. At first, maybe it really is
just help. But slowly the strings appear.
He wants more time, more attention, more access to her
life. The help becomes leverage.
The generosity becomes debt. And when she tries to set
boundaries, when she says I havea husband or I can't do this
(31:26):
anymore or simply no, the man who positioned himself as her
savior reveals himself as her captor.
This is what happened to Geraldina Rodriguez positioned
himself as a benefactor, but he was really a predator.
He used her financial desperation to gain access to
her life, then became enraged when she wouldn't give him
(31:48):
everything he believed he'd purchased.
The victim blaming trap. Here's where the conversation
usually goes wrong. Someone will say, well, she
shouldn't have taken his money. She was cheating on her husband.
She knew what she was getting into.
This is victim blaming and it's exactly what allows men like
(32:09):
Rodriguez to operate. Yes, Geraldina made choices.
Yes, she accepted money from Rodriguez.
Yes, she kept it secret from herhusband.
But none of that justifies murder.
None of that means she deserved to be shot in the back of the
head. None of that means her baby
deserved to drown in mud. The power imbalance in sugar
(32:31):
daddy relationships is real. When a 61 year old man with
resources targets a 31 year old woman in poverty, that's not a
relationship between equals, that's exploitation.
When that man believes his moneybuys him ownership of her body,
her choices, her future, that's not generosity, that's control.
(32:54):
And when that man murders her for refusing to leave her
husband, that's not a crime of passion, that's femicide.
That's what happens when men view women as property.
The broader pattern Geraldina's story is not unique.
Women are murdered by intimate partners and former partners at
alarming rates. In the United States,
(33:15):
approximately 3 women are killedby intimate partners every day.
But sugar daddy relationships add to another layer of danger.
Financial dependency creates additional barriers to leaving.
Secrecy creates isolation. The transactional nature of the
relationship dehumanizes the woman, making it easier for the
(33:35):
man to justify violence when shedoesn't comply with his
expectations. Research shows that financial
abuse is one of the strongest predictors of intimate partner
violence. When men use money to control
women, that control often escalates to physical violence.
Rodriguez's rage at Geraldina taking his money reveals this
(33:57):
mindset perfectly. He didn't see the money as gifts
or even as payment for services.He saw it as an investment in
ownership. When Geraldina refused to
deliver what he believed he'd purchased, he felt justified in
taking everything from her. Her life, her husband's life,
her baby's life. Part 9 The Message No Tears for
(34:20):
Black Girls Why this story matters This is a No Tears for
Black Girls story because it's about a woman of color
navigating systems that were never designed to protect her.
Geraldina was Dominican, an immigrant working class
struggling in a city with limited resources and
opportunities. When she needed help, there was
(34:43):
no safety net, no affordable childcare, no living wage, no
way to support four children on a warehouse salary.
So she made a choice that seemedlike survival.
She accepted help from a man whooffered it.
And that choice killed her. This is what happens when we
don't support women. When we don't pay living wages.
(35:04):
When we don't provide affordablehousing, childcare, healthcare.
When we force women to choose between poverty and dangerous
compromises. Geraldina shouldn't have had to
make that choice. She should have been able to
support her family without accepting money from a predatory
man. She should have had options that
didn't include becoming financially dependent on someone
(35:27):
who viewed her as property. The three orphans somewhere in
the Dominican Republic, three children are growing up without
parents. They're being raised by extended
family, trying to process a trauma that no child should have
to understand. Their mother was murdered.
Their father was murdered. Their baby brother was drowned.
(35:49):
And why? Because their mother tried to
survive. Because she accepted money from
a man who believed that money bought him ownership.
Because she dared to say no. These three children are the
living legacy of this tragedy. They're also a reminder of
what's at stake when we don't address the systemic issues that
(36:10):
make women vulnerable to predatory men.
The baby in the mud. But it's Jayden's death that
haunts this story. It's the detail that made
District Attorney John Adams want to cry.
It's the image that will stay with investigators for the rest
of their careers. A one year old baby, thrown face
(36:30):
down into muddy water, alive, struggling, drowning.
Jayden didn't make any choices. He didn't accept money from
anyone. He didn't have a secret
relationship. He was just a baby, held in his
mother's arms, present at the wrong moment, and Jose Luis
Rodriguez threw him away like garbage.
(36:53):
This is what male entitlement looks like at its most extreme.
Rodriguez was so consumed by rage at Geraldina's refusal, so
convinced of his right to own her, that he murdered an
innocent baby just to complete his revenge.
Jaden's death is the ultimate proof that this wasn't about
love or passion, or even jealousy in any romantic sense.
(37:16):
This was about power, about a man who couldn't accept that a
woman he'd financially supportedstill had the right to say no.
Part 10, the latest updates and current status where the case
stands now. As of December 2025, Jose Luis
Rodriguez remains in Berks County Prison awaiting trial.
(37:39):
His case is moving through the Pennsylvania court system, with
a trial date expected to be set in early 2026.
The Berks County District Attorney's Office has made it
clear they will seek the maximumpenalties available under
Pennsylvania law. While Pennsylvania maintains a
moratorium on the death penalty,Rodriguez faces three
(37:59):
consecutive life sentences without the possibility of
parole if convicted on all counts.
Legal experts say the case is open and shut.
Rodriguez's confession, combinedwith physical evidence,
surveillance footage and autopsyresults, creates an overwhelming
case for the prosecution. The defense's only real strategy
(38:22):
may be to negotiate a plea deal that avoids trial, sparing the
family from having to relive thehorror in court.
The family's ongoing struggle The GoFundMe campaign to
repatriate the bodies to the Dominican Republic successfully
raised enough money to bring Junior, Geraldina and Jayden
home. The family held Funeral services
(38:44):
in the Dominican Republic, wherethe three were buried together.
But the financial struggle continues.
The three surviving children need ongoing support.
Extended family members who havetaken them in are now
responsible for raising them, feeding them, educating them,
all while processing their own grief and trauma.
(39:06):
The family has also expressed frustration with the pace of the
legal system. We want justice, Geraldina's
cousin told reporters. But justice moves so slowly, and
every day we wait is another daythose children are without
answers. Community Impact In Redding's
(39:26):
Dominican community, Geraldina'sstory has sparked difficult
conversations about financial desperation, secret
relationships, and the dangers women face when they accept help
from men with ulterior motives. Some community members have
organized support groups for women in similar situations.
Women who are struggling financially, who may be in
(39:46):
relationships with men, who provide financial support, who
need resources and exit strategies.
Local domestic violence organizations have reported an
increase in calls from women seeking help.
Geraldina's story has prompted some women to recognize
dangerous patterns in their own relationships and reach out for
support before it's too late. Media coverage The case has
(40:11):
received significant media attention both locally and
nationally. The horrific details,
particularly Jayden's death, have made it a story that
captures public attention and outrage.
But some coverage has been problematic, focusing on
sensational details while ignoring the systemic issues
(40:32):
that made Geraldina vulnerable. Headlines like Sugar Daddy Kills
Family reduce a complex story ofpoverty, desperation, and male
violence to a salacious tagline.This is why platforms like No
Tears for Black Girls are so important.
We tell these stories with context.
(40:52):
We center the victim's humanity.We ask the hard questions about
why women like Geraldina end up in these situations in the 1st
place. Calls for systemic change
Advocates are using Geraldina's story to push for policy
changes. Living wages If Geraldina had
been able to support her family on her warehouse salary, she
(41:14):
wouldn't have needed Rodriguez'smoney.
Poverty wages force women into dangerous compromises.
Affordable housing. The housing crisis in cities
like Redding means families can't afford rent on legitimate
incomes, making them vulnerable to predators who offer to pay
their bills. Immigration support services.
(41:35):
Immigrant families need access to resources, financial literacy
programs, and community support that doesn't leave them isolated
and vulnerable. Financial abuse education.
Recognizing financial abuse as aform of domestic violence and
providing resources for women trapped in financially
controlling relationships. Stronger enforcement of stalking
(41:58):
and harassment laws. Rodriguez's escalating behavior
showed warning signs before the murders.
Better intervention could potentially save lives.
Epilogue The Cost of Survival What Geraldina Paid Geraldina
Peguero Mancebo made a choice that millions of women make
every day. She accepted help from a man who
(42:20):
offered it. She tried to keep her family
afloat in a system designed to let people like her drown.
She paid for that choice with her life.
Her husband paid with his life. Her baby paid with his life.
Her three surviving children paid with their childhood, their
innocence, their parents. And Jose Luis Rodriguez, he sits
(42:43):
in a prison cell waiting for trial, having destroyed an
entire family because a woman dared to tell him no, the
uncomfortable truth. Here's what we need to
understand. Geraldina's story is playing out
right now in cities across America.
Women are making impossible choices between poverty and
dangerous compromises. They're accepting money from men
(43:05):
who view them as property. They're walking tight ropes
between survival and destruction.
Some of them will make it across.
Some of them won't. The ones who don't make it
become statistics. They become headlines.
They become cautionary tales that other women read and think.
That won't happen to me. I'm smarter.
(43:26):
I'm more careful. I can handle it.
But Geraldina thought the same thing.
She believed she could take Rodriguez's money and maintain
her boundaries. She thought she was in control
until the moment she realized she wasn't the baby's last
moments. Let's end where we began, with
(43:46):
Jayden Junior Peguero, one year old, thrown face down into muddy
water in his last moments. Jayden didn't understand what
was happening. He didn't understand why the
world had suddenly become cold and wet and dark.
He didn't understand why he couldn't breathe.
He didn't understand why his mother wasn't saving him.
(44:08):
He just knew terror. He just knew the instinctive,
desperate fight for air that every drowning victim
experiences. He just knew that something was
very, very wrong. And then he knew nothing at all.
The mud filled his lungs. The water took him, and Jose
Luis Rodriguez walked away, leaving a baby's body floating
(44:30):
in a shallow pond like it was nothing like Jaden's life meant
nothing, like the only thing that mattered was Rodriguez's
wounded pride and his rage at a woman who refused to be owned.
The message? This is what happens when men
view women as property. This is what happens when
(44:50):
poverty forces women into dangerous compromises.
This is what happens when financial desperation meets male
entitlement. This is what happens when a
woman's no is treated as a crimepunishable by death.
Geraldina Peguero Manchabo was not perfect.
She made choices that some will judge.
(45:11):
But she didn't deserve to die. Junior didn't deserve to die.
And Jayden, innocent, helpless one year old Jayden certainly
didn't deserve to drown in mud while his killer walked away.
No tears for black girls. We tell these stories because
someone has to. We tell them with context, with
(45:32):
compassion, with an understanding of the systems
that fail women of color every single day.
We tell them because Geraldina'sname deserves to be remembered
as more than just a victim. She was a mother, a wife, a
woman trying to survive in a world that gave her impossible
choices. We tell them because Junior's
name deserves to be remembered as more than just collateral
(45:54):
damage. He was a father, a husband, a
man building a life in America. We tell them because Jayden's
name deserves to be remembered as more than just the most
horrific detail in a murder case.
He was a baby with his whole life ahead of him, stolen before
he could even speak his first words.
(46:15):
We tell these stories because silence protects predators.
Silence allows men like Jose Luis Rodriguez to operate.
Silence lets the systems that failed Geraldina continue
failing other women. We tell these stories because
black and brown women's lives matter.
Because immigrant women's lives matter.
(46:35):
Because poor women's lives matter.
We tell these stories because there should be tears for black
girls, for Dominican girls, for every woman who makes an
impossible choice and pays the ultimate price.
The three orphans Somewhere in the Dominican Republic tonight,
three children are going to bed without their parents.
(46:56):
They're being tucked in by auntsand grandmothers and cousins who
are doing their best but who cannever replace what was stolen.
Those children will grow up withquestions.
They'll want to know why. They'll want to understand how
their mother's choice to accept help from a man led to the
destruction of their entire family.
And someday, someone will have to tell them the truth.
(47:18):
That their mother was trying to survive.
That she was trying to give thema better life.
That she made a choice that seemed like the only option
available to her. And that a man who believed he
owned her decided that if he couldn't have her, no one would.
Those three children are the living legacy of this tragedy.
(47:40):
They're also a reminder of what's at stake every time we
ignore the systemic issues that make women vulnerable.
Every time we blame victims instead of predators, Every time
we look away from uncomfortable truths about poverty, power, and
male violence. Justice delayed.
Jose Luis Rodriguez will eventually face trial.
(48:02):
He'll likely be convicted. He'll probably spend the rest of
his life in prison. But that's not justice.
Not really. Justice would be Geraldina
alive, raising her four childrenfree from financial desperation.
Justice would be Junior, alive, working, building his American
dream. Justice would be Jaden alive,
(48:23):
taking his first steps, saying his first words growing up.
Justice would be a world where women don't have to choose
between poverty and predatory men.
Justice would be a world where awoman's no is respected, not
punished with death. Justice would be a world where
babies don't drown in mud because a man's ego was wounded.
(48:46):
We don't live in that world. We live in this one where
Geraldina is dead, Junior is dead, Jayden is dead, and three
children are orphans. All because a 61 year old man
believed his money bought him ownership of a 31 year old
woman's life. All because male entitlement met
financial desperation and created a perfect storm of
(49:07):
violence. All because we live in a world
that fails women of color over and over and over again.
The final word. This is the story of Geraldina
Peguero, Monsebo Junior Cabrera Cologne, and Jayden Junior
Peguero. This is the story of what
happens when survival becomes a transaction.
(49:31):
This is the story of the true cost of sugar daddy culture.
This is the story of three livesstolen, three bodies in three
locations, and one man's belief that he had the right to destroy
an entire family. This is a no tears for black
girls story, but there should betears.
(49:51):
There should be rage. There should be a commitment to
changing the systems that made Geraldina vulnerable in the 1st
place. Because somewhere, right now,
another woman is making the sameimpossible choice Geraldina
made. Another woman is accepting money
from a man who views her as property.
Another woman is walking the same tightrope between survival
(50:13):
and destruction. And we have to ask ourselves,
will we let her story end the same way, or will we finally do
something to change the world that creates these tragedies in
the 1st place? Rest in power, Geraldina
Peguero, Monsebo, 31 years old. Rest in power, Junior Cabrera,
(50:33):
Colon, 33 years old. Rest in power Jayden, Junior
Peguero, one year old. Your lives mattered.
Your stories matter, and we willnot let the world forget what
was done to you. Author's Note This story is
based on the real murders of Geraldina Peguero, Mansebo
(50:53):
Junior Cabrera Colon and Jayden Junior Peguero in Reading, PA in
September 2025. Jose Luis Rodriguez has been
charged with their murders and awaits trial.
As of December 2025, the detailsof the sugar daddy relationship,
the financial arrangement, and the specific dynamics between
(51:14):
Rodriguez and Geraldina have been reconstructed from police
reports, court documents, and media coverage.
While some narrative elements have been dramatized for
storytelling purposes, all majorfacts, including the timeline of
murders, the methods used, the discovery of bodies, Rodriguez's
confession, and the autopsy finding of mud in Baby Jayden's
(51:38):
lungs, are based on official investigative findings.
This story is told to honor the victims, to provide context for
the systemic issues that made Geraldina vulnerable, and to
spark conversation about the dangers of sugar daddy culture,
financial abuse, and male violence against women.
If you or someone you know is ina financially controlling or
(52:00):
abusive relationship, please reach out for help.
National Domestic Violence Hotline 1-800-799-7233 National
Sexual Assault hotline 1-800-656-4673 Financial Abuse
(52:20):
resources wwww.nnedv.org/content/about
Financial abuse For the No Tearsfor Black Girls podcast.
This is a story we tell because silence protects predators.
We tell it because black and brown women's lives matter.
We tell it because there should be tears and action for every
(52:44):
woman whose survival choices lead to tragedy.
Stay loved, stay blessed, and stay safe.
This is Samantha Paul. Up next is Truth Teller, a song
from the upcoming No Tears for Black Girls soundtrack featuring
Jada Truth, a character from Dead Mike, the next novel in the
No Tears for Black Girls universe.
(53:05):
Both the book and soundtrack dropped this Halloween.
Until next time, hopefully I'll see you there.
They always ask me, do you regret it?
Regret telling the truth? Never Mama wasn't there when I
needed a most, let me searching for love, chasing girls 15 years
(53:29):
old, looking for oh in the arms of a man who should've let me
alone, promised me safety, why he planted a sea, a dependency
rather than false cafe. While my family acted like they
weren't aware they knew. But I learned to play the game
he taught, aren't quick. Turn his lessons into what I
(53:50):
saw. Money in my pocket, power in my
hand even when I didn't understand.
True Teller. True Teller.
That's what I became as me when I spoiled the light, destroyed
his game. True Teller.
True Teller found my power, found it in that moment of true.
My finest hour. My moment he thought he would
sleep, thought he had controlledour own.
(54:11):
But I was learning how to save myself, save myself every dollar
that he gave to me. Everyone was buying back my
future, set me free, my freedom.I want your love face every
night, every night. And when I had the power to make
it right and the power I'll makeit wrong depending how you see
how you see the wreck in that was building inside of me,
building up so I get it on my courage and my red all the time.
(54:33):
I burned down this day. Burn it down in this chapter of
my stolen you stolen from nothing but the burning truth
truth teller. That's what I became when I
exposed the lies. Told her everything, didn't
(55:07):
sugarcoat all about her husband and what he done.
I always stole my childhood. 31 Told her I was 15.
Washed her face fall. Watch it fall.
Watch this Kingdom crumble. Watched it, all of it.
And I won't lie, I enjoyed the show watching everybody chose a
soul. Bloody soul.
Just a surf code on a silver plate.
(55:28):
Sometimes the truth just can't wait, can't wait.
His world in ashes. Myself for me free.
That's what's speaking True differently.
Differently True teller. True teller.
That's what I became. And
(56:13):
by the way, it was my aunt's husband, the man at every family
dinner, the one they all trusted.
They trusted him. Family don't always mean family.
The truth will set you free. Set you free.
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