Six men have been arrested and a seventh is being sought in the Dominican Republic for the brutal torture and killing of American teacher Patricia Anton, according to news reports.
Four of the six men charged in the case have criminal records dating to 2017, and two of them are Haitian nationals, according to the Spanish-language news agency Noticias SIN.
Cops are now looking for another man known as “El Venezolano,” or the Venezuelan.
The arrest comes three days after authorities on the Caribbean island said eight suspects had been taken into custody. It is unclear if all of the six arrested were among those eight.
“We are really grateful and impressed by how much effort the police in the island have put to find out what happened,” Anton’s cousin, Adrianne Machina, told the Washington Post.
“I would love people to know what an amazing mother, teacher, and friend Patty was to everyone,” she said. “She had a huge laugh and was very inclusive.”
Anton, 63, of Michigan, was found Tuesday in her apartment after she was tortured, bound and killed, police said. Her cellphone, laptop and plasma TV set were stolen.
The Italian-born teacher was a curriculum program director at the Mariposas Montessori elementary school in Cabarete, one of the Dominican Republic’s poorest regions.
The suspects were identified as Michael Marinez Rosario, Heuri Flores Hernandez, Junior Alexis Suarez, Juan Jose Andujar Mella, Oroniel Canario Montero and Alexis Maquey, Noticisas SIN reported.
Mella, Rosario, Maquey and Suarez have criminal records, police said. Maquey and Suarez are Haitian nationals.