Summary
- Prosecutors claim that two suspects invaded Meléndez’s residence in search of a cold wallet believed to contain substantial Bitcoin assets.
- In the attack, musician Jonathan Meléndez, his pregnant spouse, their three-year-old daughter, and a domestic employee were killed, while their six-year-old son survived.
- Authorities arrested two individuals, with one allegedly promising the other 2 million pesos, approximately $118,000, for acquiring the cryptocurrency.
In a shocking incident, Mexican authorities allege that two men targeted the home of Jonathan Meléndez, a keyboardist for the band Camilo Séptimo, in pursuit of a cold wallet thought to hold millions in Bitcoin. The attack resulted in the deaths of Meléndez and three others.
As reported by IBTimes UK, the bodies of Meléndez, his pregnant wife Ana Paula Barragán, their three-year-old daughter Sofía, and a 21-year-old domestic worker named Aleyda Romero were discovered at their home in Atizapán de Zaragoza, State of Mexico, on September 1. Fortunately, their six-year-old son survived the tragedy.
According to state prosecutors, the suspects allegedly broke into the residence looking for a cold wallet they believed contained “million-dollar amounts in Bitcoin.”
The suspects have been identified as Diego Sebastián and Gerardo, with “N” used as a placeholder for their last names due to Mexican legal privacy regulations. Diego Sebastián, who was reportedly acquainted with Meléndez, is accused of using this connection to facilitate access to the home and offered Gerardo 2 million pesos (around $118,000) to assist in obtaining the cryptocurrency. Both suspects were apprehended on September 2.
Cold wallets do not store Bitcoin directly; rather, they are devices, often referred to as hardware wallets, such as Ledger or Trezor, that secure the private keys needed to access the cryptocurrency. While these wallets provide protection against many online threats, they do not eliminate physical dangers, as criminals can directly target cryptocurrency holders to gain access to their wallets.
This tragic event is part of a troubling trend of increasing physical assaults against cryptocurrency holders. According to blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis, there were 46 violent attacks related to cryptocurrency reported through late June, resulting in over $30 million stolen in the first half of 2026 alone. Home invasions constituted 37% of these incidents.
In a related case from June, two brothers in Texas pleaded guilty to holding a Minnesota family hostage at gunpoint for over eight hours, coercing the father into transferring more than $8 million in cryptocurrency.