In brief
- Prosecutors allege the suspects entered Meléndez’s home searching for a cold wallet they believed held “million-dollar amounts in Bitcoin.”
- Meléndez, his pregnant wife, their three-year-old daughter and a domestic worker were killed. The couple’s six-year-old son survived.
- Two men have been arrested, with prosecutors alleging one offered the other 2 million pesos, or about $118,000, if they obtained the crypto.
Mexican prosecutors allege two men targeted the home of Camilo Séptimo keyboardist Jonathan Meléndez in search of a cold wallet they believed contained millions of dollars in Bitcoin, killing the musician and three others.
According to a report by IBTimes UK, Meléndez, his pregnant wife Ana Paula Barragán, their three-year-old daughter Sofía, and 21-year-old domestic worker Aleyda Romero were found dead at the family’s home in Atizapán de Zaragoza, State of Mexico, on September 1. The couple’s six-year-old son survived.
State prosecutors said the suspects allegedly entered the home searching for a cold wallet they believed contained “million-dollar amounts in Bitcoin.”
Authorities identified the suspects as Diego Sebastián and Gerardo, using “N” in place of their surnames in accordance with Mexican privacy rules for criminal proceedings. Diego Sebastián, a business associate of Meléndez, allegedly used their relationship to gain access and offered Gerardo 2 million pesos, about $118,000, to help obtain the crypto. Both were arrested on September 2.
Cold wallets don’t store Bitcoin itself; instead, they are typically devices also known as hardware wallets, like the popular Ledger, Trezor, or the air-gapped Coldcard, that store the private keys that control access to the funds. While cold wallets protect against many online attacks, they do not eliminate physical threats, as criminals can target holders directly to gain access to their wallets.
The killings are the latest in an increase in physical attacks targeting crypto holders. Blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis documented 46 violent crypto attacks through late June, with more than $30 million stolen during the first half of 2026. Home invasions accounted for 37% of documented incidents.
In June, two Texas brothers pleaded guilty to holding a Minnesota family at gunpoint for more than eight hours and forcing the father to transfer more than $8 million in cryptocurrency.