Jonaiki Martinez-Estrella, one of the individuals convicted in the brutal 2018 slaying of Bronx teenager Lesandro “Junior” Guzman-Feliz, was found dead in his cell at the Coxsackie Correctional Facility in New York on Friday, June 27, 2025. He was 31 years old.
Martinez-Estrella was a central figure in the tragic case, having delivered the fatal machete blow to 15-year-old Guzman-Feliz in what was widely believed to be a case of mistaken identity by members of the Trinitarios gang. The horrific attack, largely captured on surveillance video, sparked widespread outrage and a rallying cry for justice under the banner “Justice for Junior.”
While Martinez-Estrella’s initial first-degree murder conviction was later overturned, he was resentenced in May 2024 for second-degree murder, conspiracy, and gang assault, receiving a sentence of 25 years to life with the possibility of parole…