Mexican state prosecutors have listed the theft of cash and cryptocurrency assets as one of the possible motives for the murder of Jonathan Meléndez, a founding member of Camilo Séptimo, along with his family. Two suspects have been arrested, one of whom had a business relationship with him.

The victims include Meléndez, his pregnant partner, their three-year-old daughter, and a housekeeper, with the incident occurring at a residence in Atizapán de Zaragoza, Mexico State. The federal public security department stated that one suspect was able to approach the residence due to their business relationship, while the other was allegedly promised around 2 million pesos as a reward for assistance.

Prosecutors reconstructed the events, stating that the suspects believed the victims held a cold wallet containing millions of dollars in Bitcoin and targeted the residence for this reason. A cold wallet does not store coins but keeps the private keys needed for on-chain authorization; taking the device does not equate to being able to transfer assets without the seed phrase or unlocking method.

Local media reported varying amounts, including around $1.5 million or about 30 million pesos, with no unified official valuation. The case is still under investigation, and prosecutors have not disclosed the exact balance that has been confirmed and recovered on-chain.

Mechanically, the buyer is an informed and accessible partner, while the seller is the holder who keeps the private keys in a discoverable physical device. The incident was driven by the knowledge of the existence of a cold wallet, with the financial target being on-chain Bitcoin rather than performance income; if the beneficiaries succeed, it will be those who can obtain both the device and the unlocking information, while the pressured parties are the family and witnesses present. Physical coercion cannot automatically generate on-chain signatures, but it is sufficient to turn the fact of holding coins into a reason for breaking and entering.

Public information has not provided wallet addresses or transaction hashes, nor confirmed whether assets were transferred before the arrests.

Source: Public Information