Two Charged In Braintree Hotel Murder Held Without Bail

DEDHAM, MA — Two more men charged in the murder of a Lawrence teenager were ordered held without bail Monday.

Kentavious Coleman, 20, and Kenyonte Galmore 22, pleaded not guilty during their arraignment in Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham to various murder, robbery, and assault charges. The men are the second and third people to be charged in connection to the death of 19-year-old Reina Rodriguez.

Juana Rivera was charged in April with first-degree murder, assault with intent to murder, unarmed robbery, kidnapping, conspiracy, human sex trafficking, and prostitution. A fourth suspect, Jason McLeod, 35 of Mattapan, has not been charged with murder but faces human trafficking charges.

The arraignment was another tense moment in the case. Rodriguez’s family was present for the hearing and her father, Marcos Rodriguez, at one point stood up to yell at the two men as they were leaving the courtroom. Outside, a tearful father said he hoped justice would be served.

Sigrid Garcia, Rodriguez’s mother, told reporters that she’s feels many emotions while sitting in the courtroom.

“I feel angry, upset, happy, every emotion at the same time. All these emotions at the same time,” she said.

When asked what she would like to say to Coleman and Galmore, she chose to tie her tongue, but said she was happy to see them in custody.

“I’m so happy when I see them tying the shackles and tying the hands like they do with my daughter. I am so happy when I see that on them when they have to come to the court, and they have to come in front of me and my family and I see the shackles, I am happy for that,” Garcia said.

Prosecutors say Rodriguez was found dead, nude from the waist up, and bound with cell phone cables in a hotel room at the Braintree Hyatt Place rented by McCloud on June 22, 2017. It's alleged that she was brought into the operation by Rivera, who told the essentially homeless teen that she could make a lot of money. Rivera and Rodriguez, along with others, ran ads on Backpage.com with the intent of luring clients to hotel rooms to rob them.

Authorities say Rivera, Coleman, and Galmore went to the hotel to rob Rodriguez. Rivera allegedly told an acquaintance that Rodriguez “struggled, so they had to smother her until she died.”

The men were seen entering the hotel room at 1:37 a.m. and leaving around 1:45 a.m. A hotel worker said while Coleman and Galmore did not enter the hotel together, one held the elevator for the other. Rodriguez's body was discovered hours later.

Phone records indicate that there was some communication between Galmore and the victim, with phone records showing Galmore contacting Rodriguez for sex work and location information and cell tower records show both phones being used near the hotel, prosecutors said.

An autopsy indicated that Rodriguez died of homicide asphyxia.

Coleman and Galmore are due back in court July 26.

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