Hate Crime Feared in Puerto Rico

Investigators in Puerto Rico are questioning whether hate motivated the murder of an unidentified man believed to have been gay who was found dead inside the Motel Las Colinas in Ponce on Wednesday. The victim's throat had been slit.

According to Edge, which reported via Nuevo Dia, an investigator, Richard Nazario, said the man was between 40 and 45 years old and had 20 stab wounds consistent with self-defense actions.

"Motel employees told investigators two men checked-in Tuesday afternoon, and one of them left around 1:30 p.m. on Dec. 16," reported Edge. "Nazario added local authorities have not received any missing person reports. And police continue to look at the motel's surveillance tapes."

The death comes a little over one month after the body of Jorge Steven Lopez Mercado. Mercado, a gay teenager, was found decapitated, dismembered and partially burned along a roadside in Cayey on November 13. The suspect, Juan A. Martinez Matos, is being prosecuted under the U.S. hate-crimes law.