Transgender Man's Decomposing Body Found in Closet of Abusive Ex

Transgender man Luis Ángel Diaz Castro was killed in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and has been identified as the 19th transgender, nonbinary, or gender-nonconforming American to die by violence in 2023.

The decomposing body of Diaz Castro, 22, was found hidden in the closet of his former boyfriend, Domingo Rafael Aquino Ubri, on Friday, August 11. He had gone missing that Monday, August 7, the same day Aquino Ubri had been released from jail on a domestic violence charge with Diaz Castro as the victim.

According to the Human Rights Campaign, Díaz Castro was a student at the Universidad de Puerto Rico en Arecibo and worked for the Department of Education. His family remembers him for his love of Latino music, with Hector Maysonet and Chema y JohnD as his favorite musicians.

“Although it brings the community some solace knowing Luis’s killer is in police custody, it breaks my heart to witness the life of my trans brother end far too early,” Tori Cooper, director of community engagement for the Transgender Justice Initiative at the Human Rights Campaign, said in a statement. “Luis was only twenty-two and should still be alive to experience the joy that comes with being in your twenties. Luis’s death adds to the drastic uptick we’ve seen in trans murders in 2023, yet in his death, we must remember to celebrate his life.”

According to the local Spanish-language El Vocero, on the day of Aquino Ubri’s release from jail, Diaz Castro called his mother using a friend’s phone to reveal his abusive former partner was back on the streets. It was the last time anyone heard from Diaz Castro.

On Friday, August 11, Aquino Ubri allegedly used a gun to rob a local store. He was reportedly able to flee with a cash register, but the store’s owner subsequently located Aquino Ubri and detained him until police officer Jaime Garced Rodríguez from the Río Piedras Barracks station arrived to arrest him.

That same day, El Vocero reported the mother of Diaz Castro went to the same police station to file a missing person report for her son. When she saw Aquino Ubri was being detained for the robbery, she alerted police that he had been her son’s former partner and informed them of his criminal history.

Police confronted Aquino Ubri, who reportedly consented to a police search of his apartment. Investigators quickly discovered the decomposing body of Diaz Castro hidden in the closet under a pile of clothes and a suitcase.

A report by the HRC Foundation, “An Epidemic of Violence 2022” found that 29 percent of transgender and gender-nonconforming people with known killers had their lives taken by an acquaintance, friend, family member, or intimate partner between 2013 and 2022.

If you or someone you know is affected by domestic violence, there is help available. The National Domestic Violence Hotline can be reached at 800-799-7233. Other resources can be found here.