6 arrested over US teacher found bound, murdered in Dominican Republic

Patricia Anton was found strangled to death last Tuesday.

November 17, 2019, 10:42 PM

Authorities in the Dominican Republic have arrested six people in connection with the death of an American teacher who was found dead in her home there last week, authorities said Sunday.

Patricia Anton, a U.S. citizen who lived in the Dominican Republic for the last several years, was found strangled to death last Tuesday in her apartment in Cabarete, a town on the northern coast of the island nation, the National Police said in a statement on Sunday.

The 63-year-old woman was found with her hands and feet bound together and several items were missing from her home, including a cellphone, laptop and television, police said.

The suspects were identified as Michael Marinez Rosario, Heuri Flores Hernandez, Junior Alexis Suarez, Juan Jose Andujar Mella, Oroniel Canario Montero and Alexis Maquey.

PHOTO: Patricia Anton will be honored with a "peace park" at the school where she taught following her death.
Patricia Anton will be honored with a "peace park" at the school where she taught following her death.
Courtesy Adrianne Machina

Police are searching for a seventh suspect who goes by the nickname "Eiden" and/or "The Venezuelan." Police said all seven suspects traveled to Puerto Plata with the intention of committing crimes before they fled.

Investigators did not say how they connected the suspects to the woman's death.

Police said four of the men have prior criminal records.

Anton moved to the island around 2013 and begin teaching at 3 Mariposas Montessori six years ago, the school confirmed to ABC News.

PHOTO: Patricia Anton and Adrianne Machina smile together in an undated photo.
Patricia Anton and Adrianne Machina smile together in an undated photo.
Courtesy Adrianne Machina

"Patty was not only a colleague of mine, but she was also my mentor and one of my best friends," Sarah Ludwig-Ross, the founder and head of the school, told ABC News in a statement last week. "She was one of the most caring people I have ever met, always putting everyone else first."

"She shared our belief that peace in the world can only come from getting close to and understanding people who are different from ourselves. ... Patty loved each and every one of our children just as if they were her own," she added.

Anton's family described her as a loving woman who "was all about kindness and sweetness."

PHOTO: Patricia Anton, 63, is pictured in an undated photo posted on the 3 Mariposas Montessori school website where she worked in the Dominican Republic.
Patricia Anton, 63, is pictured in an undated photo posted on the 3 Mariposas Montessori school website where she worked in the Dominican Republic.
3 Mariposas Montessori

"Her life was so much bigger than her death," her cousin, Adrianne Machina, told ABC News on Thursday. "The Dominican Republic was her happy place. I think her dream was to retire down there. … The Dominican Republic really gave her purpose and peace."

The family said it was working with officials at 3 Mariposas Montessori to erect a "peace park" in Anton's honor.

ABC News' Ella Torres contributed to this report.