The false checkpoint
John Bryan Faddoul, 17, Kevin José Faddoul, 13, and Jason Sarkis Faddoul, 12, left for school with Miguel Rivas, the family’s 30-year-old driver, on the morning of February 23. Their vehicle was stopped in the Vista Alegre area of Caracas by men at a checkpoint that appeared official. Contemporary reports said some participants wore police uniforms; the later prosecution established the involvement of active or former Metropolitan Police personnel alongside civilians.
The kidnappers demanded a ransom far beyond what the family could pay. Negotiations continued for weeks, while relatives, classmates and members of the public called for the safe return of the four captives.
The discovery in Miranda
On April 4, authorities found the four victims in a wooded area near San Francisco de Yare in Miranda state. Reliable contemporary reports established that each had been shot. The page omits unnecessary graphic detail and does not repeat sensational claims that are not needed to explain the investigation or legal outcome.
The deaths caused widespread public grief and anger. Students and other demonstrators blocked roads and gathered in Caracas and other cities, demanding accountability for kidnapping, violent crime and reported police participation.
Investigation and arrests
The investigation moved through arrests, witness evidence and judicial proceedings involving a large group. Early case records from the Miranda courts identify the offenses under investigation as kidnapping, death in captivity and related organized-crime counts. Because defendants entered the process through different procedural routes, their outcomes were not uniform.
This dossier therefore avoids collapsing everyone into a single role. Some defendants were police officers; others were civilians. Some admitted participation in separate proceedings, while the principal 2009 judgment addressed a group tried together.
The 2009 judgment
On April 23, 2009, the Criminal Judicial Circuit of Miranda state sentenced 13 of 14 defendants to 30 years in prison, Venezuela’s maximum custodial term. Reporting on the judgment identified kidnapping with death in captivity, administering toxic substances to adolescents and criminal association among the offenses adjudicated.
Other people had received different outcomes after admissions of responsibility, and additional suspects remained sought. For that reason, the 30-year sentence is stated only for the 13 defendants covered by the 2009 judgment—not as a universal sentence for every person ever linked to the case.
Current status and legacy
The convictions provide a formal adjudicated outcome for the core kidnapping-and-murder prosecution. The case remains a defining Venezuelan example of how criminal groups can exploit the appearance or participation of law enforcement to carry out abductions.
The archive centers all four victims. Miguel Rivas is not treated as a footnote to the deaths of the three brothers, and the brothers are named individually rather than reduced to a collective label.
Sources
- Supreme Tribunal of Justice regional archive — Miranda case recordOfficial judicial record identifying victims and charged offenses
- Supreme Tribunal of Justice regional archive — later procedural decisionOfficial record of kidnapping and death-in-captivity counts
- El Nacional archive — 13 defendants receive 30-year termsApril 23, 2009 · Judgment details and procedural distinctions
- The Guardian — abduction, discovery and public responseApril 6, 2006 · Contemporary reporting
- El País — victims found after 38 daysApril 6, 2006 · Contemporary international report