Bio

Héctor Escudero Aponte worked at the Dupont Plaza Hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico. He was a member of Local 901 of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. Records show he was 35 years old in April 1987.

Local 901 represented about 250 of the hotel's 450 employees. Negotiations between the union and hotel management began in October 1986. Escudero was one of the hotel's employees who took part in that labor dispute.

Murder Story

On New Year's Eve, December 31, 1986, a fire occurred at the Dupont Plaza Hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Three employees—Héctor Escudero Aponte, Armando Jiménez Rivera, and José Francisco Rivera López—were involved and later admitted they had set the fire. The blaze killed between 96 and 98 people and injured about 140 others. It was the deadliest hotel fire in Puerto Rico's history and the second deadliest in U.S. territory after the Winecoff Hotel fire in 1946.

The three men were part of a labor dispute with hotel management. The union representing many hotel workers had called a meeting that afternoon and members later voted to strike starting at midnight. The hotel was near peak occupancy that day, with about 900 to 1,000 guests.

The Puerto Rico Fire Department was dispatched near 3:40 pm. Thirteen firetrucks, about 100 firefighters, and 35 ambulances responded. Firefighters extinguished the flames about three hours later. Helicopters, police, the Puerto Rico National Guard, the U.S. Coast Guard, and the U.S. Navy assisted in rescuing some people from the roof.

An investigation by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration found multiple safety violations at the hotel. Agents from the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives worked on the case. The union denied responsibility and offered a reward for information.

In April 1987, Escudero Aponte, Armando Jiménez Rivera, and José Francisco Rivera López pleaded guilty to setting the fire. The court convicted them of murder. Escudero Aponte and Rivera López were sentenced to 99 years each, and Jiménez Rivera was sentenced to 75 years. Jiménez Rivera and Rivera López were released from federal prison in 2001 and 2002, respectively. Escudero Aponte was released in 2017.

Thousands of victims and their families filed many lawsuits. About 2,300 plaintiffs filed 264 separate suits against 230 defendants, seeking a total of $1.8 billion. Some phases of the litigation ended in settlements, and total payments for deaths and injuries exceeded $210 million. The disaster contributed to changes in hotel safety rules and was a factor in passing the Hotel and Motel Fire Safety Act of 1990. The hotel was later renovated and reopened in 1995 as the San Juan Marriott Resort & Casino.