{"id":190231,"date":"2026-04-08T23:31:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T23:31:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/190231\/"},"modified":"2026-04-08T23:31:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T23:31:08","slug":"vigil-in-nyc-marks-1-year-since-deadly-roof-collapse-at-dominican-nightclub","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/190231\/","title":{"rendered":"Vigil in NYC marks 1 year since deadly roof collapse at Dominican nightclub"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wednesday marks one year since the roof collapse at a nightclub in the Dominican Republic that killed 236 people<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Several victims were from the Tri-State Area<\/a>, and a vigil is being held in New York City to remember them.<\/p>\n

Victims remembered<\/p>\n

One year later, the love and loss is still sharp in the hearts of Jennifer Contreras<\/a>‘ family.<\/p>\n

Contreras was killed in the collapse on April 8, 2025, one day before her 24th birthday.<\/p>\n

“These next few days, I’m just, I’m going to be sick to my stomach because it’s like if I’m reliving it all over again,” sister Luz Contreras said.<\/p>\n

“I don’t believe my daughter is not here,” mother Dina Marcelo said.<\/p>\n

The family said Jennifer Contreras was in the Dominican Republic for a week to take a specialized cosmetics class.<\/p>\n

“She very sweet. She happy. She dance all the time,” Marcelo said.<\/p>\n

“She loved everybody and everybody loved her,” Luz Contreras said.<\/p>\n

\"APTOPIX<\/p>\n

Rescue workers search for survivors at the Jet Set nightclub after its roof collapsed during a merengue concert in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Tuesday, April 8, 2025.<\/p>\n

Eddy Vittini \/ AP<\/p>\n

Nightclub owners charged<\/p>\n

The nightclub’s owners, Antonio and Maribel Espaillat, were arrested<\/a> and charged with involuntary homicide, the most serious crime that could be filed in the country, but it only carries a sentence of up to two years in prison.<\/p>\n

“I just feel frustrated because how is it possible that everybody else’s life changed but theirs?” Luz Contreras said.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors said they were given multiple warnings about the roof’s deterioration<\/a> and were even urged to cancel the concert that was going on at the time of the collapse.<\/p>\n

The club owners maintain they had no ill intent, but survivors and victims’ families say they want justice.<\/p>\n

“We’re still here. We still exist,” Luz Contreras said. “My sister existed, and even though she might not be here, but we’re her voice now.”<\/p>\n

In:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Wednesday marks one year since the roof collapse at a nightclub in the Dominican Republic that killed 236…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":190232,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[13779,9,56,63,65,64],"class_list":{"0":"post-190231","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-city","8":"tag-dominican-republic","9":"tag-new-york","10":"tag-ny","11":"tag-nyc","12":"tag-nyc-headlines","13":"tag-nyc-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190231","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=190231"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190231\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/190232"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=190231"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=190231"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=190231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}