John McCarthy
By: Virgin Islands Free Press News Desk
CASTLE COAKLEY — 34 Days.
On July 6, 2026, the Clerk of the Superior Court officially entered an order closing Case No. SX-2026-CR-00080. The Virgin Islands Department of Justice had moved to dismiss all charges against 25-year-old Delli Eduardo—including Kidnapping, Second-Degree Assault, Reckless Endangerment, and Child Abuse—with prejudice.
His bail was exonerated. The slate was wiped entirely clean. As far as the legal system was concerned, Eduardo walked out of the courtroom a completely free man.
He had no way of knowing that the clock was already ticking.
Exactly 34 days after that court entry was filed, Eduardo was standing outside La Terraza Bar and Restaurant in Castle Coakley in the pre-dawn hours of August 9. By 4:15 a.m., gunfire erupted, and within minutes, both Delli Eduardo and his 30-year-old brother, Yordani, were dead.
Just over a month after getting a clean legal slate, his life was snuffed out in a spray of bullets on a Castle Coakley gravel lot.
Early Morning Ambush Outside Former El Sol Site
According to the Virgin Islands Police Department, the St. Croix 911 Emergency Call Center received multiple reports of gunshot victims at approximately 4:13 a.m. in the vicinity of La Terraza Bar and Restaurant—known to long-time St. Croix residents as the former site of El Sol.
Responding VIPD patrol officers and Emergency Medical Services (EMS) personnel arrived at the scene to find Yordani Eduardo lying on the ground unresponsive, having suffered an apparent gunshot wound to his upper body. EMS confirmed he had no vital signs, and he was pronounced deceased at the scene.
Delli Eduardo was rushed to the Governor Juan F. Luis Hospital via private vehicle, where medical staff subsequently pronounced him dead.
The double murder marks St. Croix’s 16th and 17th homicides of 2026, pushing the U.S. Virgin Islands’ territory-wide murder toll to 30.
Violent History Preceded July Dismissal
While police have not publicly disclosed a motive or named suspects in the Castle Coakley ambush, court documents filed just five months prior reveal that Delli Eduardo had been involved in an intense, violent confrontation in mid-March.
According to a sworn Probable Cause Fact Sheet filed by Detective Shera Joseph, Eduardo was arrested on March 17 after an All-Points Bulletin (APB) was issued. The victim alleged that Eduardo intercepted her near Church’s Chicken at Sunny Isle, commandeered her vehicle with her two minor children (ages 1 and 5) inside, and violently assaulted her while demanding answers about a male individual she had been dancing with at Media Luna Bar.
Court filings detail how he allegedly dragged the woman to an apartment at the Ruby M. Rouss Housing Community and strangled her, leaving visible thumb marks on her neck and smashing her phone every time she attempted to call 911.
Despite facing a 10-count indictment carrying significant prison time, prosecutors abruptly moved to dismiss the entire case with prejudice in early July, clearing his record.
CIB Investigation Ongoing
Detectives with the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) are actively investigating the double homicide. No details regarding potential suspects or weapons recovered have been released by police.
The VIPD is urging anyone who was in the Castle Coakley area near La Terraza around 4:00 a.m., or who may have surveillance footage or relevant information, to contact the CIB, dial 911, or submit an anonymous tip to Crime Stoppers USVI at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).
