Herlyn Iván Espinal Martínez (14 September 1982 – 20 July 2014) was a Honduran journalist and television reporter who worked as chief correspondent in San Pedro Sula, the second largest city in Honduras, for Televicentro's daily newscast Hoy Mismo.

He reportedly arrived back at his mother's home around 3 a.m., parked his car in front of the house, and then voluntarily entered a white panel truck in which three other persons were seated.

It was stated, for example, that Espinal, after leaving Las Tejas at around 2 a.m., had soon after joined up with friends with whom he proceeded to socialize at various other places in Santa Rita.

At the same hour, residents of the neighbourhood of Echeverry were said to have "heard several explosions" near another bridge in Llano Campo in Santa Cruz de Yojoa.

[7] In a piece published on July 26, a local commentator (Harold Obed Salinas) summarized the multiple inconsistencies among the various accounts of Espinal's last hours and murder.

The commentator further maintained that the investigation of Espinal's death was marred by corruption and incompetence, and accused the prosecution, which had claimed the case was solved, of being determined to convict innocent persons and protect the real murderers.

In addition, the commentator opined that it was highly suspicious, given the confusion surrounding the basic facts of the case, and given the long investigations that had followed similar murders in Honduras, for authorities to claim that they had solved the crime within five days of its commission.

[15] On 23 July, Rigoberto Zambrano, who was purportedly in possession of the T-shirt Espinal had worn on the night of his disappearance and the gun used to shoot him, was taken into custody.

[18] It was reported that Bueso, after his arrest, had spoken with police for six hours and that he maintained that authorities had singled him out only because he owned a white vehicle similar to the one that Espinal had last been seen entering.

[19] Authorities stated with "great fanfare" on 29 August that Bueso was "instrumental" in the case, but the next day they released him, citing lack of evidence of his involvement.

[21] A local commentator (Harold Obed Salinas), who criticized authorities on 31 August for their supposed sloppiness in the matter of Bueso, also charged them with failing to follow up leads properly and refusing to make information about the investigation publicly available.

Hugo Maldonado, vice president of the Comité de Derechos Humanos (Codeh), said that it was lamentable that there was so much impunity in Honduras and that authorities might not want to make public the name of Espinal's real assassin.

[24] In mid-September 2014, Hector Hernandez, coordinator of forensic medicine in San Pedro Sula, who had already been subjected to a 15-day suspension, was removed from his position because he had made public statements about the murder of Espinal.