the day . Officials were waiting for a prosecutor from a nearby district , causing the delay , Bernier said . The FBI was not directly involved in the investigation Monday , said FBI Agent Harry Rodriguez of the San Juan office . '' The FBI is monitoring this investigation by police in Puerto Rico , '' Rodriguez said . `` Any assistance that the police requests or requires , we would be more than happy to provide . '' Puerto Rican authorities may ask for help with forensics or other advanced investigative tools the FBI could provide , Rodriguez said . The U.S. attorney 's office , in consultation with local officials and other agencies , would determine if the slaying was a hate crime , which is a federal offense . `` It 's at a very preliminary stage , '' said Lymarie Llovet , a spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney 's office in San Juan , Puerto Rico 's capital . Puerto Rico is a U.S. territory , which means federal agencies have jurisdiction . `` There 's the potential for a federal investigation , '' Rodriguez said . The suspect was arrested Monday around 11:30 p.m.
-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- A suspect has been arrested in the slaying of a 19-year-old Puerto Rican man found Friday decapitated , dismembered and partially burned , police said Tuesday . Members of the U.S. gay community are asking authorities to investigate whether the slaying was a hate crime because the victim , Jorge Steven Lopez Mercado , was gay , said Pedro Julio Serrano of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force . `` The brutality of the slaying and the fact that he was openly gay leads us to believe it was very possibly a hate crime , '' Serrano said . Authorities are investigating whether the killing involved sex , Guayama police Commander Hector Agosto Rodriguez told CNN affiliate WLII TV . Guayama prosecutor Jose Bermudez identified the suspect as Juan A. Martinez , 26 . Police had earlier described him as a 27-year-old man from the interior Puerto Rican town of Cayey . Martinez was scheduled to attend a court hearing Tuesday night at which charges would be lodged , said Luis Bernier , a spokesman for the Guayama police district , which has jurisdiction in the case . The hearing was postponed several times throughout