‘R.J. Decker’: Who Killed Victor Ochoa?

Meredith Jacobs July 15, 2026, 11:37 am

David Zayas as Victor Ochoa — 'RJ Decker' Season 1 Finale — Disney/John Merrick

What To Know

R.J. Decker Season 1 ended with the murder of corrupt politician Victor Ochoa.
The list of suspects is long. Here’s what we know about who’s on it.

When R.J. Decker returns for Season 2 in the fall, it has a big mystery to address: Who killed the major thorn in the titular character’s side?

The first season ended with R.J. (Scott Speedman) finding a way to take down the corrupt senator, at least for the time being — with help from Victor’s daughter Emi (Jaina Lee Ortiz) and R.J.’s ex-wife Catherine (Adelaide Clemens), her wife Mel (Bevin Bru), and his former cellmate wish (Kevin Rankin) — and ensure he didn’t have to return to prison, only for Victor to be killed in the finale’s last moments. And this came just as R.J. and Emi put off discussing their relationship, so you know that’s going to complicate things.

As showrunner Rob Doherty told TV Insider after the finale, killing off Victor at that point “felt like a good punctuation mark at the end of our various first-season arcs” and a way to “open us up to some bigger things” moving forward.

There’s certainly a pretty long list of people who wanted him dead, including R.J., Emi, and Emi’s brother Lucas (Maximo Salas), as well as anyone who has ever crossed him or crossed paths with him, and probably anyone working for him. This wasn’t a good guy.

'R.J. Decker' Season 2: Cast, Premiere Date, More Details

“I think the people closest to him will have to find themselves under a magnifying glass,” Doherty said. “Emi in our finale was part of a cabal to bring him down. … Certain parties may come to believe that Emi had a hand in what happened. Beyond that, as we mentioned in the finale, Victor copped to being a shady politician, which I hear is a very rare thing. But he confessed to Emi that he maintains relationships with a lot of people that on paper he should not, but he has decided that it’s for the greater good. It makes Fort Lauderdale a safer city and Florida a safer state. So we’ll have to pick our way through some of those people, too. That’ll take some digging for sure. Who was Victor in bed with, and could they have done him in?”

Speedman acknowledged that his character has to be at the top of the suspect list. “I think anybody’s game: certain political opponents could be, his daughter could be, he could be, Wish could be, Mel could be,” he added.

We feel pretty safe ruling out R.J., Emi, Wish, Mel, and Catherine; it doesn’t feel like the show is either going to throw one of them in prison or see everyone coming up with a way to cover up the murder. But whoever killed Victor could easily be coming after R.J. or Emi next, which would put this group at the center of the mystery — after an investigation, of course, that rules them all out as suspects.

Who do you think killed Victor? Let us know in the comments section below.

R.J. Decker, Season 2, Fall 2026, Tuesdays, 10/9c, ABC