A 15-year-old Texas boy is charged with killing 17-year-old Caitlin Hernandez in her home. san antonio area March.
Hernandez was walking around her neighborhood with a male friend on March 12 around 7:30 p.m. When he didn’t return home late that night, his family reported him missing, and authorities found him dead in an empty ditch several hours later. he is fully clothed.
The San Antonio Police Department (SAPD) said in a statement after the juvenile suspect’s arrest last week: “Detectives were able to make the arrest because the victim’s DNA matched that of the person last seen with the victim.” Stated.
When Hernandez first went missing, her family called her cell phone, but she didn’t answer.
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Caitlin Hernandez was about to graduate from high school in May. (Distribution to family)
“An unknown male then answered the phone and stated that he had found the phone in a drain,” SAPD said. “The man met with the victim’s family at a convenience store and returned the phone. The man cooperated with the investigation.”
Officers searched the area where the man had found Hernandez’s cell phone and found her body with “signs of strangulation and possible sexual assault.”The Bexar County Coroner’s Office previously told Fox News Digital that Hernandez’s The cause of death was strangulation.
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“The victim appeared to have been dragged to the location where he was found,” SAPD said.
San Antonio teenager Caitlin Hernandez went missing Tuesday night and was found dead under a bridge. (Google Maps)
Authorities questioned a male friend she was walking with that night, but there was not enough evidence to charge him.
However, as the investigation progressed, it became “clear” to police that “the suspect in this case was a friend of the man.” Authorities took DNA samples from both the victim and the male subject and sent those samples to the Bexar County Crime Lab. Results showed an association between male subjects and victims.
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“Based on DNA and other evidence, the suspect was arrested and taken into custody without incident. This is an active and ongoing investigation,” SAPD said.
San Antonio police are searching for the person who brutally murdered Caitlin Hernandez on Tuesday night. (GoFundMe)
Hernandez’s aunt, Crystal Rodriguez, told FOX 29 San Antonio that the suspect was an acquaintance of her daughter.
”[I]It was someone she knew. She is someone I played with,” she told the media. “Someone she trusted. We’ve known him for years. And now it’s affecting all of our nieces and nephews. My children are mentally ill. I just can’t believe my friends. They don’t know what they did to my family.”
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She added that although she was starting to lose hope, detectives “worked day and night” answering her calls and emails.
Kaitlyn Hernandez’s family is desperate for answers after the 17-year-old high school senior was found dead Tuesday night. (Distribution to family)
“They answered all our questions, so I know they’re working hard on this. But every time I got a call, it just brought me to my knees because… Everybody took him off the street and Caitlin couldn’t come, so he came back,” she told FOX 29.
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Rodriguez previously described her niece to Fox News Digital as a “loving” and “kind” girl with “a lot of dreams.” She was scheduled to graduate from high school this spring.
“Caitlin didn’t hate anyone. As far as we know, no one hated Caitlin. She was just baptized last year. She has become more involved with God. She went to church. She loved animals and cared for them. She was going to be a veterinarian when she graduated,” Rodriguez said in March. told.
