The ex-boyfriend of a 33-year-old New Jersey kindergarten teacher found beaten and strangled in a shallow grave after being reported missing earlier this month has now been extradited to the Garden State to face murder and other charges in her killing, Hudson County prosecutors announced Wednesday.
Cesar Santana, 36, the father of Luz Hernandez's three children, was apprehended in Florida, in the Miami area, on Feb. 10 as a fugitive from justice in the teacher's death. Hernandez's remains were found three days earlier.
Investigators have said she died of blunt force trauma and compressions to the neck. A law enforcement official with direct knowledge of the coroner's findings says Hernandez was bashed in the head with a heavy object, then strangled with some sort of cord.
Santana was initially held only on a charge of desecrating human remains, but prosecutors now say he is accused of first-degree murder, hindering and evidence tampering in the case. Attorney information for him wasn't clear.
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A second man, 26-year-old Leiner Miranda Lopez, is still being sought on a human remains desecration charge in the case. Law enforcement sources say Lopez and Santana were involved in a traffic stop in Kearny on Feb. 5 off Central Avenue, near the spot where Hernandez's body was later discovered. Additional evidence was also recovered from the vehicle as the result of a search warrant, though it wasn't immediately clear what was found.
Hernandez's family had said she broke up with Santana months before her death, but the two still lived together. Authorities say they're investigating the case as a domestic violence matter.
Santana was processed on the new charges early Wednesday. He is expected to be arraigned in New Jersey court later in the day. Anyone with information on Lopez's whereabouts is asked to call prosecutors at 201-915-1345.
