What to Know
- On Tuesday, the Jersey City Police Department conducted a welfare check on Van Horne Street regarding a missing person’s report, Hudson County Prosecutor Esther Suarez said.
- During the course of the investigation, the Homicide Unit located an apparent shallow grave in the area of Central Avenue and Third Street in Kearny, where the body of a female was found, Suarez said.
- According to prosecutors, the death has been ruled a homicide. The victim is Luz Hernandez
A 33-year-old New Jersey kindergarten teacher whose body was found in a shallow grave a day after she was reported missing this week died by blunt force trauma and compressions to the neck, prosecutors said Thursday as they confirmed the case had become a homicide investigation.
The Hudson County prosecutor's office shared Thursday's autopsy results in Luz Hernandez's case the same day the procedure was conducted. It also confirmed her identity, which had been tentative pending coroner confirmation.
While they know how the beloved teacher apparently died, investigators are still searching for the who. No arrests have been made in the case, which launched Monday when a missing person report was filed. Hernandez didn't show up for work that day, which led her family, already panicked when they didn't hear from her over the weekend, to call police.
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Jersey City police officers conducted a welfare check at Hernandez's Van Horne Street home Tuesday. It's not clear what they found, but prosecutors said it was enough to lead cops to contact their office for assistance.
Over the course of the investigation, homicide detectives found what appeared to be a shallow grave near Central Avenue and Third Street, a remote area of nearby Kearny. Hernandez's body was recovered a short time later.
The mother of three was pronounced dead at the scene, having been beaten and strangled.
News
Hernandez's family was "heartbroken" by the news.
"We can't live without her, I'll never fill this void," her sister, Jenny Taveras, said in Spanish. She also said she wants justice for her sister.
"She was a really good mother. She was kind, oh my God. She was a beautiful person. We are going to miss her so much. I can not speak, it's unbelievable," said cousin Yajaira Germosen.
Hernandez was last seen on Saturday, when she and her kids went to a relative's. That was the last time her children saw her alive, as they spent Sunday with their father.
"He went to the church with kids, like nothing happened," Germosen said.
The school where she taught was closed for the day on Wednesday to allow those who knew her to grieve. There was a growing memorial on the steps of the popular teacher's home, flooded with candles, balloons and posters. A 6-year-old student of Hernandez's cried as she left a card that read "I love you."
Authorities urge anyone with information to contact the Office of the Hudson County Prosecutor at 201-915-1345 or submit a tip online here.
