Estranged husband charged with killing NJ teacher Luz Hernandez

The estranged husband of a Jersey Metropolis kindergarten trainer who was overwhelmed, strangled and buried in a shallow grave has been charged along with her homicide, authorities mentioned Wednesday.

Prosecutors had initially charged Cesar Santana, 36, of Jersey Metropolis, with desecrating/concealing human stays after US Marshals arrested him at a Miami motel two weeks in the past.

However now the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Workplace says Santana killed Luz Hernandez, a 33-year-old mom of three whose physique was discovered by investigators on Feb. 7 close to Central Avenue and Third Avenue in Kearny.

On Wednesday, prosecutors charged Santana with first-degree homicide, in addition to hindering, failing to eliminate human stays and tampering with proof, in line with a press launch.

The prosecutor’s workplace is investigating the killing “as an act of home violence,” the discharge mentioned. Hernandez died of blunt pressure trauma to the top and compressions to the neck, post-mortem outcomes launched by the prosecutor mentioned.

Santana’s alleged confederate — Leiner Miranda Lopez, 26, of Jersey Metropolis — has been charged with desecrating/concealing human stays. However he stays on the run.

Santana is Hernandez’s estranged husband and in addition reportedly the daddy of her children.

Hernandez’s job, BelovED Constitution College, known as the Jersey Metropolis Police and reported her as lacking Feb. 6 when she by no means confirmed up for work.

Cops discovered against the law scene at Hernandez’s Van Horne Avenue dwelling the subsequent day once they confirmed up for a welfare test. They known as within the county prosecutor, and Santana was fingered as an individual of curiosity.

Investigators came upon Santana and and Lopez had been stopped by cops for a visitors violation on Central Avenue in Kearny the day earlier than Hernandez disappeared. Police impounded the unregistered automobile, which later turned up extra proof of the crime, prosecutors mentioned.

Murder investigators later discovered the shallow grave round Central Avenue and Third Avenue the place Hernandez was buried.

Members of the family and colleagues remembered Hernandez as a beautiful mom and a form, lovely one who cherished children and her job.

A GoFundMe account mentioned Hernandez was a local of the Dominican Republic. She moved to the US when she was 5 years previous, it mentioned.

Santana was extradited to New Jersey Tuesday night time and processed early Wednesday, the prosecutor’s workplace mentioned.

He was being held on the Hudson County Correctional Facility pending his first court docket look.

Anybody with info is urged to name the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Workplace at 201-915-1345.