California man who killed estranged wife’s lover while they slept sentenced

A now 33-year-old Northern California man, who was on the run in Mexico for five nearly five years, has been sentenced for the murder of his estranged wife’s boyfriend while the couple was sleeping in her apartment in 2017.

Arturo Hernandez was 25 when he learned that a man named Anthony Freas was in a relationship with his estranged wife. His calls to her after hearing about the situation went unanswered, according to investigators.

On Nov. 19, livid over the relationship, Hernandez went to the Regency Apartments in the 5900 block of Riza Avenue, where his wife lived. He broke into the apartment where the couple was sleeping, entered her bedroom and stabbed Freas multiple times before fleeing the scene, according to a news release from the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office.

Officers with the Sacramento Police Department responded to the apartment and found Freas suffering from at least one stab wound to the upper body. They began life-saving measures until paramedics arrived and rushed him to a hospital, where he later died.

Authorities launched a manhunt for Hernandez, who was considered armed and dangerous, The Sacramento Bee reported.

It was later learned that he fled to Mexico, though it is unclear where he had been hiding or with whom.

Hernandez evaded law enforcement until July 2023, when he was arrested by Mexican authorities and FBI agents. He was later extradited back to Sacramento to stand trial.

On March 24, a jury found Hernandez guilty of second-degree murder and found true the allegation that he personally used a weapon during the attack.

More than three months later, on July 10, Judge Alyson Lewis sentenced him to 16 years to life in state prison.