MEAWW.COM / NEWS / CRIME & JUSTICE

Luz Hernandez murder: Estranged husband Cesar Santana arrested in death of NJ teacher, cops say ‘more to follow’

Luz Hernandez, a mother of three, was beaten and suffered from blunt force trauma to her head and compressions to the neck, autopsy results reveal

JERSEY CITY, NEW JERSEY: The estranged husband of Luz Hernandez, a mother of three, who was beaten and suffered from blunt force trauma to her head and compressions to the neck, was arrested in Miami on Friday, February 10.  The body of the kindergarten teacher was found in a shallow grave. 

Cesar Santana, 36, of Jersey City, was arrested from a motel on Biscayne Boulevard. The Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office said that he was held as a fugitive at the Miami-Dade Turner Guilford Night Detention Center. The 33-year-old teacher Luz Hernandez was reported to be missing by its employer, Beloved Charter School, when she didn’t show up for work on Monday, February 6, as per news.com.au. The authorities are also searching for a man named Leiner Miranda Lopez, 26, from Jersey City, who is facing the same charge as Cesar.

READ MORE

Emma Pattison: Epsom College headmistress, 45, made frantic call to sister moments before murder-suicide

Remy Hidalgo: Madison Brooks rape suspect Kavion Washington mocked young footballer's death on SICK diss track

Hernandez was spotted last on Saturday, February 4

During a welfare check conducted by the Jersey City police at her Van Horne Street home the following day, the investigators discovered evidence of a crime and reached out to the prosecutor’s office for help. Around 4.50 pm, the authority found Hernandez’s body laid down in “what appeared to be a shallow grave” near Central Avenue and Third Street in Kearny, as per Hudson County Prosecutor Esther Suarez. Hernandez was spotted last on Saturday, February 4, when she visited a relative along with her children, who then went on to spend the Sunday, February 5, with their father, reports WNBC. She was a single mother and had split with her partner Junior Santana, according to ABC7.

'It's unbelievable'

"We are going to miss her so much. I cannot speak, it’s unbelievable.”

“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 cannot speak, it’s unbelievable,” said Hernandez’s cousin Yajaira Germosen. Hernandez’s sister Jenny Taveras also reacted to her death, “We can’t live without her, I’ll never fill this void,” as told to WNBC in Spanish.

This is a developing story. MEAWW will keep you updated.