His parents had dropped him off at the station to join his football coach. They ultimately never saw their child again. Oscar Hernandez, 13, was found dead last week by the road in the county of Ventura, California (United States). If the causes of the death have not been revealed, American police accused his football coach Mario Edgardo Garcia-Aquino, 43, of murder. The latter, “a sexual predator” known to the police, faces the death penalty.
As Associated Press reports, the disappearance of the young 13 -year -old teenager was reported on March 30 by his family. His relatives had taken him to the station on Friday, March 28 in the evening so that he could go to his coach’s home in Lancaster to help him make football jerseys. His coach then warned the family he had placed the boy in the afternoon, and his parents received an SMS from Oscar’s phone announcing that he was going to a party that day.
“An unimaginable sorrow”
“We started to contact his friends, but there was never a party,” they explained in comments relayed by CBS News. His friends have never seen him. Two days after reporting his disappearance to the Los Angeles police on Sunday morning to report the disappearance of Oscar, his body was found lifeless at the edge of a neighboring city. “No parent should have to endure unimaginable pain and grief to learn that his child was murdered,” said Los Angeles County prosecutor Nathan Hochman in a statement.
Very quickly, the suspicions fell on his coach, Mario Edgardo Garcia-Aquino, 43, coach for young people from Hurricane Valley Boys Soccer Club. The latter, presented as a “dangerous individual” by the LAPD (the Los Angeles police), was already known for two sexual assaults on minors. A first complaint was filed in December 2022 by a teenager, about 15 years old, before a second in February 2024 on a 16 -year -old teenager. The individual, of Hondurian origin, who arrived in the United States several years ago, still worked with young children.
“Sexual predators will be held responsible and prosecuted with all the rigor of the law,” promised, this time, the County prosecutor of Los Angeles. The 43 -year -old man was charged with “murder committed during the perpetration or attempt to perpetrate obscene acts on a child”. He therefore risks the death penalty.
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