Evelyn Hernandez came to the United States when she was 14 years old. She attended McAteer High School and took extra English classes at the local Latin center. She took acting classes at both the high school and Latin center and performed in plays at both locations.
In 1996, when she was 17 years old, she met a navy sailor, became pregnant, and gave birth to her first son, Alexis Hernandez, on November 6 in Modesto, California. The father had returned to sea and never knew Alex.
In 2002 Evelyn Hernandez was 24 and expecting her second child, another son, on May 7, 2002. She planned to name him Fernando. Alex was very excited about becoming a big brother.
The father was Evelyn's then-boyfriend, Herman Aguilera, a limo driver and United Airlines mechanic in his mid-thirties. When Evelyn was four months pregnant, she discovered that Herman was married. Shortly before Fernando's due date, Evelyn ended her relationship with Herman. Herman's wife learned about his affair with Evelyn but did not know she was pregnant.
May 1, 2002
Evelyn spoke to her sister, Olivia Hernandez, on the phone. Her sister later told reporters that Evelyn told her she had pain in her abdomen that day. When her sister asked if she had someone to take five-year-old, Alex, to school, she told her she did not and would have to take him herself.
She left her apartment at 224 Lowell Street, in the Crocker-Amazon neighborhood of San Francisco, California to drop Alex off at Buena Vista Horace Mann Community School.
She then took a Muni bus to her bank to make a deposit
She bought a new wallet at Ross
She picked up Alex at school and returned home
6 pm - police believe Evelyn got her mail which included a disability benefits check
9 pm - Evelyn called her other sister, who lives in Richmond, and they chatted about Evelyn's upcoming baby shower (unsure if the baby shower was to occur before or after Fernando's birth)
May 2 - May 6, 2002
Alex does not show up to school, there is no activity in Evelyn's bank account or cell phone but no one has yet reported them missing.
May 7, 2002
Herman Aguilera calls police to report Evelyn and Alex Hernandez missing.
May 11, 2002
Evelyn's wallet is found in the gutter on Linden Avenue at Canal Street, in South San Francisco. Inside is $40 in cash and a disability cheque dated May 1, 2002. Police later searched the area for other evidence but found nothing. Some reports say the person who found the wallet did not notify police until the end of May as they were not aware Evelyn Hernandez was missing before then. Reports also indicate that police did not initially treat Evelyn and Alex's disappearance as missing persons until mid to end of May 2002. Police say they initially thought Evelyn may have chosen to go to another city to have her baby.
When police interviewed Herman, they told him that they had searched local hospitals for any records of Evelyn having given birth and had found none. Herman told police he did not know anything about Evelyn's wallet and why it was found so close to where he worked. He admitted that the baby wasn't planned and he was not excited about the baby.
July 24, 2002
A body was found floating in the San Francisco Bay near The Embarcadero and Folsom Street. The body was a badly decomposed torso with only the upper legs attached, clad in a maternity top. The body had no head, hands, or feet. These have never been found. A DNA test was performed and in early September 2002 the remains were confirmed to be 24-year-old, Evelyn Hernandez. Police assigned a case number to her homicide on September 3, 2002.
Incident Date
September 03, 2002
Case ID Number
20549157
Reward
$100000
5-year-old Alex and his little brother, Fernando, have never been found.
Alex is described as Hispanic, 4 feet tall, 45 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes.
Here is a map of the location of Evelyn and Alex's apartment, Alex's school, the location where Evelyn's wallet where found on May 11, 2002, and the location of where her partial remains were found on July 24, 2002 (click on the link for interactive version of the map).
There has been some speculation that Evelyn's murder, which happened 8 months before the disappearance and murder of Laci Peterson (for which her husband, Scott Peterson, has been convicted) could be connected. In the media reports I have read on Evelyn's disappearance, law enforcement indicates there is no evidence to support this. It should be noted that when Laci Peterson was reported missing, the San Francisco police contacted the Modesto Police Department with information about Evelyn Hernandez's disappearance. During Scott Peterson's trial, his defense team requested access to Evelyn Hernandez's file. They were denied access as it was thought revealing the information in an active investigation could harm the investigation into Evelyn Hernandez's murder and her sons' disappearances. The judge did give Scott Peterson's defense team her autopsy report and 30 autopsy photos.
CONTACT:
Anyone with information about Alex and Fernando's disappearance and/or Evelyn's murder is urged to contact the San Francisco Police Department Cold Case Unit at (415)553-1450 or you can contact the Department Operations Center 24 hours a day (415)553-1071. If you wish to remain anonymous you can call the Anonymous tip line (415)575-444 or Text-A-Tip at TIP411 (847411) write "SFPD" followed by your message.
RESOURCES/REFERENCES:
Evelyn Hernandez | San Francisco Police Department September 3, 2002
SfpdEvelynHernandezRewardBulletin.pdf.pdf (sanfranciscopolice.org) SFP Crime Bulletin - September 3, 2002
The Modesto Bee 2003-2004
The Fresno Bee various articles 2003-2004
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