A Washington state woman missing for two weeks has been found dead in Mexico.
Reyna Hernandez, 54, was last heard from on February 26 when she told friends she was heading out to run errands, as CrimeOnline reported. She was reported missing two days later when she didn’t open her hair salon or answer phone calls or texts.
Renton Police said they had seen a news article on Friday about an unidentified body found in Mexicali, a port of entry between Mexico and California. Investigators contacted their Mexican counterparts and provided information that allowed them to identify the body as that of Hernandez.
According to Renton police, Mexican officials had arrested a 61-year-old man from Renton on unrelated charges and had also found Hernandez’s vehicle.
Police did not release the man’s name or describe his relationship with Hernandez, but they did describe her death as a “domestic violence crime.”
Police had previously said there was evidence Hernandez was taken against her will.
Renton police said that investigators were working with Mexican and US authorities to determine where Hernandez was killed and that the man would be extradited to the United States if it is determined the crime took place there.
“To have this as the outcome is just devastating,” Meeghan Black of the Renton Police Department told KIRO-TV. “It’s now gone across country lines, not just state lines but country lines and we were working very well with Mexican officials and we’re getting the federal officials involved to try and figure out who takes jurisdiction when we figure out that timeline.”
