Teen found dead in Ventura County last seen at Metrolink station, family says
After police discovered his body along a Ventura County road on Wednesday, the family of 13-year-old Oscar Omar Hernandez hope investigators can piece together the events that led to their loved one's death.
"He was a really ambitious boy," older sister Alejandra Hernandez said through a Spanish translator. "He had no enemies, he was a good kid. He was always telling his mom he's going to grow up and support them and help them out."
Still reeling from the loss, Alejandra said her family last saw the young boy on Friday after dropping him off at a San Fernando Valley Metrolink station at 7 p.m. so he could meet his soccer coach in Lancaster. Oscar and his coach were introduced to each other through an afterschool soccer program at Whittsett Park in North Hollywood, according to the family.
"His soccer coach made soccer jerseys," Alejandra said in Spanish. "He had taken other soccer teammates to help him, and that's why my brother went."
Alejandra added that a sibling called Oscar on Friday night to check on him, but the coach answered the phone.
"Then at 9 p.m. my brother called Oscar but the coach answered," Alejandra said in Spanish. "He said Oscar couldn't answer because his hands were full of paint."
The family expected the coach to drive Oscar back to their Sun Valley home Saturday morning. However, the coach told the family he had dropped Oscar off Saturday afternoon after the teen overslept, according to Alejandra. The teen never arrived and did not answer any of the family's phone calls.
"[Saturday] morning, we tried calling," Alejandra said. "We tried to get his location using Google, but it only said he was in California, and we didn't get an exact location."
After he didn't answer any of their phone calls, the family tried texting Oscar's phone and finally got a message back.
"My brother said, 'I'm going to a party,'" Alejandra said."My [other] brother said, 'You can't go, we aren't giving you permission to go."
Oscar then texted his family that he was in North Hollywood and refused to be picked up at Whitsett Park, according to his sister. Those were the last texts relatives said they received from the 13-year-old's phone. They searched for Oscar throughout Saturday night but couldn't find him.
"We started contacting his friends, but there was never a party," Alejandra said. "His friends never saw him."
After talking to Oscar's friends, Alejandra's family called the Los Angeles Police Department on Sunday morning to report him missing.
LAPD's elite Robbery-Homicide Division took over the missing person's investigation two days after Hernandez's disappearance, which led them to the small woodland area along N. Harbor Boulvard, adjacent to the McGrath State Beach.
There, detectives, with help from the FBI, discovered a body matching the description of Hernandez. As the investigation is ongoing, a cause of death has not been provided.
"We've developed a lot of information that is not really publically releasable at this time," LAPD Chief of Detectives Alan said. "We're going to make sure that we conduct a thorough investigation, that we determine all the facts, and if we do identify somebody, we're going to bring them to justice."
