Reyna Hernandez disappeared Feb. 26. Friends reported her missing on Feb. 28 when she didn’t return home from running errands and didn’t open her business.
RENTON, Wash. — A Renton woman who disappeared on Feb. 26 was found dead in Mexicali, Mexico.
Reyna Hernandez, 54, was identified by Mexican authorities as the woman whose body was found in a local cemetery near the Tijuana Highway on March 8.
Mexican law enforcement arrested a 61-year-old Renton resident on unrelated charges, according to information from the Renton Police Department. Hernandez’s vehicle was also recovered.
Detectives believe it is a domestic violence crime.
“This is the worst possible outcome, and our hearts go out to Reyna’s family and friends,” said Investigations Commander Chandler Swain. “We are working closely with Mexicali police and our U.S. Federal partners to determine when and where Reyna was killed.”
Hernandez is believed to have disappeared from a south Renton home on Feb. 26. Friends reported her missing on Feb. 28 after she had failed to return home from running errands and did not open her hair salon in the Renton Highlands, according to the Renton Police Department.
Hernandez told a friend that she was going to a home in south Renton on Tuesday, Feb. 26, between 10-10:30 a.m.
Evidence recovered by police indicates that she was taken against her will.
On March 8, detectives were alerted to a news story in Mexicali about an unidentified body found in a local cemetery. Mexican authorities provided enough information to identify the body as that of Hernandez.
When Hernandez’s time and manner of death are confirmed, detectives will be able to determine where the homicide was committed. If it happened in the United States, authorities would try to extradite the 61-year-old suspect.
Hernandez’s sister, Sara Carrillo, remembers Hernandez as a happy, loving person.
“The only thing we wanted was to find her and we found her,” she said. “Not in the way that we hoped, but we found her and we thank God for that.”
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