A 13-year-old boy discovered lifeless in a ditch this week was final seen along with his soccer coach, who’s being investigated on separate sexual assault prices, police and the boy’s household stated.
Oscar Omar Hernandez had been lacking for 4 days when investigators discovered his physique in Ventura County — greater than 70 miles from his household’s Lancaster house, in response to Los Angeles police.
What triggered Hernandez’s dying continues to be unclear, however the boy’s grieving household has pointed the finger at his soccer coach, who they trusted and say was with him Saturday, the day Hernandez first didn’t return house.
The coach picked up Hernandez’s cellphone that day when his brother Jose tried to name him, telling the member of the family that the teenager was unavailable, Fox 11 reported.
Later, the coach allegedly advised Hernandez’s father that he had dropped the boy off “near” the household’s house — prompting the household to contact police.
“We had that person at our home,” his sister Alejandra advised Fox 11 by way of a translator.
“He even helped us look for Oscar.”
The coach — recognized by studies as 43-year-old Mario Edgardo Garcia Aquino — was arrested by Los Angeles police Wednesday on an unrelated warrant for a sexual assault case that was investigated final yr by the LA County Sheriff’s Division.
The alleged assault passed off and was initially investigated in February 2024, however police on the time declined to file felony prices for unknown causes.
Now, Garcia Aquino faces a single depend of assault with intent to commit one other felony, which prosecutors allege was the tried rape, sodomy or oral copulation of a person.
He’s being held in jail on a $100,000 bail. Legal professional info for Garcia Aquino was not instantly obtainable.
Garcia Aquino has not formally been named as a suspect in Hernandez’s case, and the teenager’s post-mortem outcomes are nonetheless pending.
In the meantime, a vigil was held Thursday on the web site the place Hernandez’s physique was discovered.
The teenager had moved to California along with his household from Honduras three years in the past looking for a greater life, and Hernandez had a ardour for soccer.
