Texas police hunt killer after teen found dead in ditch 'like an animal'
Texas police are searching for the person who killed a 17-year-old San Antonio girl who was found dead in a ditch on Tuesday evening, about an hour after she was reported missing, according to her family and local authorities.
San Antonio Police Department (SAPD) officers located Kaitlin Hernandez's body just before 11:30 p.m. on Tuesday in a "drainage ditch" beneath a bridge on the 7600 block of Dell Oak Drive, SAPD said in a Wednesday Facebook post.
"We need to find out who did this, because she didn't deserve to be left there like an animal. It's just very ugly and cruel," Angie Hernandez, the victim's mother, told FOX San Antonio. "I don't know what this person was thinking, why they targeted her. I don't understand."
On Thursday, SAPD announced that they had detained a person of interest, who is "cooperating and assisting in the investigation."
"Detectives are still investigating. This is an active and ongoing investigation," SAPD told Fox News Digital in a statement. "The person of interest shown in our previous social media post is cooperating with the investigation. There have not been any arrests at this time."
Hernandez died of strangulation and blunt force trauma to the head, according to FOX San Antonio.
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San Antonio Crime Stoppers is offering a $5,000 reward for any information leading to an arrest in the case.
Crystal Rodriguez, Hernandez's aunt, organized a GoFundMe for the teenager's grieving family, saying they are in a "state of shock" after Hernandez was "found murdered" just four months after her sister died.
"[T]his feels so unreal to us. We ask that you help out with anything," Rodriguez said in a description of the GoFundMe page. "We’re trying to have a proper funeral service for her. As we just laid her sister down to rest [four] months ago, now they’re together in heaven."
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On the night she went missing, she left home to go on a walk with a male friend, Hernandez's family told FOX San Antonio. The friend returned home, but Hernandez did not.
Police detained the friend for questioning, in addition to the person of interest, but authorities have not made any arrests so far.
Hernandez was about to graduate from Roosevelt High School in May, her aunt said.
"She was funny, always making other people laugh. She loved her family so much and we loved her. She loved her dogs, she always slept with them. We miss her dearly," Rodriguez wrote.
Any information leading to the identity of this person of interest, please contact the SAPD Homicide unit at 210-207-7635 and provide them with case number SAPD24055687.
A vigil for the teenager will be held on Friday at 6 p.m. at 118 Ashland Drive.