TX - Police searching for suspect after 17-year old girl found dead in ditch - 3/13/24

[Clearsky]

'Person of Interest' sought after teenage girl found dead in ditch after late-night walk

SAN ANTONIO - A teenager was found deceased early Wednesday morning after going for a walk with a friend in her Northeast Side neighborhood.A 17-year-old female

news4sanantonio.com

SAN ANTONIO - A teenager was found deceased early Wednesday morning after going for a walk with a friend in her Northeast Side neighborhood.

 

[borndem]

Found dead. After she was taking a walk. Just damm. SMH.
We'll see how it goes with the "person of interest." Hoping there is some evidence for LE to use to find out who/how it happened.
Another teen gone. Gone.

 

[tlcya]

from the OP link which has been updated.

UPDATE: The San Antonio Police Department have removed the photo of the person of interest from their social media accounts. He has been identified by detectives and is cooperating with the investigation.
Police make contact with 'Person of Interest' in death of teenage girl

Kaitlin Elizabeth Hernandez was found strangled in a ditch on Dell Oak Drive; Crime Stoppers offers reward for tips

According to police, she went for a walk with a neighbor on Tuesday evening but when he returned a few hours later, she wasn’t with him.

The man she was with, who is said to be a neighborhood friend, was detained for questioning.

Early Wednesday morning, SAPD released an image of a different “person of interest” on their Facebook page.

On Thursday, SAPD said the man had been identified and was cooperating. The man’s image was taken off SAPD’s social media accounts and a spokesperson advised media to also take down the images.
Authorities identify 17-year-old girl found dead in ditch on Northeast Side

 

[Eli9]

Authorities identify 17-year-old girl found dead in ditch on Northeast Side

A 17-year-old girl who was found dead in a ditch on the Northeast Side has been identified.

www.ksat.com

The Bexar County Medical Examiner’s Office said Kaitlin Elizabeth Hernandez was strangled.

San Antonio police found her body when they were called to the 7600 block of Dell Oak Drive for a report of a missing person at around 11:30 p.m. Tuesday. Upon arrival, officers searched the area and found her phone and jacket before finding her naked body under a bridge.

Her body had signs of trauma and she was pronounced dead at 12:41 a.m. Wednesday.

 

[Wishbone]

The Bexar County Medical Examiner's Office identified the 17-year-old girl who was found dead in a ditch as Kaitlin Elizabeth Hernandez. Officials told MySA on Thursday, March 14 that the cause of death was determined as strangulation. The medical examiner's office noted Hernandez also had blunt force head trauma.
The death of a 17-year-old girl is being investigated after her body was found naked in a ditch on the city's Northeast Side early Wednesday, March 13.

https://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local/article/missing-texas-teen-dead-18964263.php

 

[tlcya]

for now my bet is on the neighborhood friend who returned from the walk without her. Glad he was detained. Wonder if he is still in custody?

Beautiful girl. How awful for her family.

 

[GoBuckeyes]

I'm really getting tired of reading about our young people being murdered.

So, the neighbor who went for a walk with her but came home alone has been cleared?

What do we know about the new POI? TIA

 

[tlcya]

I'm really getting tired of reading about our young people being murdered.

So, the neighbor who went for a walk with her but came home alone has been cleared?

What do we know about the new POI? TIA

I don't think the neighbor friend has been cleared. the other POI (man from convenience store video) has been located has cooperated and LE removed his image from their social media and are no longer seeking to identify that person.

So far aside from LE taking the neighbor friend into custody, we've not heard one word about THAT individual. We don't even know if that neighbor friend is still in custody or . . . .

 

[tlcya]

The teen's family told officials she was last seen with a man from her neighborhood. The family said the teen went out for a walk with him and didn't return. Police said the man came back to the neighborhood but didn't answer the family's questions on the teen's whereabouts. The family went looking for her and found her phone in a nearby ditch after calling it, police said. When officers searched the ditch, they located her blue jacket. The teen was then found under a ditch nearby.
https://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local/article/missing-texas-teen-dead-18964263.php

 

[GoBuckeyes]

I don't think the neighbor friend has been cleared. the other POI (man from convenience store video) has been located has cooperated and LE removed his image from their social media and are no longer seeking to identify that person.

So far aside from LE taking the neighbor friend into custody, we've not heard one word about THAT individual. We don't even know if that neighbor friend is still in custody or . . . .

Thank you very much for the clarification! I got the information reversed. I thought it was the neighbor who was cooperating and the convenience store man who is the current POI. But it's actually the other way around it sounds like.

 

[Eli9]

I hope SAPD is putting pressure on the friend she went for a walk with!

‘Please, somebody, speak up’: Family of teen found strangled in ditch grieve, hope for answers

Kaitlin Hernandez was supposed to walk the graduation stage in May, but she never returned from a walk with a friend Tuesday in her Northeast side neighborhood. Now, her family is asking for help finding answers.

www.ksat.com

Kaitlin Hernandez was supposed to walk the graduation stage in May, but she never returned from a walk with a friend Tuesday in her Northeast side neighborhood.

Now, her family is asking for help finding answers, and Crime Stoppers has even offered a reward for information.

“She wanted to become a veterinarian,” her aunt, Crystal Rodriguez, told KSAT on Thursday. “Y’all took her from us too soon. Seventeen years old.”

SAPD interviewed the friend with whom she had gone walking. Though they originally asked for the public’s help locating a separate “person of interest,” police have since said they found the man and he is cooperating.

 

[WS Admin]

So sad. She was ready to graduate from the same High School I and my daughter graduated from. She probably went to Krueger middle school, where I went in the 70's. This is VERY close to where I live now and grew up.

My prayers to the family, friends and my entire neighborhood who are feeling the fear and the sorrow.

 

[tlcya]

CrimeStoppers reward being offered

 

[Knox]

Confused. Has LE cleared the person Kaitlin went on the walk with? The POI who they say is now cooperating with the investigation - how is that man linked to her?

 

[Eli9]

Confused. Has LE cleared the person Kaitlin went on the walk with? The POI who they say is now cooperating with the investigation - how is that man linked to her?

I'll do my best but it's only MOO. Initially LE linked a photo of a man in a photo as a POI. They found him, talked to him and have since removed and or requested his photo to be removed from MSM stories. Not sure if the photo is still here but it was originally linked in the OP.
Then the part about the neighbor came out who went for a walk with Kaitlin but returned without her. He I believe has also been interviewed by LE and I'm not sure if he is cleared or not.
Clear as mud basically.

 

[Knox]

I'll do my best but it's only MOO. Initially LE linked a photo of a man in a photo as a POI. They found him, talked to him and have since removed and or requested his photo to be removed from MSM stories. Not sure if the photo is still here but it was originally linked in the OP.
Then the part about the neighbor came out who went for a walk with Kaitlin but returned without her. He I believe has also been interviewed by LE and I'm not sure if he is cleared or not.
Clear as mud basically.

Police say Hernandez was naked, and her body had visible signs of trauma. The medical examiner's office said she was strangled.

A neighbor who wanted to be left anonymous gave her account what she heard that night.

“I actually saw two males standing next to the ditch shining like a light down there. After a couple of seconds of that. I then heard a female shout “Hey!’ I want to say it was in the ditch. It echoed like it was in the ditch. But then after that it just kind of went quiet,” she said.

'She was innocent' | Texas teen's body found in ditch just one hour after she went missing

Authorities say 17-year-old Kaitlin Hernandez was strangled to death.

www.khou.com

Yes, clear as mud. I'm not sure what the neighbor's account is supposed to mean, are you? Are the two males with the light the one she went on a walk with and the POI? Is the female who shouted Hey - Kaitlin?

 

[Eli9]

Police say Hernandez was naked, and her body had visible signs of trauma. The medical examiner's office said she was strangled.

A neighbor who wanted to be left anonymous gave her account what she heard that night.

“I actually saw two males standing next to the ditch shining like a light down there. After a couple of seconds of that. I then heard a female shout “Hey!’ I want to say it was in the ditch. It echoed like it was in the ditch. But then after that it just kind of went quiet,” she said.

'She was innocent' | Texas teen's body found in ditch just one hour after she went missing

Authorities say 17-year-old Kaitlin Hernandez was strangled to death.

www.khou.com

Yes, clear as mud. I'm not sure what the neighbor's account is supposed to mean, are you? Are the two males with the light the one she went on a walk with and the POI? Is the female who shouted Hey - Kaitlin?

Not sure if the two males shining the light are either of the POI or not. I did read that a passerby saw Kaitlin's phone light up from the ditch so it sounds like this area was high in foot traffic. I'll see if I can find a link.

‘Please, somebody, speak up’: Family of teen found strangled in ditch grieve, hope for answers

Kaitlin Hernandez was supposed to walk the graduation stage in May, but she never returned from a walk with a friend Tuesday in her Northeast side neighborhood. Now, her family is asking for help finding answers.

www.ksat.com

San Antonio police said Hernandez had gone for a walk with a guy friend from the neighborhood, whom Hernandez’s family saw a few hours later without her. The friend reportedly told the family he didn’t know where the teen was.

Hernandez’s phone was discovered in a ditch by another man, who saw it light up. After further searching, officers found a jacket and Hernandez’s body. The Bexar County Medical Examiner’s office said someone strangled her.

SAPD interviewed the friend with whom she had gone walking. Though they originally asked for the public’s help locating a separate “person of interest,” police have since said they found the man and he is cooperating.

 

[imstilla.grandma]

Many of those in attendance paid tribute to Kaitlin by wearing red shirts and bringing red balloons and roses. Red was her favorite color.

Her mother, Angie Hernandez, described the teenager as her “pride and joy.”

“The most beautiful daughter in the world, and her life was cut short because someone chose to take her life. It’s not fair,” she said. “Momma loves you, and momma was always proud of you for the woman you grew up to be.”

A man walking over the bridge on Dell Oak saw Kaitlin’s phone in the ditch when it lit up. Police stumbled upon her body and pieces of her clothing nearby.

At Friday’s vigil, family members set up a table for her on the bridge. It had a “Justice for Kaitlin Hernandez” sign with a picture of the teenager, candles representing her faith and bundles of flowers.

https://www.expressnews.com/news/article/kaitlin-hernandez-vigil-northeast-side-19024871.php

 

[Eli9]

I hope the authorities are working diligently to deliver charges in this case. Not much new in this article but it did say that the person who saw Kaitlin's phone light up was walking on the bridge.

https://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local/article/kaitlin-hernandez-san-antonio-19207358.php

The neighbor who walked with Hernandez has not been identified. Police said they questioned and interviewed the neighbor, but it's unclear whether he will face charges.

 

[tlcya]

The Bexar County Medical Examiner's Office said Hernandez's cause of death was determined as strangulation. Officials also said she suffered blunt force head trauma.

Who is the man she walked with?

The neighbor who walked with Hernandez has not been identified. Police said they questioned and interviewed the neighbor, but it's unclear whether he will face charges.
https://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local/article/kaitlin-hernandez-san-antonio-19207358.php