Found Deceased TX - Erica Hernandez, 40, Houston, 17 Apr 2021

[geevee]

Wow. OK, that's it confirmed then. Although I still wonder what she was doing in that area and who the strange phone number was. But it obviously had nothing to do with her accident. RIP Erica.

From the article:

"Investigators said it appears Hernandez visited a friend’s house on April 18 and left between 2:30 and 2:45 a.m. before going to a second friend’s house and arriving at 2:58 a.m. Police said it appears Hernandez left the second friend’s house at 4:05 a.m. They believe the route she took could be consistent with a route she would use to go home."
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I would guess the unknown phone number was the 2nd friend's home she visited that night (but it isn't mentioned in the article, nor why she told friend #1 that she was 5 minutes away from home when obviously on her way to another's house, maybe she was 5 minutes from friend #2's house when friend #1 called, though).

I was very curious about her driving that direction when it was opposite of the route she'd have taken home, but now we know why she went that way. Such a sad and tragic end to such a nice lady.

 

[MimosaMornings]

From the article:

"Investigators said it appears Hernandez visited a friend’s house on April 18 and left between 2:30 and 2:45 a.m. before going to a second friend’s house and arriving at 2:58 a.m. Police said it appears Hernandez left the second friend’s house at 4:05 a.m. They believe the route she took could be consistent with a route she would use to go home."
----

I would guess the unknown phone number was the 2nd friend's home she visited that night (but it isn't mentioned in the article, nor why she told friend #1 that she was 5 minutes away from home when obviously on her way to another's house, maybe she was 5 minutes from friend #2's house when friend #1 called, though).

I was very curious about her driving that direction when it was opposite of the route she'd have taken home, but now we know why she went that way. Such a sad and tragic end to such a nice lady.

Never heard from the second friend either - wonder why the big secret on who it was.
The last person to see Erica.

 

[geevee]

Never heard from the second friend either - wonder why the big secret on who it was.
The last person to see Erica.

Yeah, don't know why that was never mentioned in any of the pressers when LE seemed to know about it.

 

[annpats]

From the article ".....before going to a second friend’s house and arriving at 2:58 a.m. Police said it appears Hernandez left the second friend’s house at 4:05 a.m."

Well, that explains the missing time after she left friend 1 then. Nobody knew about that. They kept that part quiet.

She must have been so tired, still up and about at 4am after a hard day cooking and delivering food all evening and night.

I wonder if she fell asleep at the wheel and headed into the pond? The last road she was on was downhill and straight into it.

 

[CocoChanel]

Pearland police rule 'no foul play' in death of Houston mom Erica Hernandez

The Galveston County Medical Examiner ruled her cause of death as drowning and the manner of death as accidental.

I don’t know what it feels like to lose a young vibrant family member suddenly like this, and I don’t know what result would give any sort of comfort from the pain. Now that it has officially been ruled an accidental death, I pray those that love Erica can find some peace, but there will probably never be an answer to their question ‘why?’ Bless them.

 

[cvaldez1975]

I still think she went to see an unknown friend and this was prob an accident. The unknown friend hasn’t come forward because they have something to lose, but isn’t involved.
RIP sweet mama

 

[minneolo]

Reading the article above, I thought “aha just what I had theorized all along” and went looking for my original post in this tread (#1, 406). Fully agree with many posters above.

Re-read my original theory post and yep, exactly:
My personal pet theory is that Erica met with someone in that 60-90 minute gap - the person she called after leaving her friends’ house.

I think she then had a tragic accident and ended up in the water.

The person she meet with, while not involved in Erica’s death, did not come forward as they had something to lose by doing so (e.g., loss of a relationship, legal trouble, etc).

A terrible accident.

I am glad for Erica’s loved ones that the “mystery” is now less mysterious