Arrest made in death of NJ teacher Luz Hernandez found in shallow grave

The estranged husband of a Jersey City kindergarten teacher who was found dead in a shallow grave after she was beaten and strangled was arrested early Friday in Miami — and another suspect is being sought in connection with the death.

Cesar Santana, 36, of Jersey City, was arrested by US Marshals at a motel on Biscayne Boulevard on a charge of desecrating/concealing human remains, the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office announced.

He was held as a fugitive at the Miami-Dade Turner Guilford Night Detention Center pending extradition to New Jersey.

Santana is the estranged husband of Luz Hernandez, 33, who died of blunt force trauma to the head and compressions to the neck, according to autopsy results released earlier by the prosecutor’s office.

He also is reportedly the father of her three children.

Meanwhile, authorities are still searching for Leiner Miranda Lopez, 26, also of Jersey City, who is facing the same charge.

During the probe, it was found that the two men were involved in a traffic stop on Sunday — the day before Hernandez was reported missing – on Central Avenue in Kearny.

Their car, which was unregistered, was impounded by Kearny police and searched Tuesday, when “additional evidence was recovered,” according to the prosecutor’s office, which did not disclose the evidence.

Jersey City police conducted a welfare check at Hernandez’s Van Horne Street home, where they discovered a crime scene, identified Santana as a person of interest, and notified the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office.

The Kearny Police Department informed the prosecutor’s office that it was still in possession of the vehicle, which was searched after a warrant was issued, officials said,

Homicide investigators later discovered a shallow grave in the area of Central Avenue and Third Street, where they found a body later identified as Hernandez about 4:50 p.m.

The teacher’s employer, BelovED Charter School, reported her missing Monday after she failed to show up for work that day.  

Hernandez was last seen on Saturday when she went to visit a relative with her children, who spent the following day with their dad, WNBC reported.

“We can’t live without her, I’ll never fill this void,” her sister, Jenny Taveras, told WNBC in Spanish.  

Hernandez’s cousin Yajaira Germosen said: “She was a really good mother. She was kind, oh my God. She was a beautiful person. We are going to miss her so much. I cannot speak, it’s unbelievable.”

Bret Schundler, the founder of BelovED Charter School, said Hernandez worked there since 2017.

“She was a wonderful woman,” Schundler told NBC News. “She started with us as a teacher’s assistant and got her certification from the New Jersey Department of Education and became a lead teacher.”

Schundler added: “She was the type of person we look for, who loves children, and did an excellent job academically instructing the students but also at showing them that she cares for them. The children loved her because they knew that she cared.”

A GoFundMe account said Hernandez was born in the Dominican Republic and moved to the US when she was 5.

“This upcoming May she would have graduated from St. Peter’s College with her Masters in Education,” it said. “She was a passionate educator (who) worked tirelessly to improve children’s educational abilities.”

Anyone with information is urged to call the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office at 201-915-1345.