Priscilla Almares, a 12-year-old girl, was tragically murdered on December 16, 1994. She and her cousin, Sarah Beth Gonzales, who was 13 at the time, were reported missing after leaving a friend's house. Their bodies were discovered the following day at Rodriguez Park. Autopsy results confirmed that both girls had been sexually assaulted before being killed.
The investigation into their deaths initially struggled to identify a suspect. However, years later, authorities linked Ramon Torres Hernandez to the crime. Hernandez, a convicted serial rapist and murderer, had a history of violent offenses. He had previously been imprisoned for burglary, during which he committed sexual assault. After serving an 18-year sentence, he was paroled in 1993, just a year before Almares and Gonzales were killed.
Hernandez was ultimately connected to the murders through DNA evidence collected at the crime scene. He later confessed to the killings. Despite this, he was never formally charged with the murders of Almares and Gonzales, though investigators considered the case solved. Hernandez was sentenced to death for another murder—the 2001 abduction, rape, and killing of Rosa Maria Rosado. His accomplices in that crime, Santos Minjares and Asel Abdygapparova, were also convicted. Minjares was sentenced to death but died in prison before his execution, while Abdygapparova received a life sentence.
Hernandez was executed by lethal injection on November 14, 2012. His execution brought closure to some of the families affected by his crimes, though Almares and Gonzales' families had spent years searching for answers before his connection to their deaths was established.
