SAN ANTONIO – Dozens of people gathered to honor the life of Kaitlin Hernandez Friday evening at the same Northeast Side bridge where the 17-year-old’s body was found earlier this week.
Many were dressed in red, Hernandez’s favorite color. Others brought flowers or wrote messages on the bridge or sidewalk in chalk. A sign on a table proclaimed in block letters “Justice for Kaitlin Hernandez.”
Ahead of the vigil, family members pleaded on camera for anyone who knows something to come forward.
“Because what if they do this to another family?” said her aunt, Crystal Rodriguez. “And we don’t want the heartbreak that we’re feeling and everything that we’re having to go through and plan and do. We don’t want another family to go through it.”
“And to the person who did this to her, come forward,” Laura Padron, another aunt of Hernandez, said. “Don’t let them come for you. They’re gonna come get you. Turn yourself in. Turn yourself in. Don’t be a coward.”
Family and friends gathered Friday for a vigil honoring her:
Who was Kaitlin Hernandez?
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.
The Roosevelt High School senior’s nude body was found in a drainage ditch late Tuesday night under a bridge in the 7600 block of Dell Oak Drive. She was less than a half-mile from home.
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.
The past two days have Hernandez’s family reeling.
“We’re barely holding up,” Rodriguez said. “We’re taking life right now one minute at a time.”
Rodriguez would not discuss the ongoing investigation. Instead, she focused on who her animal-loving niece was as a person.
Hernandez had four dogs and a habit of feeding strays, Rodriguez said. She loved basketball and playing with her younger sisters at the park.
“And now her little sisters, they no longer have time with her,” Rodriguez said through tears.
But Rodriguez hopes there is still time to find the person or people responsible for her niece’s murder. She hopes someone saw, heard or knows something.
“I used to live in this area. So I know what you see, you don’t say. But I’m begging you. Please. Please, somebody, speak up,” Rodriguez said.
It’s a plea that only a witness can answer.
“She had a passion for working with special ed students through our peer assistance program,” NEISD PIO Aubrey Chancellor told KSAT on Friday. “And art as well. Prior to this year, she played soccer.”
Crime Stoppers reward
On Thursday, Crime Stoppers announced it is offering a reward of up to $5,000 for information leading to a felony arrest.
Tips can be made by calling Crime Stoppers at 210-224-STOP, texting “Tip 127 plus your tip” to CRIMES (274637), or using the P3 Tips app. Tipsters can remain anonymous.
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