Body of missing Washington woman found in Mexico – Law Officer

RENTON, Wash. – The body of a missing Washington woman was located more than 1,300 miles away at a local cemetery in Mexicali, Mexico, police confirmed.

Reyna Hernandez, 54, has been missing for two weeks. Her body was discovered in the cemetery on the Tijuana Highway, the Renton Police Department in Washington said Monday.

The law enforcement agency provided the following details in a news release:

Renton detectives have confirmed a body found in Mexicali, Mexico, is 54-year-old Reyna Hernandez. Hernandez disappeared from a home in South Renton on February 26, 2024. Friends reported her missing on February 28 when she failed to return home from running errands and did not open her small business in the Renton Highlands.

On March 8, detectives were alerted to a news article in Mexicali about an unidentified body found in a local cemetery on the Tijuana Highway. Investigators contacted Mexican authorities and were able to provide enough information to identify Hernandez over the weekend.

Mexican law enforcement officials arrested a suspect in the case on unrelated charges. A 61-year-old Renton resident is currently in custody in Mexico, where they were also able to recover Hernandez’s vehicle. Detectives say this was a domestic violence crime.

“This is the worst possible outcome, and our hearts go out to Reyna’s family and friends,” said Investigations Commander Chandler Swain. “We are working closely with Mexicali police and our U.S. Federal partners to determine when and where Reyna was killed.”

Once the time and manner of death are confirmed, detectives can determine where the homicide was committed. If it happened in the U.S., authorities would seek to extradite the suspect to face charges in that jurisdiction.

Shortly after Hernandez was reported missing, investigators “served multiple search warrants and are following up on dozens of leads,” Renton Police said, according to ABC News. “Evidence recovered in the search warrants indicates that Ms. Hernandez was taken against her will, and we do not believe her car is currently in the area.”

The suspect remains in custody in Mexico, where they also found Hernandez’s vehicle, police noted.

“Detectives have not been super clear on what (their) relationship is, this person has not yet been charged so once we get all of those facts together we will be able to give you more information,” Meeghan Black of the Renton Police Department told KIRO-TV.

“To have this as the outcome is just devastating,” Black said. “It’s now gone across country lines, not just state lines but country lines and we were working very well with Mexican officials and we’re getting the federal officials involved to try and figure out who takes jurisdiction when we figure out that timeline.”

Hernandez ran a hair salon in Renton — a suburb of Seattle about 12 miles south of downtown, ABC News reported.

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