The search for a missing kindergarten teacher ended in tragedy as her body was found buried in a shallow grave in New Jersey.
Officers with the Jersey City Police Department conducted a welfare check at the residence of 33-year-old Luz Hernandez after she failed to show up to work at BelovED Charter School on Monday.
Her body was found three miles away from her home, buried in a shallow grave in the area of Central Avenue and Third Street in Kearny, the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office said in a statement. A cause and manner of death are pending the findings of the Regional Medical Examiner’s Office.
The mother-of-three was believed to have been missing since Saturday, NJ.com reported. The Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office Homicide Unit, Jersey City Police Department and the Kearny Police Department are now investigating Hernandez’s death as “suspicious.”
Before discovering the body, officers with Jersey police found “blood splatters” in Hernandez’s home near Lafayette Park.
The scene was preserved and the department requested assistance from the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office, per NJ.com. Authorities said the findings inside the apartment led them to the desolate area where Hernandez was buried.
She was pronounced dead around 4.50pm.
Hernandez’s brother Christino Hernandez told CBS that she had become an educator because she enjoyed being around children.
“She was always happy. She loved kids. She became a teacher because she loved being around kids,” he said.
BelovED founder Bret Schunder also told NJ.com that the school would likely plan a tribute for Hernandez in the upcoming days.
“People loved her. She was a wonderful co-worker,” Mr Schundler said of Hernandez. “She was a beloved member of the BelovED family. People are feeling devastated by this.”
The school, where Hernandez had taught at the school since 2017, was closed on Wednesday. Two of her children attended BelovED.
“There is going to be a desire to commemorate her and there’s going to be a desire to support her family,” Mr Schundler added. “Her whole family was involved, was part of the BelovED community.”
A cousin of Hernandez, who chose to remain anonymous, said the family is still trying to make sense of the tragedy.
“She was one of the best teachers, everybody loves her, all the kids. It’s just like, so complicated to think about this. We just want justice,” she told NBC. “We love her, her family, the friends. She was an amazing girl and it’s so unfair somebody takes away the life from her. Why?”
The Hudson County Prosecutor’s office has asked anyone with information to call 201-915-1345 or to leave an anonymous tip on its website.
