Second Suspect In Jersey City Teacher's Brutal Slaying Now In Custody: Prosecutor

HUDSON COUNTY, NJ — A second man charged in the brutal killing of a former Jersey City teacher and mother of three has now been extradited to the U.S., Hudson County Prosecutors announced Thursday.

Leiner Miranda Lopez, 38, of Jersey City, was extradited to the United States on Wednesday from Colombia on charges of murder, desecrating human remains, and other offenses after being arrested in 2023, the Hudson County Prosecutor's Office said Thursday.

Leiner and co-defendant Cesar Santana, 38, of Jersey City — described last year as the victim's estranged husband — were both indicted by a Grand Jury on May 15, 2023, prosecutors said.

On Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2023, the body of Hernandez, 33, was found in a shallow grave in the area of Central Avenue and Third Street in Kearny.

Santana had reported her missing and even taken their three children to church after she disappeared that weekend, according to media reports.

According to a complaint obtained in 2023 by Patch, when investigators searched Santana's car, which had been impounded, they found blood stains, black hair, a pick axe, a rope, and a black and yellow bin.

The complaint noted that on the night of Saturday, Feb. 4, Santana was seen walking toward Hernandez' Van Horne Street house, where she was the only one home.

An hour later, the complaint says, Santana was seen dragging away a yellow and black bin.

The Regional Medical Examiner’s Office determined the cause of death to be blunt force trauma to the head and compressions to the neck and the
manner of death to be homicide. This matter is being investigated as an act of domestic violence, proscutors said.

Prosecutor Esther Suarez credited the arrest to the Homicide Unit, United States Marshals Service, andthe U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs and Narcotic and Dangerous Drug Section’s Judicial Attaché’s Office in Bogota, Colombia.

Hernandez was one of seventeen women killed by domestic violence. in New Jersey by late October of last year.

The national domestic violence hotline, reachable through phone, text, or chat, is 800-799-SAFE (7233), or you can text "Start" to 88788 to reach them by text.

The New Jersey hotline is 1-800-572-SAFE (7233). The list of county agencies is here, and other information on how to protect oneself legally in New Jersey is here.

READ MORE: Slain Jersey City Teacher's Ex Had Blood, Ax, Rope In Car: Complaint