Marshals Nab NJ Kindergarten Teacher Slay Suspect in Florida, Source Says: What to Know

US Marshals arrested a man in Florida in connection with the death of a 33-year-old New Jersey kindergarten teacher found beaten and strangled in a shallow grave this week, and the two know each other, according to multiple senior law enforcement officials and sources with direct knowledge of the case.

According to the official, Luz Hernandez’s ex, was cuffed in Florida, in the Miami area. Marshals from the New York/New Jersey and Florida/Caribbean regional fugitive task forces assisted.

The man, identified by multiple sources as Cesar Santana, is from the New Jersey area and is considered a suspect in Hernandez’s killing. He is being held only on a charge of desecrating human remains at this point, one official said.

No other details were available and an extradition date wasn’t immediately known. Attorney information wasn’t clear either.

Earlier Friday, the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office said only that an arrest has been made. The announcement came just hours after the prosecutor’s office shared autopsy results for Hernandez, who was reported missing earlier in the week. It was determined the beloved teacher died by blunt force trauma and compressions to the neck, prosecutors said Thursday, confirming the case had gone from a missing person investigation to a homicide one.

Authorities are investigating the death of a missing Jersey City woman whose body was found in a shallow grave in Kearny, according to the local prosecutor’s office. NBC New York’s Ida Siegal reports.

The autopsy also confirmed Hernandez’s identity, which had been tentative pending coroner confirmation. The case was launched Monday when a missing person report was filed. Hernandez didn’t show up for work that day, leading her family — already panicked when they didn’t hear from her over the weekend — to call the police.

Jersey City police officers conducted a welfare check at Hernandez’s Van Horne Street home Tuesday. It’s not clear what they found, but prosecutors said it was enough to lead cops to contact their office for assistance.

Over the course of the investigation, homicide detectives found what appeared to be a shallow grave near Central Avenue and Third Street, a remote area of nearby Kearny. Hernandez’s body was recovered a short time later.

The mother of three was pronounced dead at the scene. Hernandez’s family was “heartbroken” by the news.

“We can’t live without her, I’ll never fill this void,” her sister, Jenny Taveras, said in Spanish. She also said she wants justice for her sister.

“She was a really good mother. She was kind, oh my God. She was a beautiful person. We are going to miss her so much. I can not speak, it’s unbelievable,” said cousin Yajaira Germosen.

Hernandez was last seen on Saturday, when she and her kids went to a relative’s. That was the last time her children saw her alive, as they spent Sunday with their father.

“He went to the church with kids, like nothing happened,” Germosen said.

The school where Hernandez taught was closed for the day on Wednesday to allow those who knew her to grieve. There was a growing memorial on the steps of the popular teacher’s home, flooded with candles, balloons and posters. A 6-year-old student of Hernandez’s cried as she left a card that read “I love you.”

Authorities urge anyone with information to contact the Office of the Hudson County Prosecutor at 201-915-1345 or submit a tip online here.