SheWhoMustNotBeNamed
Former Member
Missing Since: May 1, 2002 from San Francisco, California
Classification: Endangered Missing
Date of Birth: November 6, 1996
Age: 5 years old
Height and Weight: 4'0, 45 pounds
Distinguishing Characteristics: Hispanic male. Brown hair, brown eyes.
Details of Disappearance
Alex disappeared with his mother, Evelyn Hernandez. A photograph of her is shown below this case summary. Evelyn's birthdate is February 23, 1978; she was 24 years old in May 2002. They were living together in the Crocker-Amazon neighborhood of San Francisco at the time of their disappearances. Evelyn was heavily pregnant with a boy, about one week away from her due date, when she and her son vanished. She planned to name the baby Fernando.
Evelyn was last heard from by her family on April 30 when she spoke on the phone to her boyfriend and two of her sisters, one of whom lives in the eastern San Francisco Bay area of California and the other who lives in Virginia. She spoke with her California sister about a baby shower her sister had planned for her. Evelyn took Alex to day care on May 1, and also used an automated teller machine (ATM) that day. Evelyn and Alex were never heard from again after May 1. Evelyn's boyfriend reported them missing one week later. She had limited English skills at the time she disappeared. She was originally from El Salvador; she had moved to the United States at the age of fourteen to live with her mother. Her passport and Alex's were found inside their home. Evelyn did not own a car at the time of her and Alex's disappearances. Most of her family lives in El Salvador.
Evelyn's wallet was found a short time after her and her son's disappearance, in a south San Francisco parking lot two blocks from the workplace of her unborn child's father. There was a disability check made out to Evelyn and $40 in cash inside the wallet. A canal near to the parking lot was searched but nothing was located that pertained to Alex and Evelyn's cases.
Police originally though Evelyn might have taken Alex and left the area to have her baby in privacy, but by midsummer they suspected foul play in in the disappearances, as nothing had been heard from them and they had taken no personal belongings with them. Their suspicions were confirmed in July when a badly decomposed pair of legs and a torso, clad in a maternity blouse, were located near the San Francisco Bay bridge. DNA tests confirmed in September that the remains were Evelyn's. Alex's body was not located; he has never been found. Neither was the rest of Evelyn's body, nor her fetus.
Evelyn's murder remains unsolved. The father of her unborn son, Herman Albert Aguilera, a 36-year-old married airline mechanic whom she was dating at the time of her disappearance, has been questioned and cooperated with police initially, but he has has since hired a lawyer and stopped talking to investigators. He has not been ruled out as a suspect, but he is not being called a serious suspect either. Aguilera was reportedly unhappy when Evelyn became pregnant; he had not told her he was married until after she announced her pregnancy. Evelyn, however, seemed to want the baby and was looking forward to its birth. The parking lot where her wallet was found is nearby to a gas station used regularly by Aguilera. He claims he was at home with his wife at the time Evelyn disappeared.
Alex's biological father was in the Navy when his son was born; he has never known Alex and is not considered a suspect in his son's disappearance and Evelyn's murder.
There has been some speculation that Evelyn's murder and Alex's disappearance may be related to the Laci Peterson case. She was eight months pregnant when she disappeared from her Modesto, California home on Christmas Eve, 2002. Her corpse was found, in pieces, in the San Francisco Bay in May 2003. The fetus's remains were also found. Laci's husband, Scott, was convicted of capital murder in the deaths of his wife and unborn son.
Some tabloid newspapers have suggested that Scott was involved in Evelyn and Alex's disappearances because of the similarities in the cases. They also suggested that Scott may be behind the disappearance of Kristin Smart, who attended California Polytechnic State University at the same time Scott and Laci did. Police have investigated both claims and say there is no connection between the cases, but Scott's lawyers may use Evelyn's case in his defense to suggest that a serial killer was behind her and Laci's murder.
Evelyn was a legal immigrant who was employed as a vocational nurse at the time of her disappearance. Her loved ones say she was a devoted parent. It is unknown where Alex might be or who killed his mother. He attended the Buena Vista Elementary School in 2002 and his mother volunteered there. Foul play is suspected in his case due to the circumstances involved.
Investigating Agency
If you have any information concerning this case, please contact:
San Francisco Police Department
415-553-1071