A youth soccer coach has been charged with the murder of 13-year-old Oscar “Omar” Hernandez, whose body was discovered last week along a rural road in Ventura County, officials announced.
Key Points
- Mario Edgardo Garcia-Aquino is charged with murder and multiple sex crimes involving minors.
- The 13-year-old victim was last seen boarding a train to visit the defendant in Lancaster.
- Garcia-Aquino faces the death penalty or life without parole if convicted.
Mario Edgardo Garcia-Aquino, 43, is facing one count of murder with a special circumstance of murder during the commission or attempted commission of lewd acts with a child, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office. That charge makes Garcia-Aquino eligible for the death penalty.
Garcia-Aquino is a native of El Salvador and is in the United States illegally.
The amended complaint, filed Monday, also includes two additional felony sex crime charges related to incidents involving other minors.
On March 28, Hernandez was reported missing after boarding a train from Los Angeles to Lancaster to visit Garcia-Aquino. Authorities allege that Garcia-Aquino murdered the teen and disposed of his body in Oxnard, approximately 60 miles away.
“Oscar simply boarded a train and little did he or his family know that he would never return,” District Attorney Nathan J. Hochman said.
Widening criminal investigation
The complaint also alleges that on December 10, 2022, Garcia-Aquino sexually assaulted a teenager at his home in Sylmar. On February 22, 2024, he allegedly assaulted another minor, a 16-year-old boy in Palmdale. That separate case, filed under case number 25AVCF00432, carries a potential six-year prison sentence if convicted.
Garcia-Aquino is scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday in Department 30 of the Foltz Criminal Justice Center in Los Angeles. Prosecutors from the Major Crimes Division and Sex Crimes Division are jointly handling the case.
Authorities urge potential victims to come forward
The Los Angeles Police Department and Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department continue to investigate and have urged anyone with information or additional potential victims to come forward. Anonymous tips may also be submitted online or through the regional crime hotline.
“While we all hoped for a different outcome, the tireless work of multiple law enforcement agencies has ensured that this dangerous individual is off the streets,” LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell said.
Garcia-Aquino remains in custody pending arraignment and is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.