Missing American woman found dead in Mexico

A Washington woman who vanished last month after telling a friend that she was running errands has been found dead in Mexico, according to police and KIRO-TV.

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On Feb. 26, 54-year-old Reyna Hernandez left her home in the Renton Highlands and never returned, according to police. Friends contacted authorities two days later, saying that she had stopped answering her phone and failed to show up to open the hair salon she owned.

Hernandez owned Reyna Hair Salon, KIRO reported.

Authorities earlier said that they suspected foul play in Hernandez’s disappearance. After searching a home in South Renton where she used to live, authorities said that they found evidence that she was “taken against her will,” KIRO reported. They did not elaborate.

Hernandez’s body was identified after authorities learned last week of a body that had been found in a cemetery on the Tijuana Highway in Mexicali, Mexico. Working with officials in Mexico, investigators were able to provide enough information to identify Hernandez.

Authorities did not say what led them to believe that the body might have been her.

Officials in Mexico arrested a 61-year-old Renton resident described as a “suspect in the case” on unrelated charges, police said. They were not immediately identified.

“Detectives have not been super clear on what (their) relationship is,” Meeghan Block of the Renton Police Department told KIRO. “This person has not yet been charged so once we get all of those facts together, we will be able to give you more information.”

Detectives said the case appeared to be “a domestic violence crime.”

“This is the worst possible outcome, and our hearts go out to Reyna’s family and friends,” Renton Police Investigations Commander Chandler Swain said Monday in a statement. “We are working closely with Mexicali police and our U.S. Federal partners to determine when and where Reyna was killed.”

German Sahagun, a co-owner of La Fuente Mexican Restaurant, the business next to Hernandez’s salon, told KIRO that he used to get haircuts at her salon when he was a teenager a decade ago. He said he has since seen her regularly as a customer and described her as “really loud and outgoing.”

“She was very kind,” he said. “Everybody knew her around here — she was very well known.”

Authorities said that if it is determined that Hernandez was killed in the U.S., officials will aim to have the unnamed suspect extradited to face charges.

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