Naman Shrestha
Evelyn Hernandez was a doting mother who was expecting to bring another son into the world when she and her son, Alex, went missing in May 2002 in San Francisco. With her remains surfacing a few months later, the community was shell-shocked, while grief took over her loved ones. The episode titled ‘Motherhood Interrupted’ of Hulu’s ‘Murder Has Two Faces’ delves deeper into the murder case of Evelyn as well as that of Laci Peterson, comparing the intensity of investigation and publicity of the two cases. Featuring exclusive interviews with Evelyn’s family and friends, the documentary also highlighted how limited the investigative efforts were for Evelyn’s case as compared to those for Laci’s case.
Evelyn Hernandez’s Life Revolved Around Her Son
In 1978, Maria Luisa welcomed a little bundle of joy into the world in the form of Evelyn Hernandez. After spending her formative years in her native land, El Salvador, Evelyn and her family, including her sisters, Reina Solis and Olivia Hernandez, relocated to the US at the age of 14, hoping to achieve the American dream. Apart from learning English, she also learned sign language and ASL in order to communicate with Reina, who was deaf and mute. While she was described as a charismatic person, she had an unstable relationship with her mother. By the time she was 16, Evelyn had moved out of the family house and moved in with her friend, Mayra.
Besides attending McAteer High School in San Francisco, California, she also participated in a Latino theater in the Mission District neighborhood. Soon after graduating from high school, she became pregnant with her son, Alex, whose father reportedly worked in the Navy. In order to support herself and her beloved son, the single, doting mother worked multiple jobs. Not only was she a vocational nurse, but she also got a job at Costco and the Clift Hotel in Union Square. Once she earned enough money, Evelyn rented an apartment for her growing family in the Crocker-Amazon neighborhood of San Francisco. She also reportedly volunteered at Alex’s school.
Evelyn Was a Few Days Away From Becoming a Mother For the Second Time When She Disappeared
Soon after Evelyn crossed paths with Herman Albert Aguilera, the two began dating. Being a part-time limo driver and United Airlines mechanic at San Francisco International Airport, he had a stable income. Not long after, she became pregnant with his child, and intended to introduce her boyfriend to her family. With so many things to look forward to, including the birth of her second son, whom he planned to name Fernando, fate intervened and cut her life short. The eight-month pregnant woman and her son, Alex, disappeared out of the blue on May 1, 2002. As per her sister Olivia, she talked to her over the phone after a long day on April 30, 2002, which included dropping off Alex at the Buena Vista Elementary School, picking him up, and receiving disability benefits check. The following day, Evelyn and Alex were nowhere to be found.
Alarm bells started ringing when 24-year-old Evelyn failed to show up at her own baby shower, which her sister, Reina, had hosted on May 3, 2002. When she was reported missing, the police got the first break in the case a few days later as they came across Evelyn’s wallet near a canal off East Grand Avenue in South San Francisco. Since nothing seemed to be stolen from the wallet, they ruled out robbery as the motive for her disappearance. A couple of months later, on July 24, the nightmare of her loved ones turned into reality when her remains were discovered in the San Francisco Bay along Embarcadero near Folsom Street. However, the investigators found no trace of her 5-year-old son, Alex. As for the cause of her death, it could not be determined due to the decomposition of her remains.
Evelyn Hernandez’s Killer Remains at Large After All These Years
During the investigation of Evelyn Hernandez’s disappearance, the authorities interviewed several of her family members and friends, including the 36-year-old father of her unborn baby, Herman Aguilera. Since her wallet was discovered just a few blocks away from the limousine company that he worked for, he was considered a person of interest and brought in for questioning. He claimed that he tried getting in contact with his pregnant girlfriend multiple times on May 1, but she didn’t pick up. As per his accounts, he saw Evelyn the last time on April 30, when he brought a bed for Alex and assembled it in her house.
Upon digging deeper into Herman’s personal life and relationship with Evelyn, they learned that he was a married man. Evelyn was reportedly kept in the dark by Herman about his marital status until she was four months into her pregnancy. For obvious reasons, the relationship became strained after the truth came into light. She believed that the father of her unborn child was slowly pushing her away, which resulted in her growing desire to distance herself from him. As part of their investigation, the detectives also interviewed Herman’s wife to learn more about Herman and his whereabouts on the day of Evelyn’s disappearance.
Due to some uncanny similarities, the case of her disappearance and murder was compared to that of Laci Peterson, another pregnant woman whose remains were also found in the bay in April 2003. Ever since her remains were discovered, the location of where the murder took place has remained unknown. The deceased woman’s loved ones believe that had she been a white native of America, the authorities would have tried more to bring her perpetrator/s to justice and find her son, Alex, who remains missing to this day.
