Julio Flores, 23, of Passaic, New Jersey, was killed on the Hoboken waterfront on February 1, 2025. Fernandez allegedly forced Flores onto a fenced-off pier and shot him in the head.

After the shooting, Fernandez is said to have taken Flores’s car and personal belongings and driven to Bergen County, later returning to Hoboken to dispose of Flores’s body in the Hudson River. Flores was reported missing for weeks; human remains found near Pier C Park on March 23, 2025, were later identified by DNA as his, and the cause of death was ruled a gunshot wound to the head, homicide.

An arrest warrant for Erick Fernandez was issued on February 6, 2025; by that time he was already in custody in Garfield on an unrelated matter. He has been charged with murder, felony murder, robbery and multiple weapons offenses and is in custody at the Hudson County Correctional Facility. Anyone with information about Flores, his movements that day, or the Hoboken waterfront scene that could help investigators is asked to come forward.