Ramon Torres Hernandez: A Texas Serial Killer
Ramon Torres Hernandez was an American serial killer, kidnapper, rapist, and convicted murderer whose crimes took place in and around San Antonio, Texas. Born in Bexar County on November 8, 1971, Hernandez developed a record of serious violence before he was connected to three murders committed between 1994 and 2001. Prosecutors described him as a serial predator who selected vulnerable victims, abducted them, sexually assaulted them, and killed them by strangulation or another form of asphyxiation.
Hernandez was convicted and sentenced to death for the murder of 37-year-old Rosa Maria Rosado. DNA evidence also connected him to the murders of two young cousins, Sarah Beth Gonzales and Priscilla Almares. Hernandez eventually confessed to killing the girls, although he was not separately tried for their deaths. Investigators also considered him a suspect in two additional killings, but the available evidence was not sufficient to prove those cases against him.
Earlier Criminal History
Before the known murders, Hernandez had already demonstrated a pattern of burglary and sexual violence. He received an 18-year prison sentence for three counts of burglary of a habitation. During one of those crimes, he entered a residence and sexually assaulted a 21-year-old woman. The victim suffered physical injuries during the attack.
Hernandez was released on parole on June 11, 1993. Approximately a year and a half later, two middle-school students disappeared from the west side of San Antonio. Their murders remained unsolved for several years, allowing Hernandez to remain free until another abduction and killing brought him to the attention of investigators in 2001.
The Murders of Sarah Beth Gonzales and Priscilla Almares
On December 16, 1994, 13-year-old Sarah Beth Gonzales and her 12-year-old cousin, Priscilla Almares, left a friend's house in San Antonio. They were last seen at approximately 4:30 that afternoon. When the girls failed to return home, their families reported them missing.
On the morning of December 17, their bodies were discovered near Rodriguez Park, in the area of the 6500 block of Keitha Boulevard. Both girls had been beaten, sexually assaulted, and killed by asphyxiation. Their bodies had been left outdoors in brush near the roadway.
The case initially produced no arrest. Investigators preserved biological evidence recovered during the autopsies, but the technology available in 1994 did not immediately identify the person responsible. The murders remained unresolved until Hernandez was arrested in connection with Rosa Rosado's death in 2001.
After that arrest, detectives obtained a sample of Hernandez's DNA and compared it with evidence from the 1994 crime scene. The testing produced a match. Hernandez later confessed to killing Gonzales and Almares. Although prosecutors did not conduct separate murder trials for the girls, their deaths were included in the capital-murder case as part of an alleged common criminal scheme.
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