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Leiner Miranda Lopez had previously been charged with killing Luz Hernandez, a 33-year-old Jersey City mom in February 2023, Hudson County Prosecutor Esther Suarez said. Hernandez's body was discovered in a shallow grave in the area of Central Avenue and Third Street in Kearny, Suarez said.
The Regional Medical Examiner’s Office determined her death was caused by blunt force trauma to the head and compressions to the neck, Suarez said. Her death was investigated as an act of domestic violence, Suarez said.
Lopez was arrested in Bogota, Colombia in June, pursuant to an arrest request from the U.S., Suarez said. He was then taken into custody at Newark Liberty International Airport and is being held at the Hudson County Correctional Facility, Suarez said.
Lopez and co-defendant Cesar Santana, Hernandez's ex-husband and a 38-year-old Jersey City resident, are charged with murder, failing to dispose of human remains, tampering with physical evidence and desecrating/concealing human remains, Suarez said.
Santana was captured at a hotel in Miami days after the murder, Suarez said.
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