13-year-old Oscar Omar Hernandez, a Sun Valley Magnet School student who was reported missing and eventually found dead in April, died of acute alcohol poisoning, the Ventura County Medical Examiner’s office confirmed on Monday, June 30.
Hernandez’s family learned his cause of death and shared it with Carrillo Law Firm, which is representing the family in a forthcoming civil case, a representative from the firm said.
The Ventura County Medical Examiner’s office confirmed that Hernandez’s cause of death was “acute ethanol intoxication,” and that the manner of death was homicide.
Hernandez was reported missing by his family at the end of March, after he boarded a train to visit his soccer coach and help with team uniforms in Lancaster and never returned. He was found dead in a wooded area over 100 miles away in Oxnard on April 2.
On April 7, charges were brought against the soccer coach, Mario Edgardo Garcia-Aquino, 43, of the Antelope Valley. Los Angeles District Attorney Nathan Hochman announced that the man was being charged with murder, with a special circumstances allegation that the crime happened while the suspect was engaged in the commission or attempted commission of a lewd and lascivious act upon a child under the age of 14.
Garcia-Aquino was arrested on April 2 on suspicion of an unrelated charge of assault with intent to commit a lewd act, that came from a 2024 allegation of assault on a 16-year-old boy in Palmdale, which was reported to the sheriff’s station there. He was also being investigated by the Los Angeles Police Department for another unrelated instance of abuse. The sheriff’s department and the police department jointly filed a felony count of assault with intent to commit a lewd act against Garcia-Aquino in April.
The U.S. Department of Homeland focused on Garcia-Aquino’s immigration status, responding to a post on X that identified him as an illegal immigrant from El Salvador, with the statement “13 year-old Oscar “Omar” Hernandez was an innocent child who was exploited and killed by this depraved illegal alien who should have never been in this country.”