FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) — A Valley fugitive is now behind bars in Mexico after police announced the arrest of Cesar Hernandez in Tijuana.
“In Baja California, he who does it, pays,” an official there said in Spanish on Friday.
Hernandez is accused of escaping the Kern Valley State Prison and then fleeing to Mexico.
“During that period of time, he ends up killing someone else down there,” Action News Legal Analyst Tony Capozzi said.
Law enforcement was investigating several videos and provided a photo that seemingly showed Hernandez in disguise.
Authorities say he killed Commander Abigail Esparza Reyes last Wednesday.
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Reyes was previously featured on ABC News.
She was a leader in a special team within the Baja California State Police known as the “Gringo Hunters” that searched for foreign fugitives hiding in Mexico.
They were on the lookout for Hernandez and serving an arrest warrant.
Hernandez was serving a life sentence at the Kern Valley State Prison for a 2019 Los Angeles County murder when officials say he jumped from a prison van that was taking him to the Kern County Courthouse in December.
He was set to face charges for crimes he allegedly committed in prison.
Hernandez is now at the La Mesa jail in Tijuana near the U.S.-Mexico border. Mexican authorities want to prosecute him.
“The Mexican prisons are nothing like the U.S. prisons, be it state or federal,” Capozzi said. “It’s night and day. The conditions will be much worse down there, whether or not he gets proper food (or) proper healthcare.”
Capozzi says it is unclear if Hernandez will ever be extradited to the United States. If he is, he will likely face additional charges.
“Either the federal or state prosecutors will indict him for flight to avoid prosecution or escape from jail,” Capozzi said.
There are still questions about how Hernandez successfully escaped.
The California Department of Corrections previously said Hernandez was in leg and waist restraints before going to court that day.
The department has not yet returned ABC’s request for comment about Hernandez’s arrest.
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