:format(webp)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/grupoclarin/6QRRE7GX2VCB7KVYFDNZHOCKJQ.jpg "Washington woman reported missing found dead in Mexico; suspect arrested")
SEATTLE (AP) — A 54-year-old suburban Seattle woman who had been missing for two weeks was found dead in Mexico, and a man described as a suspect was detained by Mexican police on unrelated charges, police said.
Police in Renton, Washington, reported Monday that friends of the woman told officers that they had last heard from Reyna Hernandez on February 26. Friends told police she told them she was running some errands before returning to her house. Two days later, Hernandez was reported missing after she did not open her beauty salon or answer the phone.
Police said Friday they saw a news article about an unidentified body found in a cemetery along the highway to Tijuana in Mexicali, a port of entry between the United States and Mexico near the California border.
Renton investigators contacted Mexicali authorities and provided enough information to identify the body over the weekend as that of Hernandez, police reported. Officers did not say what led them to believe the body belonged to Hernandez.
Meanwhile, Mexican police officers arrested a 61-year-old Renton man on unrelated charges and recovered Hernandez’s vehicle, according to Renton police. The man’s name was not released and Renton police did not say what relationship he may have had with Hernandez, but described his death as a crime of domestic violence.
Police said there is evidence Hernandez was taken against her will.
“This is the worst possible outcome, and our hearts go out to Reyna’s family and friends,” Renton Police Commander Chandler Swain said in a news release.
Swain said investigators are working with Mexicali police and U.S. federal agents to determine when and where Hernandez was killed. He added that US authorities will request the extradition of the detainee if they determine that the death occurred in US territory.