A Houston police sergeant was charged with murder Saturday after relatives of his wife, 53-year-old Belinda Hernandez, discovered her deceased body inside her home shortly before noon in Pearland, Texas.
After police arrived, an arrest warrant was issued for Houston Police Sgt. Hilario Hernandez, 56, who was apprehended by authorities about 350 miles southwest by Kingsville police officers and state troopers in Kingsville, Texas, according to Pearland Police Department Public Information Officer Jason Wells.
Houston Police Department spokeswoman Jodi Silva confirmed Hernandez works as a sergeant for the Houston Police Department.
Officials at Pearland ISD confirmed Belinda Hernandez worked at Shadycrest Elementary as the school’s librarian, according to the Houston Chronicle.
The pair had been married for over 30 years and have two grown children.
“I was very happily married; I loved my children,” Belinda Hernandez said during a 2014 interview with the Chronicle when she was featured in a story about fulfilling her dream of becoming a teacher.
“But I always had my one regret. I wished I had gone to college and become a teacher.”
Belinda went back to college in 2011 in order to make that dream her reality, according to the news article.
Investigators will now look at surveillance video for additional details, Pearland police spokesman Jason wells told the Chronicle.
“We are going to conduct business as usual,” he said.
“The law is held accountable for everybody, actually more so for [officers].”
Police did not find any witnesses who heard gunshots as over a dozen neighbors stood outside watching with almost the entire block taped off as Pearland authorities investigated.
Neighbors said they were surprised and described the neighborhood as quiet, suburban with no history of violence.
“They seemed like just everyday, normal people,” neighbor 64-year-old Lucretia Jeansonne, who lives down the street, said in an interview with the Houston Chronicle.
She recalled how she would wave at Hilario Hernandez when drove down the street in her neighborhood.
So far, police have not released any details regarding what might have led up to the shooting.
