The days-long search for a missing California teenager is over, and now the man last seen with him is at the center of a serious criminal case.
A youth soccer coach faces a murder charge after the body of 13-year-old Oscar Omar Hernandez was found in Oxnard, days after he was reported missing. Authorities announced on Monday, April 7, 2025, that Mario Edgardo Garcia-Aquino, 43, had been arrested and charged with the teen’s death.
According to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office, Garcia-Aquino also faces special circumstances for allegedly committing lewd acts with a minor. If convicted of the murder charge, he faces life in prison without the possibility of parole.
According to authorities, the teenager was killed on March 28, the same day he was last seen by his family. His body was discovered five days later, lying along North Harbor Boulevard in Oxnard, near a wooded area near McGrath State Beach.
In addition to the murder charge, prosecutors revealed that Garcia-Aquino had also been charged in another case involving a 16-year-old boy. He faces a felony charge of assault with intent to commit a lewd act related to an incident on February 22, 2024, in Palmdale.
District Attorney Hochman Announces Soccer Coach Charged With Murdering 13-Year-Old Boy
More details: https://t.co/uOPmoHcAx4 pic.twitter.com/yOMh4HDvyr
— LAPD HQ (@LAPDHQ) April 8, 2025
Court records show he was arrested in that case the same day Hernandez’s body was found. His arraignment was scheduled for Monday, but he failed to appear for undisclosed medical reasons. His appearance was rescheduled for Tuesday.
Hernandez’s family told reporters that the boy had left his Sun Valley home on Friday night, March 28, to meet with his soccer coach in Lancaster. His older sister, Alejandra Hernandez, said he had been dropped off at a Metrolink station in the San Fernando Valley that night.
“His soccer coach made soccer jerseys,” he said in Spanish. “He had brought other soccer teammates to help him, and that’s why he was my brother.”
The coach and Hernandez had met through an after-school soccer program at Whitsett Park in North Hollywood. That Friday night, when one of Hernandez’s brothers called to check on him, it was Garcia-Aquino who answered the phone. He told the family that the boy couldn’t get to the phone because his hands were covered in paint.
Hernandez was scheduled to return home the next morning. According to his family, when they called the coach, he said he had dropped the teenager off at home that afternoon. Calls to Hernandez’s phone went unanswered. However, a text message from the boy’s phone said , “I’m going to a party.”
Later, another message said he was in North Hollywood and didn’t want to be picked up in Whitsett Park. Those were the last messages the family received. His sister said they searched for him throughout Saturday night. “We started contacting his friends, but there was never a party,” she revealed . “His friends never saw him.”
Hernandez was reported missing to the Los Angeles Police Department the following Sunday morning. Two days later, the LAPD’s elite Robbery-Homicide Division took over the case. With assistance from the FBI, detectives narrowed the investigation to a remote area near McGrath State Beach in Oxnard.
It was there that officers located a body matching the boy’s description. Authorities have not yet revealed the cause of death. Garcia-Aquino was arrested by Los Angeles police officers and later handed over to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. Detective Alan Hamilton did not reveal how or where he was arrested.
At a press conference on April 7, Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman stood alongside Hernandez’s family to announce the charges. He expressed his condolences for their loss, calling the case tragic and stating that words could not fully express the depth of his grief.
Authorities also detailed the accusation against Garcia-Aquino 2024. According to Sheriff Robert Luna, the coach befriended a Sylmar family through football and invited their underage son to spend the night at their Palmdale home. The family later filed a sexual assault report with the Palmdale Sheriff’s Office.
⚠️ WARNING: This post contains graphic descriptions of violence & sexual assault
Oscar Omar Hernandez, 13, who went missing after visiting his soccer coach last month, was found dead on the side of the road in California. Mario Edgardo Garcia Aquino, 43, has now been charged… pic.twitter.com/LVUrumMBKs
— True Crime Updates (@TrueCrimeUpdat) April 8, 2025
Detectives learned of another, unrelated case involving the Garcia-Aquinos. The LAPD’s Foothill Division conducted another investigation in 2022. That case, along with the 2024 case, is now being handled by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Special Victims Bureau, which investigates child physical and sexual abuse.
Sheriff Luna said Garcia-Aquino had worked with various age groups as a youth soccer coach for the Hurricane Valley Boys Soccer Club in Sylmar. Due to the nature of the charges, authorities released photos of him and asked potential victims to come forward.
He also urged undocumented immigrants not to be afraid to report mistreatment, assuring them that their immigration status would not be questioned. “We’re not going to ask about that. Please, you have to come forward; we will help you,” he said .
Hernandez’s family gathered at the spot where his body was found. In a video posted online, they could be seen grieving and placing candles and flowers at the scene. Speaking in Spanish, his sister described him as “the baby of the family” and “a boy who didn’t hurt anyone.”
Friends of the seventh-grader described him as “popular, kind, respectful, cheerful, and an outstanding soccer player.” While prosecutors move forward with charges, investigators continue to examine whether other victims may be linked to the case.
