Snapped: Women Who Murder - Maria Hernandez

Episode Date: January 2, 2022

The American Dream for a hard-working immigrant is suddenly cut short, when he is violently murdered with a hatchet in the streets of a Las Vegas suburb. Investigators sift through lies and follow a bloody trail to uncover the shocking truth.Season 27, Episode 20Originally aired: August 08, 2020Watch full episodes of Snapped for FREE on the Oxygen app: https://oxygentv.app.link/WsLCJWqmIebSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hi, I'm Lindsey Graham, the host of Wonder East Podcast American Scandal. Our newest series looks at the story of OxyContin, a popular painkiller that helps spur an epidemic of addiction and drug abuse, in which prompted a broad campaign to hold the pharmaceutical industry accountable. Listen to American Scandal on Amazon Music or wherever you get your podcasts. They were a couple chasing the American dream. She sacrificed a lot. She gave a lot. He wanted to be part of the United States.

He wanted to raise his family here. They seemed like a perfect couple, perfect marriage. But a fun night out in Sin City brings their idyllic romance to a horrific end. They saw a Hispanic female woman who was covered in blood holding a hatchet. He was almost decapitated and unbelievable, terrible, gruesome, grizzly scene. To get to the truth, investigators must unravel a tangled web of lies and infidelity. We realized that there was a lot more that we're dealing with. They have to figure out who's telling the truth. Ultimately uncovering a savage plot by killers,

no one expected. It's shocking, it's sick. How could this be? His words were, I do what I told. What would drive somebody to do this sort of thing? You can't prevent evil. That's the bottom line. You cannot prevent evil.

May 25, 2015, Las Vegas, Nevada. It's Memorial Day in this lively desert oasis. But on the west side of the valley, miles from the strip, Las Vegas police receive an alarming phone call from local resident, Georgian Lee. I awoke at two in the morning to noise, to arguing. She was living in a pretty nice neighborhood. Here's some sort of commotion, some sort of fight happening outside her window.

She had heard voices, but she didn't actually see the occurrence happen. She claimed that it sounded like to a voices of two males and that she had heard a female scream. I couldn't understand what they were saying. It was garble. It was a understand what they were saying was garbled. There was a struggling sound, and there was gurgling. And I'm thinking, uh-oh, she is being choked or raped.

Something's going on. And I saw a young man laying in the middle of the street in a pool of blood. So much blood, a female was over him. And her arms were outstretched, and my first thought was, oh, it was a hit and run. So I called the place. Officers and medical personnel immediately

head to the scene. Once patrol officers arrived, they discovered a scene that was pretty horrific. They come upon in the middle of this pretty nice street. This woman hysterical, covered in blood, blood everywhere, and she is understandably freaking out. She was holding a hatchet next to a male who was lying in the street with an enormous amount of blood around them

and who appeared to be deceased. As officers approach, the woman drops the weapon and says that her name is Maria Hernandez. And the dead man on the ground is her husband, 43-year-old, and Rique Hernandez her nandes. We were trying to get control and understand what exactly was occurring and what had happened. Obviously, the first person we want to talk to was Maria,

and that's what we did. She said this unknown attack had come out from a vacant desert lot. Comes up and attacks them with the hatchet. This is very shocking. It's like something out of a movie. Growing up in Veda Cruz, Mexico, Enrique Hernandez learned the value of hard work

from an early age. In a way, a person's life, I wanted a father, it was a person's life. I wanted a father, a brother. He was always... ...a guide for me. We were both in Mexico. So, he always entered the field. It's hard work.

You have to get up before the break of dawn and you don't get home until the sun has gone down. So you are in humidity. You're working in sometimes 103 degrees with 50% humidity. But even though Enrique always put work first, he's still made time for fun. We play football, in Mexico. We're here in football. We always play. We're here in the world. First, he's his future elsewhere.

He wanted to live the American dream, to come here as an immigrant, work his butt off, and eventually own some sort of business. He wanted to be that person instead of just an employee or just a farm worker. You know, that has to work 12 hours a day in the hot sun. As soon as he was old enough and reggae moved from Mexico to the United States, his brother followed suit and the two found work in Central California. That's what's a valley. It's mostly agriculture.

That's where a lot of the fruit, vegetables that we get is from there. Then, one day at work in 1997, Enrique noticed a beautiful young woman, 15-year-old Maria Olga Gutiérrez. Enrique was working in one of the fields, and Maria's father sold tamales to the field workers. And it just so happened that she was with her father that day and Enrique goes to the food truck. And you know, there's this wonderful young Owen and he's smitten.

Maria caught his eye and fell in love with her. She was very polite. We say hi to everybody. And greet everybody. Born and raised in California, Maria had a caring spirit that Enrique was immediately drawn to. Maria came from a large family. She had several brothers and sisters.

She grew up fairly isolated. There was a troubled home life. I think she was looking, but you know, hoping to be saved. I definitely think Maria was excited and grateful for Enrique. The family environment that she was in was not a good one. She wanted out of the house, and she saw Enrique as that ticket. I've always been in love with her.

I've been waiting for her to die. They've been dating each other for a year and a half, a couple of years. She, at the time, is 17. He's about 27. 10 years is a pretty decent gap, but her family and that culture as well see him very much as a provider. Someone who can provide for her can take care of her, and she sees that as well. So they go down to Mexico to see some family, and also while they're there, get married.

About a year after they've been married, Marie gets pregnant. And he's over the moon. I wanted to get married because I was a little older to be a family. But for so long, it, because I was a little older, to be a family. But for so much time, I was... I was already in love with her. Over the next few years, Enrique and Maria had four children,

two boys and two girls. Enrique worked hard to support his family, constantly traveling to find seasonal work. He worked in the farming communities. Maria also worked. She would go to some of the dairy farms and do minor bookkeeping, that sort of thing. I know they lived in Missouri.

They lived in Florida. If there was work, that's where he was born. Besides providing for his own children and his wife, he would also support his family back in Mexico sending them money. In 2011, Enrique settled his family in Burley, Idaho, and later applied to become a U.S. citizen. It seemed that finally after chasing work

and chasing some stability for his entire life, that they finally found a place where they could settle down. I mean, that's the American dream. Sadly, Enrique's American dream comes to a sudden halt as his bloody body lies on a suburban Las Vegas street. He was pronounced at the scene. He was pronounced that to seeing as he was nearly decapitated. Officers turned to his shaken wife, Maria,

to find out what happened. So they get her combed down enough that they get a quick statement from her. They were here because of a consignor and that they left their children out so that they can be alone and spend a great night together. She explained to police that her and her husband had some car trouble. They had pulled their vehicle over. Her husband had gotten out of the vehicle to check to see what the engine trouble was.

She claimed that a young sailant came out of the desert with his hatchet and started attacking her husband. She says he then jumps in the van and drives off with their van, leaving Maria there with her husband covered in blood, an unbelievable, terrible gruesome grizzly scene. The Las Vegas police department clearly is concerned. They don't wanna have somebody

who's hiding in the bushes in neighborhoods with an axe in his hand, getting ready to attack innocent victims. Coming up, a massive manhunt begins. Every law enforcement officer is starting to look for this particular van. And pressure to catch a killer builds. They have a murderer on the loose in their city

who's willing to kill people just for a quick ride. If he was willing to do that, he's willing to kill again. We need to identify that person as fast as possible. In the early morning hours of May 25, 2015 Detectives with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police are investigating the gruesome homicide of 43-year-old Enrique Hernandez after he was attacked by a stranger with a hatchet. He was completely hacked to death.

He was almost decapitated. His head was only being held on to the rest of his torso with just a few ligaments left. Noreka had been viciously attacked. However, there were defensive foes. And Noreka fought back. And the hardest thing is that Noreka fought for his life. And ultimately, he couldn't win that.

It's not that normal for somebody to be attacked in that type of manner, and then ultimately, their car to be taken. Specifically in the area of town that they were in. Detectives want to hear first-hand from Enrique's wife, Maria, about the events leading up to the attack. Maria was interviewed. We wanted to get her side of the story as fast as we could,

primarily because if there truly was a stranger out there that committed this heinous act, we needed to identify that person as fast as possible. Like she told first responders, Maria says she and her husband were visiting family from out of town. They're coming for one of his brothers' daughters, 15th birthday at Kinsingena. It's something big. Celebration of a girl's 15th birthday, I can sing it out. It's something big, celebration of a girl's 15th birthday

becoming a woman. It's like spending a wedding for lack of a better description. The whole family had been there. Maria says that last night, they dropped the kids off at Enrique's cousins house, and she and Enrique went out dancing at a bar on the east side of Las Vegas. Maria had stated that her and her husband had a great night. They were getting along very well.

They were dancing together. They were having drinks. Finally left that bar about 2 a.m. in the van, driving through town. Maria was driving the van and Mariah was in the front passenger seat. And they had gotten lost. And while they were driving, they were having car trouble. Maria says they didn't get far before she

smelled something burning. So they have to pull out to the side of the road, figure out what's going on. She told us that she had told them that she felt more comfortable if they went to a gas station because it was more lit. And he felt that everything was OK in the area that they were. She said that she got out of the vehicle with him. They popped the hood. She used her cell phone as a flashlight so that

he could see under the hood. While they were looking down into the engine compartment is when the attack occurred. Maria says it happened really quick. It was so shocking. He came out of nowhere. It was a blur. All I know is he was an African-American man. So that's all police have to go on. An African-American man somewhere in Las Vegas, driving this van, and willing to kill people. According to Maria, the attacker drove south on Buffalo Drive, leaving Enrique for dead.

They've put it out on a view on the lookout, had units flood the area, start searching for someone, and the investigation begins immediately. So every law enforcement officer, including officers in North Las Vegas in Manchester, were starting to look forward this particular van. While a man hunt begins, investigators scowler the crime scene for evidence. The hatchet that was found at the crime scene, it was consistent with the injuries on victim in Rige. There was a pair of high heel shoes that ultimately we learned belonged to Maria. There was also a pair of glasses that didn't belong to Maria nor did they belong to

in rege. We also found footprint and presence in blood that didn't match Maria's nor did they match in rege. There was somebody who had left the scene that was there and that was potentially our suspect. Investigators also search the vacant lot just north of the crime scene. Maria had told us that this black male adult, this unknown black male adult, had come out from a vacant desert lot.

The area where the crime scene was, just to the north of where Enrique's body was, there was a desert lot. And she said that this person came out from that lot. We can't visit that area. We actually did a grid search to find anything as far as evidence we found nothing. The more police surveyed the scene,

the more trouble they have believing this was a random attack. We noticed that it didn't look what we believed to be the occurrence that was being explained to us. This was just a residential area where you would normally anticipate seeing a stranger out there to case somebody for robbery and a carjacking. So we were very skeptical.

The plausibility of a male coming out of a dark desert area with an hatchet and then suddenly attacking somebody just did not seem very plausible. The area is not known for a high crime area, especially in that violent crime. It is not on a major crossroads of any public transportation.

So that does not seem to be a plausible story. The brutality of the attack also gives detectives pause. For somebody to use an axe or a hatchet on a fellow living human being, it comes to show how personal it is. The significant anger to hatred, the true evilness that went into this murder, they wanted somebody to be dead and to suffer.

This seemed to be something personal. This wasn't something that was that random. However, working homicide investigations, you have to be open-minded and you have to let the evidence and the facts of what you learned take you where you need to go. You look at victimology, you look at the victim, and to see those connected to the victim, to try to figure out who could have done this or why. Before investigators get a chance to dig deeper into Enrique's history, police searching the area get a sudden break in the case.

The van will discover some miles away. When officers found that van, they discovered that there was blood inside the van. There was blood on the hand on the outside of the van, as well. There was a buck knife that was found under the front seat. But it's what's on the street surrounding the van that intrigues officers the most.

They discovered something very interesting. The first responding officer looked down and started seeing a trail of blood. What they find is a trail of blood leading from the driver's side door. And so they start to follow this trail of blood like bread crumbs through a forest. And they go a block and it keeps going. They go another block, it keeps going. Another block and another block. And keeps going. Another block, and another block.

And it goes on for a half mile. The blood trail was followed through the streets, and then ultimately ended. It just ended. So right now, what we're thinking is, do we have an injured suspect? Coming up, a new discovery leads police down a startling path. He claimed that he was a victim of a robbery

and that he had been stabbed. Coincidence or not, we had to look and see. And a hidden motive comes to the surface. This couple had had problems. There had been infidelity. We determined that there was more to the story. Conic Conan O'Brien, Puffy Red Hair and all, joining forces with me and Jason Bateman and Sean Hayes, it is just, it's a recipe for podcast perfection exclusively on One Re plus.

We're taking you on an unforgettable journey behind the curtain. We're pulling back the veil on the world of late night and giving you an inside look into the mind of a true legend. Our episode with Conan is the second of 10 special episodes exclusive to Wondry Plus. These episodes are the full recorded interviews

from our smart list tour that was filmed in front of thousands of our biggest fans from Washington, D.C. to Los Angeles. You're not gonna want to miss this conversation with Conan. You can listen to these episodes exclusively and add free with Wondry Plus. Find Wondry Plus in the Wundri app or on Apple podcasts. After the brutal homicide of 43-year-old Enrique Hernandez, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police

have discovered the van that was stolen and abandoned by the killer. They were looking for somebody that clearly got injured because of the fact that there was a blood trail. Then, of course, seeing a knife there certainly added to the question of how was that knife used. The police department did not know exactly what was going on, but they knew that there was a bloody scene. Suspecting the killer might have sought medical attention,

officers reach out to area hospitals. Ultimately, we got a break. And that break was, uh, from one of the hospitals we got to call that a Hispanic male had showed up. He was transported from a residence from across the valley with a stabbing to the abdomen. And a person that claimed to have been stabbed was Hector Gutierrez.

Hector Gutierrez claimed that he was a victim of a robbery and that he had been stabbed by his assailant. With a little digging, police learned that Hector Gutierrez has a connection to the Hernandez family. Who's the biological brother, Maria? Could Hector be involved in Enrique's murder? Or was he the second victim of someone with a vendetta against this family? Coincidence or not? We had to look and see.

It was something that we knew had to be followed up and had to be followed up immediately. While one team of investigators heads to the hospital to speak with Hector, a second team reaches out to Enrique's family in the nearby suburb of Henderson to deliver the tragic news. It's shocking. It's sad. It just makes you wonder, how could this be? I don't know, it's just too many things to think about.

Enrique's brother, Danielle, is particularly devastated by the news. I don't know. I don't know what happened. I couldn't. I'm. Incredible. Investigators ask Danielle if he knows anyone who would want to hurt Enrique, but no one comes to mind. When detectives ask about Maria's brother, 22-year-old Hector Gutierrez, and Rique's family confirms that he was also in town for the Kinsignera, and was staying with another relative

in North Las Vegas. Hector Gutierrez is the baby brother of Maria. In many ways, Hector was actually raised by Maria. He was one of the younger ones of the family In many ways, Hector was actually raised by Maria. He was one of the younger ones of the family as far as the siblings went. He struggled. There was an accident that took place in Visayla, California

several years prior to this incident. Hector was driving a vehicle with his mother in. There was a car accident, and ultimately it took the life of his mother. I think he carried that weight on his shoulder for a long time. But that's not the only burden Hector has been carrying. Hector was having a difficulty in his own identity. Hector had decided that when it had his gender reassigned, at some point, Hector decided he wanted to transition

into a being a woman. While Hector planned his transition, Maria had vowed to help her brother in any way she could. Maria kind of came to her brother's aid, even from a long distance, and told him that she was there to support him, that she would help him. Maria was just this incredible, loving, constant forehector. Maria was someone that he could count on.

Hector did treat her at a motherly type figure. She was a protector of Hector's. Maria did provide some financial assistance over time, and they remained close. From what police learn, it doesn't appear that Hector would have any motive to hurt Enrique. That is, until family members reveal that Enrique's marriage to Maria wasn't as rosy

as she had let on. Police find out that this couple had had problems, that there had been infidelity Maria had cheated on and decay. I was a little bit worried, I was a little bit worried. And I was like, I had found a bad step and I had been with a person who was a big boy. So that was a bad feeling. We believe that the relationship was at least three or four months.

There might have been a little bit of time in between that, but the relationship actually became intimate within about three or four months prior to this murder happening. Despite Maria's betrayal, Enrique's family believes he had been trying to save his marriage. Enrique grew up Catholic and then converted to Mormonism. And in both those religions, divorce is just not a thing. Not an option wasn't going to happen.

So he somehow has to reconcile all that. He has to figure out what to do. I guess they were trying to make it work to get back together. And to me, it might not was well. Everybody makes mistakes. Nobody's perfect. So I thought they were just trying to make it work, because they seemed like the perfect family.

In fact, they were using this kinsenierra as a reason to try to reconnect and to get together back as husband and wife and doing it for the sake of the children. Investigators learn that Maria's former lover lives in their hometown of Burley, Idaho. He certainly would have had a motive, arguably, for perhaps losing his girlfriend back to her husband. And so the police wanted to check into his story.

We're like, we need to find that guy, because there's a motive, there's a reason. So where's this boyfriend? Coming up, police tracked down Maria's lover. Historians should have been in this troubled relationship for years, and she said that she needed help. And a shocking admission unveils a deadly conspiracy. They immediately started crumbling. We asked him what he meant by get revenge at Killa.

Hours after the violent murder of Enrique Hernandez, The detective certainly wants to know, perhaps, is this boyfriend possibly a suspect. They track him down pretty quick, but they figure out that the suspect's wife Maria had an affair. The detective certainly wants to know, perhaps, is this boyfriend possibly a suspect. They track him down pretty quick, but they figure out that the suspect's wife is Maria. The detective certainly wants to know, perhaps, perhaps is this boyfriend possibly a suspect. MUSIC They track him down pretty quick, but they figure out that he's still up in Idaho.

He was potentially a suspect in this murder. Someone they're trying to find, and he has an airtight alibi. He's in Idaho, 10-hour drive. There's no way he could have gotten down to Vegas and been involved in this crime, in this murder. There is no indication whatsoever that this boyfriend had anything to do

with this homicide of Enriquec. Police immediately ruled him out as a suspect. Investigators now turn their full attention to Maria's brother, Hector Gutierrez, who is recovering from a stab wound to his abdomen at a local hospital. I'd send detectives to the hospital to talk with Hector to find out what his story was. Hector tells police that he had been at a local bar the night before, only to find that his car wouldn't start.

So he decided to walk to his cousin's house where he had been staying. He wanted to go on a long walk because he wanted to get some exercise. This was early early in the morning hours. He began to stroll along the streets of Las Vegas in an area that he didn't even know. Ultimately, he said he was attacked by some men. Two or three, he wasn't sure. And that they pushed him to the ground, and they stole his wall, and they stole his money,

and they took off. He said, in a process of fighting, off this robbery, he got stabbed. Hector claimed he had called his eldest sibling to come pick him up on the streets of Las Vegas and bring him to the hospital. But as detectives' questions get more pointed, Hector struggles to provide detailed answers.

He couldn't give officers an exact location of where this purported robbery had occurred, so they didn't know even where to start. We couldn't even send police officers to a scene because we didn't know where the scene really was. While they're at the hospital questioning Hector, investigators get word of a critical new clue. Police records reveal that a Las Vegas patrolman

had pulled over the Hernandez's van not long before the homicide occurred. We found that there was a record that the van had been stopped about an hour prior Hernandez's van not long before the homicide occurred. We found that there was a record that the van had been stopped about an hour prior. And that police officer was still on duty and we'd actually talked with the police officer. And he told us what occurred during the course of the traffic stop. The reason why they got pulled over is that they left without their headlights on. And so the officer pulled them over on the suspicion of perhaps being under the influence. He determined that they were not intoxicated

to where he felt that Maria was capable of driving the vehicle. And that she could drive away. He did identify Maria via her driver's license as well as he identified and reeked. But what the officer reveals next changes the course of the investigation. It seems a third passenger was a long for the done. The first change is the course of the investigation. It seems a third passenger was

a long for the ride. The description of what the officer said compared to what was at the hospital. We knew that person was Hector Gutierrez. It's a big deal because Maria never told us that anybody else was in the van even when she was asked. And it puts the three together in this van right before the murder.

The pieces are starting to fall together for investigators and actor's story is falling apart. Following up on their suspicion, detectives obtain actor's shoes and discover there are match to the bloody prince left at the scene. When confronted with the evidence, Hector finally comes clean. He started admitting to the fact that he had been up at the homicide scene that he was in the van

and that he played a major role in his brother-in-law's death. But Hector insists that killing Enrique wasn't his idea. He claimed that he had been pressured by his sister Maria to do this act. This was Maria's idea and to utilize her brother, a Hector, to carry it home. According to Hector, it all started when his sister called him crying.

Over the course of two or three months, his sister, Maria, had been telling him of how she felt she was being mistreated by her husband. Maria, I made it that she had been unfaithful to her husband. She was afraid that Enrique was going to commit some type of violent act on her boyfriend. She indicated that she had been under a lot of stress and a lot of violence that she had sustained on the hands of Enrique, and that's one of the reasons

why she found a lover. Ektro's story is, it should have been in this troubled relationship for years. And she said that she needed help that she was desperate. She bought him a plane ticket to come down to Vegas to help her with her problem. When press a little bit more about how that abuse was taken place, he really couldn't give us anything

substantiated as far as whether that was a physical, or emotional, or even sexual. But he said that his sister had told him that she was being abused and that she wanted to quote, get rid of him. We asked him what he meant by get rid of me, and he said, kill him. Hector did not have a nasty bone in his body

that he really would be willing and saying, hey, let me do this for you, sis. He needed to be conjoiled and pushed into this. Maria reminded him about the horrible thing let me do this for you, sis. He needed to be controlled and pushed into this. Maria reminded him about the horrible thing that happened with their mom. She said that family needed to stick together. This is all what you have.

Family has to do these things for family. The way that, at least Hector explained it, was that he would do what he was told to do from his elders. That meant his sisters or anybody in his family, his siblings, and his words were, I do what I told. He felt obligated to help her, because she was the most supported to him, and they were really, really close.

But I guess that's what he felt obligated to help his sister. She ultimately wired Pector $800 for him to leave California, come to Las Vegas for the weekend during the Kins and Yura. She wanted him to have a sister in her murderous plan that she had already co-cocked in her mind. And was ultimately Hector through a heavy conscience, told us what actually occurred.

Hector tells police that Maria had planned for the three of them to go out to a local bar the night after the family celebration. Enrique was dancing with Maria. There was not a lot of alcohol consumed, but Enrique clearly was the one who had consumed a little bit more than Maria. And so that's why Maria had become the designated driver.

Maria had secreted the hatchet that he was supposed to use on his brother-in-law, and had placed it under the seat to actually got the hatchet in Idaho. It placed it in the car. So that hatchet traveled all the way from early Idaho down to Las Vegas with her husband sitting in a car, not realizing that his murder weapon was being transported by him. They then all left together in the van

with Hector sitting in the back. They drove away from the place that they were attending and crossed Las Vegas Boulevard on Trapecana where they actually got pulled over by a patrol officer. Following their traffic stop, Maria had driven the van to a dark part of town where she put the next phase of her plan into action. At that point, she started feigning

that she had engine problems. And then she pulled over and asked her husband and Rika and he'd look under the hood to see what's wrong with the car. And Rika gets out of the vehicle. Rika gets out of the vehicle with them. They open up the hood. And Rika then tells her to try to start the vehicle back up. She gets back in the vehicle and then tells Hector go.

Do it now, go. At that point, Hector decided it was the point of no return. Reach down to where the hatchet had been secreted by Maria. He got out of the van, he walked around, got behind his brother-in-law and Riga, who was looking over in the engine, and suddenly picked that hatchet up, held it over his head, and then came crashing down with a blade striking Enrique's neck area. That's when Enrique realizes he's being attacked.

He pulls his own knife, a buck knife, actually, from his pocket and tries to defend himself ultimately stabbing Hector. But Hector claims that Maria didn't just witness the attack. She was an active participant in her husband's murder. Maria actually grabbed, reached out and grabbed the arms of her husband, trying to hold him back so that her brother could continue to give the fatal blows.

Hector tells us that there was no possible way that he felt that without Maria's help, he would have been able to overpower Enrique. He said it was because of Maria, he was able to get Enrique down to the ground and ultimately hatchet him to death. She is a cold-hearted murderer, four feet eight of pure evil.

Coming up, police confront Maria with her brother's shocking accusation. Her story's continued to change. She said that her brother may have done this out of love for her. Nobody really saw this coming. In Las Vegas, Nevada, 22-year-old Hector Gutierrez has just confessed to his role in the savage murder of his brother-in-law, Enrique Hernandez. We were finally able to determine that Hector wasn't robbed. And Hector sustained his injuries due to the attack

that he and his sister conducted on Enrique. Hector was in a hospital until he was patched up. He was immediately arrested under suspicion of having committed murder and conspiracy to commit murder. He was immediately arrested under suspicion of having committed murder and conspiracy to commit murder. Detectives were quickly to bring in Hector's sister, Maria. Once in custody, Maria tries to stick with her original story of a hatchet wielding stranger that carjacked them.

The detectives confront Maria, and they start presenting her with some conflicting information that they'd learned from her brother. Through the course of time that the detectives did talk, her stories continue to change. Maria admits that the car-jacking story was a total fabrication. It was a lie. Maria tries to convince detectives that she had nothing to do with the murder, and that her brother Hector had attacked Enrique on his own. She told us that she never used a word to kill him.

She said that her brother Hector was upset with Enrique because of the way he had been treating her. She said that Enrique had been an abusive husband, that he had not been a good faithful husband himself, and that she had some problems in a relationship, and that her brother may have done this out of love for her. We felt that some were half-truths and some were just both facelies.

We attempted to try to substantiate anything that Maria had told us. We were never able to substantiate that she was in fact an abused wife. Long enforcement just did not believe that Hector did this all completely on his own, that it just so happens that the hatchet was there and that he would act in a way

that really just did not seem plausible. Because she already gave a fake story to the first one, now she's given the second version. We believed it was Maria who helped Hector hold Enrique now. Because Enrique was fighting back. And she actually held his arms down while her brother, at her direction, hector, hatcheted him to death. In addition to that, they thought

that she was probably to mastermind behind this whole horrific murder. Maria and her brother are both charged with conspiracy to commit murder, and murder in the first degree with use of a deadly weapon. And it's unbelievable that this woman, this mother of four, a small rural town had her husband killed in such a gruesome, and grisly way.

I don't think anybody within the family on both of us, I've nobody really saw this coming. How could you do that to someone you loved? How could you do that to the father of your children? So you have to figure out what the story is. What would drive somebody with no criminal record who described as a decent mother? What would drive somebody to do this sort of thing?

As prosecutors prepare for trial, they make a discovery that suggests Maria's true motive for wanting her husband dead. I did some investigation. I checked to see if Enrique had any type of substantial life insurance. Did not find any of that. I think what it really came down to it is her sense of family. RIKAY found out about the affair and was beyond upset, threatened to take the four kids with him and take them away from Maria. That's what made Maria snap. She would be removed from her children and in Maria's mind that was aligned that he did not cross.

Having him dead and out of the picture was a lot easier than stressing and worrying about losing her children. And when the time came that she needed help, she knew exactly the right person that she could manipulate into doing this horrific murder. Finally, January of 2017, they reached a deal, and they both plead guilty. It was an agreement by the state that they wouldn't seek life in prison. Hector had a term of 20 years to 50 years on the murder.

As for Maria, she receives a sentence of 25 to 70 years for her role in the crime. Maria had sent Hector the money. Maria had come up with a plan. It was Maria that put things in motion. That's why her case resolved for a little more time than what Hector's did, even though Hector was the actual person who did the killing. Although there is justice for Enrique,

his loss will forever be felt by his friends and family. I always give the question, why did you do that? It was a... expected thing, maybe I didn't think that it was my brother's fault. What's your explanation? Why did she not think about her family? It was still hard to believe. She didn't think about

her family that she was hurting. It's those children at the end of the day who ultimately pay those four children that belong to Maria and Enrique. They'll never see their father again. And they'll only see their mother behind bars if they ever choose to do so. Maria Hernandez and Hector Gutiérrez are serving their sentences within the Nevada Department

of Corrections. Maria will be eligible for parole in 2040 at the age of 58. Hector will be eligible for parole in 2035 at the age of 42. And regain Maria's children are being raised by Enrique's family. For more information on SNAP, go to oxygen.com.