Leiner Miranda Lopez
On Wednesday, September 11, 2024, members of the United States Marshals Service and the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office Homicide Unit arrested a 28-year-old fugitive wanted in connection with the 2023 death of Luz Hernandez.
Leiner Miranda Lopez, of Jersey City, was previously charged with Murder in violation of N.J.S.A. 2C:11-3a(1)(2); Hindering in violation of N.J.S.A. 2C:29-3b; Failing to Dispose of Human Remains in a Manner Prescribed by Law in violation of N.J.S.A. 2C:22-1b; Tampering with Physical Evidence in violation of N.J.S.A. 2C:28-6a(1); and Desecrating/Concealing Human Remains in violation of N.J.S.A. 2C:22-1. He was taken into custody at Newark Liberty International Airport and is being held at the Hudson County Correctional Facility pending his first court appearance.
Colombian authorities arrested Miranda Lopez on June 14, 2023, pursuant to a U.S. provisional arrest request. On September 11, 2024, Miranda Lopez was subsequently extradited from Bogota, Colombia, to the United States. Miranda Lopez and co-defendant Cesar Santana, 38, of Jersey City, were both indicted by a Grand Jury on Monday, May 15, 2023.
On Tuesday, February 7, 2023, the body of a female – later identified as Luz Hernandez, 33, of Jersey – was recovered in a shallow grave in the area of Central Avenue and Third Street in Kearny. She was pronounced dead at the scene. The Regional Medical Examiner’s Office determined the Cause of Death to be Blunt Force Trauma to the Head and Compressions to the Neck and the Manner of Death to be Homicide. This matter is being investigated as an act of domestic violence.
Prosecutor Suarez credited the arrest to the Homicide Unit, United States Marshals Service, and the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs and Narcotic and Dangerous Drug Section’s Judicial Attaché’s Office in Bogota, Colombia, who worked with Colombian authorities to secure the arrest and extradition of Miranda Lopez. The above charges are merely accusations, and the defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty. R.P.C.3.6(b)(6).