The Fresno County Sheriff’s dive team recovered the body of 30-year-old Missy Hernandez on Sunday, January 16, 2022, from the bottom of the California Aqueduct. Missy had not been seen since December 7, 2021, when she left an art show in Fresno with her boyfriend, Ramon Jimenez.
In December, Public Information Officer Tony Botti told Dateline that through the initial investigation and collection of evidence, authorities had categorized Missy’s disappearance as suspicious.
Last week, the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office announced that they had arrested 41-year-old Jimenez for Missy’s murder, despite not having found Missy’s body. Jimenez is being held without bail and is scheduled to be arraigned in March, at which point he will be appointed an attorney, according to officials.
Fresno County Sheriff Margaret Mims emphasized in a press conference today that, “Based on digital evidence later discovered during the investigation, several locations were identified as places to search for Missy’s body. On two separate occasions, our search and rescue team was assisted by the Kern County Sheriff’s search and rescue team as they combed the Grapevine portion of Interstate 5, checking areas in Frazier Park and Lebec.”
They also conducted two ground searches along Highway 198 in western Fresno County.
According to a press release issued today, after not having any success in the locations searched, the decision was made to attempt a dangerous dive in a specific area of the California Aqueduct, near Huron. “The move would ultimately bring a sense of closure,” Sheriff Mims said at today’s press conference, “as Hernandez’s body was discovered, weighted down, beneath the surface.”
The press release also stated that it was through the forensic and digital evidence, and “relentlessly working this case that the Sheriff’s Homicide Unit was able to find Hernandez and deliver answers to her family.”
Nicole Linder, the Executive Director of the Marjorie Mason Center, a local women’s shelter for domestic violence victims, also spoke at the press conference, saying “The most brave thing you can do to save yourself is tell somebody, ‘I need help. And I need you to help me get it.’”
Anyone with additional information in Missy’s case is asked to contact Detective Gary Haslam at (559) 367-4734, (559) 600-8209, or the dispatch center at (559) 600-3111. You may also contact Crime Stoppers at (559) 498-7867 or at www.valleycrimestoppers.org.
If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE (7233) or visit http://thehotline.org.