BAKER – After a five-month investigation by San Bernardino County Sheriff’s detectives, a murder suspect was arrested on Thursday related to a body discovered at a remote location this past March.
The homicide detail arrested Angel Francisco Hernandez, 27, of Baker, after detectives tracked him down as a suspect in the death of a man found by Caltrans workers on March 19.
Ernest Ortega Huerta, 39, had been discovered by the workers at 8:23 a.m. that day. Caltrans was grading the shoulder of State Highway 127 near mile marker 31. The body was lying in the open desert.
Sheriff’s deputies and California Highway Patrol units responded to the scene. When Ortega’s death was ruled a homicide by authorities, the sheriff’s homicide detail entered the investigation.
Detective Mike Walker and Sgt. Jason Radeleff, chief investigators in the case, did not disclose how they were led to Hernandez, but during the five-month investigation, Hernandez’s name surfaced as a suspect.
On Thursday, investigators contacted Hernandez at his residence in Baker, a faraway high desert community which is located over halfway between San Bernardino and Las Vegas along Interstate 10. The investigators did not disclose any possible motives for the killing.
According to reports, Hernandez was contacted at his residence, taken to the Barstow Sheriff’s Station about 60 miles away, and interviewed. Hernandez was booked into the Barstow jail on murder charges. State Route 127, located in a remote and desolate location, runs along the southeastern edge of Death Valley National Park, cutting through a mountain range as it enters Inyo County.
Hernandez, who is listed as ineligible for bail, will appear in Victorville Superior Court on Monday, facing a charge of murder, according to county records.
