Accused baby-killer extradited from Mexico after 9 years
DNA test will determine if the baby belonged to the accused
Cash bail of $100,000 was set Thursday for Ernesto Benitez Hernandez, who has been hiding out in his native Mexico for the past nine years, avoiding a charge of murdering a 1-year-old girl in Madison in 1999.
Benitez Hernandez, 38, and the girl's mother, Erica Arellano, fled from Madison as little Maria Fernanda Hernandez was dying at University Hospital in Madison, from injuries that Benitez Hernandez admitted causing.
The hospital phoned Benitez Hernandez in the early morning hours at the home of Angelina and Ricardo Montes -- where Benitez Hernandez, Arellano and little Maria had been staying -- to say Maria had taken a turn for the worst. Rather than going to the hospital as the Monteses wanted to do, Benitez Hernandez insisted he and Arellano flee.
He instructed Arellano to sign over the baby
to the Monteses and Arellano did so. Benitez Hernandez and Arellano
then packed their belongings and fled, as police sirens could be
heard approaching the home.
The luck of their narrow escape continued in the next days, after their car broke down near Bridgman, Mich. Using phony names, they escaped arrest and even managed to obtain work permits. Then they hitched a ride with a truck driver heading to Oklahoma and had not returned since.
But luck ran out for Benitez Hernandez when a
tipster told police in Mexico where he was. Bernitez Hernandez was
arrested and extradited back to Madison to face first-degree
intentional homicide charges.
Police obtained a search warrant to get a DNA
sample from Benitez Hernandez in hopes of establishing whether he
is the father of Maria.
The search warrant documents say Arellano was trying to convince Benitez Hernandez that Maria was his daughter, but no determination of her paternity was made at the time of the murder investigation. With more sophisticated testing now available, that can now likely be done.
According to the criminal complaint issued against Benitez Hernandez, the baby girl was first brought to the hospital on Saturday Sept. 18, 1999, when Arellano told a nurse the girl had been vomiting since Friday. Maria had numerous bruises on the left side of her head and face, and there were signs of human bite marks.
Police were called and began investigating child abuse as doctors and nurses were treating the child. Suddenly, in the early morning hours of Sept. 19, the baby had difficulty breathing and the call was made to Benitez Hernandez.
He and Arellano had been on the road for 16 hours when doctors declared the little girl brain-dead. An autopsy by Dr. Robert Huntington III, showed Maria had suffered injuries that were not accidental and were consistent with shaking or impact syndrome, the complaint says.
In a conversation with Angelina Montes at the hospital on Sept. 18, Benitez Hernandez said, "I caused the bruises to Maria," the criminal complaint says.
And after getting the call from the hospital on Sept. 19, the complaint says, Benitez Hernandez told Angelina Montes he would not go back to the hospital, but would leave town.
"Yes, I have to go," the complaint quotes him as saying. "I don't want to spend time in prison."
If convicted, Benitez Hernandez would face a mandatory sentence of life in prison, with the judge having the discretion to set a parole eligibility date anytime after 20 years.
Dane County Court Commissioner Todd Meurer at Thursday's initial appearance for Benitez Hernandez ordered that he have no contact with any of the witnesses named in the criminal complaint, including Arellano.
