LOS ANGELES — The family of a missing 13-year-old boy from Southern California confirmed that investigators found his body on Wednesday.
Los Angeles police said Oscar Omar Hernandez, from North Hollywood, was reported missing Sunday by his family.
Los Angeles police said Oscar Omar Hernandez was reported missing Sunday by his family.
A teenager took a Metrolink train to Palmdale to assist a soccer coach at a local complex, according to his family who spoke to ABC7 Eyewitness News in Los Angeles. Concern arose when he did not return home that evening, prompting his family to report him missing.
On a subsequent Wednesday, his remains were discovered beside a road in Oxnard. The Los Angeles Police Department worked alongside the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office and the FBI in the inquiry.
Police have not revealed what evidence led them to find his body more than 60 miles away in the remote area.
The mother of the teenager is shattered by the loss of her son. In an emotional plea, Gladys Bautista expressed her desire for assistance in identifying the individual accountable for her son’s tragic fate.
Bautista described her son as a happy kid who loved soccer and was excited that he was about to receive his visa so he could return to visit relatives in Honduras.
On Thursday, family and friends held a vigil where the teen’s body was found.
“He didn’t need to be treated like an animal. That was my son,” Bautista cried out in Spanish.
One of his friends there described him as the “nicest person.”
“He was just trying to have his own money and accomplish his goals in life,” another friend said.
In the evening, friends and relatives paid tribute to the teen with a memorial outside his home in North Hollywood.
“He was always kindhearted. He had such a great personality, he was funny,” 12-year-old Melanie Samayoa said. “He would always bring out a smile to us, and like one of my friend’s said he’s such a great dancer, too.”
Detectives are still investigating. A cause of death is unknown.
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