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Thread: Erick Gael Hernandez-Mendez Sentenced to LWOP in 2021 NC Murder of Christina Matos

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    Erick Gael Hernandez-Mendez Sentenced to LWOP in 2021 NC Murder of Christina Matos



    Judge: Man charged in woman’s death could face death penalty

    AP

    RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A man who police say killed his 20-year-old roommate in Raleigh, North Carolina, could face the death penalty or life in prison if he’s convicted.

    That’s what a judge told the man on Thursday during a brief court appearance, The Raleigh News & Observer reported.

    Erick Gael Hernandez-Mendez has been charged with first-degree murder in the death of Christina Matos. He has asked to be represented by the capital defender’s office.

    Christina Matos was roommates with Hernandez-Mendez. She was found dead on Sunday night. Authorities have not said how Matos died or what a motive could have been.

    Yolanda Matos, Christina’s mother, said she is surprised that someone who knew her daughter for so long is now facing charges in her death. Christina Matos and Hernandez-Mendez went to high school together.

    “I can’t believe the kids, the persons, they kill her in her house, her apartment,” she said after the court appearance. “As a mother, you live your life for your kids.”

    https://apnews.com/article/north-car...165fa74150cf0f
    Last edited by Steven; 04-12-2021 at 09:46 AM.

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    Friend says man’s bid for green card linked to marriage, woman’s killing in Raleigh

    By Ashad Hajela and Adam Wagner
    Raleigh News & Observer

    RALEIGH - A friend of Christina Maria Matos says the man accused of murdering her is an immigrant who offered to pay Matos $15,000 to marry him so he could stay in the country, media outlets reported Friday.

    Matos, 20, and Erick Gael Hernandez-Mendez, also 20, received a marriage license Feb. 12, 2021, and got married March 29, 2021, less than a week before the killing, according to county records.

    Matos was found dead in the Signature 1505 apartment on Hillsborough Street that she shared with two roommates, near the N.C. State University campus, after police did a welfare check Sunday night. She had just turned 20 years old Friday.

    Hernandez-Mendez, one of her roommates and a classmate of hers in last year’s graduating class at Clayton High School, has been charged with first-degree murder.

    Police have not said how Matos died.

    Saturday afternoon, a memorial to Matos stood in front of the Hillsborough Street apartment building.

    Dozens of prayer candles had been left at the corner of the Signature 1505 apartment building, as well as several empty liquor bottles with roses and other flowers standing in them.

    A New York Yankees hat was sitting under a happy birthday balloon — Matos, who was born in Queens, was found dead last Sunday.

    She had turned 20 years old on Friday, April 2.

    Hernandez-Mendez made his first court appearance Thursday, where he asked to be represented by the capital defender’s office. A judge told him, if convicted, he could face the death penalty or life in prison without parole.

    MARRIAGE WAS WAY TO GET CITIZENSHIP, FRIEND SAYS

    Matos and Hernandez-Mendez were not involved romantically, friends of Matos told ABC 11, The News & Observer’s media partner. The marriage was a way for Hernandez-Mendez to obtain his Green Card.

    Savannah Ferrell, a friend of Matos', told ABC11: “He came to Christina in hopes that they could get married and he could be a legal citizen, and he promised, ‘OK, if we marry, I’ll give you $15,000 and we kind of like, kind of go our separate ways and eventually get divorced in three years.’ Christina had the full intention, just to get divorced, get her check and be gone.”

    Ferrell told WRAL that Matos planned to use the money to help her family.

    The News & Observer was not able to reach Ferrell on Friday.

    Another friend, Najiah Williams, told ABC11 that Hernandez-Mendez attended a vigil for Matos this week, before police charged him with her murder.

    “He carried the balloons with me. He cried in the car with me. Like I couldn’t fathom that,” Williams told ABC11.

    Laura Hourigan, a Raleigh Police Department spokeswoman, told The N&O Friday night that investigators do not know Hernandez-Mendez’s citizenship status.

    Eric Curry, a spokesman for the Wake County Sheriff’s Office, said Hernandez-Mendez is not wanted on a detainer from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and did not have a previous criminal record.

    Hernandez Mendez is being held in the Wake County Detention Center without bail.

    https://www.newsobserver.com/news/lo...250551604.html
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

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    Raleigh woman died from repeated stab wounds at Hillsborough Street apartment

    Christina Maria Matos, the 20-year-old woman found slain in her Hillsborough Street apartment, died from multiple stab wounds to the neck, Wake County death records state. At her funeral Monday, friends and family filled the chapel and remembered a young woman of deep faith and a large heart, curious about the world and eager to help its less fortunate.

    “She was always the one asking was everybody OK,” said Will Kelley, youth minister at Everett Chapel Freewill Baptist Church in Clayton. “She was always the one who took the initiative.

    “You’re sad,” he continued outside Lea Funeral Home. “You’re confused. There’s a little bit of anger. There’s a lot of things you don’t understand, and you’re broken for the family.”

    Matos’ death certificate states she died within minutes of being stabbed.

    Erick Gael Hernandez-Mendez, also 20, is charged with her murder and could face the death penalty if convicted.

    Classmates married week before killing

    Former classmates at Clayton High School, Matos and Hernandez-Mendez received a marriage license in February and were married March 29, records show.

    Last week, a friend said Hernandez-Mendez had offered to pay Matos $15,000 to marry him so so he could stay in the United States, according to ABC 11, the N&O’s media partner.

    “He came to Christina in hopes that they could get married and he could be a legal citizen, and he promised, ‘OK, if we marry, I’ll give you $15,000 and we kind of like, kind of go our separate ways and eventually get divorced in 3 years,’ “ Savannah Ferrell told the station. “Christina had the full intention, just to get divorced, get her check and be gone.”

    At the funeral, Kelley said he knew the suspect only in passing.

    “I had met him a few times when he had been to church,” the youth pastor recalled. “I didn’t really have a close relationship with him. I knew him as a passerby.”

    Matos took classes at Wake Tech in the fall, but was not enrolled in the spring semester, a school spokesperson told The News & Observer.

    She was a former server at Jonathan’s Sports Lounge & Grill, according to the bar’s Facebook page. Matos’ father Gerardo Mato said his daughter worked as a waitress at Mango’s Nightclub.

    Family did not know about marriage

    Her family has said they knew little about the pair’s life together and the circumstances of her death.

    “We know nothing,” said her aunt, Norma Matos. “Everything for us is a surprise. We don’t even know how she died. We have no forensics, nothing. Today is the day for saying goodbye to Christina. It is very tragic. Very sad.”

    At Monday’s service, her brother Abraham stood before dozens of mourners in front of her open casket, struggling to say goodbye.

    “It was a blessing to have been her brother,” he said. “She will always be remembered as that hard-working, big-hearted woman that she was.”

    In a phone interview, he also said the family did not know about his sister’s marriage arrangement.

    source: The Durham Herald Sun

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    Jury finds suspect guilty in murder of NC State student, sentenced to life with no parole

    By Glyniss Wiggins and Judith Retana
    WNCN News

    RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) — After deliberation that started Tuesday in the murder trial of N.C. State student Christina Matos, on Wednesday afternoon a jury found Erick Hernandez-Mendez guilty of first-degree murder of his wife.

    Hernandez-Mendez was accused of stabbing 20-year-old Matos to death in 2021. He has been sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.

    In court on Tuesday, Hernandez-Mendez said that he needed his wife alive to complete an immigration visa process. He asked jurors to believe he was telling the truth in court. Hernandez-Mendez told jurors during his testimony that the marriage with Matos was only in the interest of getting a green card. He said he paid her $15,000 so she could marry him.

    Hernandez-Mendez also blamed co-defendant Kailey Lynch-Firicano, their roommate, for the murder. Lynch-Firicano is charged with accessory after the fact and obstruction of justice in June 2023.

    On April 4, 2021, Matos was foun d dead from multiple stab wounds at her apartment on Hillsborough Street. Hernandez-Mendez was arrested and charged on April 9, 2021.

    Hernandez-Mendez plans to appeal the guilty verdict, according to court officials.

    https://www.wnct.com/news/north-caro...ith-no-parole/
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

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