Suspect in slaying of N.J. kindergarten teacher arrested

Authorities arrested one suspect and were seeking a second in the mysterious demise of New Jersey kindergarten teacher Luz Hernandez, who was found dead and buried in a shallow grave earlier this week.

Cesar Santana, 36, was arrested in a Miami motel early Friday by members of the U.S. Marshals Service Southern District of Florida and the U.S. Marshals Service New York/New Jersey Regional Fugitive Task Force, according to the Hudson County Prosecutor’s office.

Santana was held in Miami-area jail pending his extradition back to New Jersey, where he will face charges including one count of desecrating or concealing human remains.

Law enforcement sources told NJ.com that Santana is Hernandez’s ex and the father of her children.

Authorities are also seeking another suspect, 26-year-old Leiner Miranda Lopez, who is facing the same charges as Santana. His relationship with the victim was not clear.

The announcement comes days after authorities uncovered Hernandez’s body near Central Avenue and Third Street in Kearny, miles away from where she lived and worked.

Her death was officially ruled a homicide on Thursday, after an autopsy revealed she died from “blunt force trauma to the head and compressions to the neck,” the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office said.

Hernandez, a 33-year-old mother and teacher at BelovED Charter School in Jersey City, was initially reported missing on Monday after she failed to show up for work.

Authorities performed a wellness check the next day, which ultimately led them to believe a crime occurred. They did not provide further details, but according to NJ.com, police discovered blood splattered on her apartment door.

Amid their investigation, authorities learned Santana and Lopez were involved in a traffic stop on Sunday, the day before Hernandez was reported missing. The vehicle they’d been traveling in at the time was unregistered and impounded as a result.