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Police search for killer
Investigation for motive continues as family grieves, wonders why
By Robert Airoldi and Melissa Evans, STAFF WRITERS
FREMONT -- Police continued to search Monday for a man who used a large tree branch to bludgeon to death a Newark mother and her daugh-ter early Sunday morning on a quiet residential street in Centerville.
Investigators are frustrated over their inability to determine a motive in the killing of Maria Esperanza Hernandez, 39, and Maria del Carmen Hernandez, 19, said Detective Bill Veteran. The women were found about 3 a.m. Sunday at the corner of Contra Costa Avenue and Alameda Drive, after a neighbor called police to report scream-ing and fighting near his home.
"Almost all homicides are investigated from the inside out," Veteran said. "We usually don't have to get too far out of that circle to find the motive and we're not getting there in this case. It is unusual."
A relative of the victims, meanwhile, said they were wal-king because the mother was an undocumented immigrant who could not obtain a driver's license
Shortly after Arnold Schwar-zenegger became governor, the state Legislature acted on one of his campaign promises by over turning a law that would have allowed such workers to obtain licenses.
"She has no license, she was not able to drive," said Fily Cuellar, Maria Esperanza Hernandez's nephew and the younger girl's cousin. "It's a very difficult political situation. She was not able to get a license, so then they had to walk. And this happened."
The mother, who worked at Fremont Care Center on Country Drive, usually got a ride to begin her early morning shift, Cuellar said, but after her ride fell through Sunday she decided to walk the almost four miles to work. Her daughter walked with her, not wanting her mother to walk alone.
About 2:30 a.m., Cuellar said, his wife received a call from the women, who already had begun walking but were asking for a ride. Cuellar's wife left to pick them up, he said, and as she exited at Thornton Avenue, she called to find out exactly where they were.
"There was screaming and she called her name, 'Carmen,' and the call cut off," Cuellar said. "She couldn't find them."
An anonymous neighbor who heard the women screaming said it was only about 10 seconds from the time he woke up to the time he discovered the bodies outside his home.
His son called police while they watched a man run from the scene and a car head in the opposite direction. The driver, he said, flicked off the car lights, perhaps to mask the license plate number.
Richard Wise, another neighbor who was visiting a friend Saturday evening, arrived home about 2:45 a.m. -- about the same time the killings took place.
He said he heard his neighbor and his son calling for help, and ran to the corner, where he saw the two women lying in a pool of blood.
Both women, he said, were face down on the pavement about a foot apart with their hands at their sides and palms up. The mother was wearing thin white gloves.
The daughter's midsection was exposed, he said. She was wearing a short jacket, and it looked as though her pants had been pulled down, but not off. A pair of black underwear, however, was lying next to her and looked as though it had been ripped off.
But Veteran said investigators don't believe either woman was sexually assaulted.
"That could be the result of a struggle," Veteran said of the torn clothes. "But we haven't discounted anything."
After discovering the bodies, Wise ran back to his house to get a flashlight.
"I came back and was looking for a sign of life, but there was none," he said. "They were clearly dead."
Veteran said a dozen officers spent Super Bowl Sunday knocking on doors and interviewing family, friends, co-workers and acquaintances in an effort to solve Fremont's second and third homicides of the year. Niles Elementary School custodian Debra Abbey was shot to death Jan. 9.
Police are looking for a 6-foot-tall white man who was wearing a blue denim jacket with tan sleeves. He last was seen running southeast on Contra Costa Avenue. They are also looking for a 1988 to 1992 light-colored, two-door Honda Accord occupied by three men. The car last was seen leaving the crime scene, traveling southwest on Alameda Drive.
The tree branch, three inches in diameter and about 30 inches long, was recovered at the scene and is at the Fremont Police Department's crime lab awaiting analysis, Veteran said.
Maria Esperanza Hernandez had worked at the care center for three years and had moved to Newark from Fremont about eight months ago. She had been in the United States since 1986. Her daughter, who wanted to go to school and learn English, moved here last year, Cuellar said.
The daughter had worked at Carl's Jr. at the corner of Thornton Avenue and Fremont Boulevard for the past six months. Holding back tears, a supervisor said Monday she was a good worker and well-liked. She was supposed to work an 11 a.m. shift the day of the killings, he said.
Staff writer Jennifer Kho contributed to this report.
Link to the local paper. I love how they had to get the little snipped in their about the undocumented worker... and how it is the Govinators fault. 
