Beloved Texas School Librarian Is Discovered Dead by Her Daughter, and Cop Husband Is Suspect
Belinda Hernandez led an enriching life but never lost sight of the dream she carried in her heart.
“I was very happily married; I loved my children,” she reflected in a 2014 interview with the Houston Chronicle. “But I always had my one regret. I wished I had gone to college and become a teacher.”
In 2011 she enrolled in classes and did just that, eventually landing a job with the Pearland, Texas, Independent School district as the librarian at Shadycrest Elementary School.
On Saturday she was found shot dead in the kitchen of her Pearland home. The murder suspect is her husband, Hilario Hernandez, a sergeant with the Houston Police Department who was arrested and charged the same day, according to police.
The news meant that grief counselors were on hand Monday as students arrived to discover Mrs. Hernandez would never be coming back.
“Mrs. Hernandez was a beloved, longtime employee who worked for Pearland ISD for 15 years,” the school district said in a statement released over the weekend, reports Houston TV station KHOU. “Pearland ISD will provide counselors for students and staff for as long as needed. For the privacy of the family, this is the only information that will be shared by Pearland ISD at this time.”
The couple had two children and had been married for more than 30 years, reports KTRK.
Police responded to the home around noon Saturday after the 52-year-old victim’s daughter found her dead, according to the news outlet.
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Her 56-year-old husband was named in an arrest warrant, and his vehicle subsequently was found about 250 miles away in Kingsville, Texas, where he was arrested at a motel by local police aided by state troopers.
Authorities have not released a motive.
Hilario Hernandez was taken Sunday to the Brazoria County jail, where he remains. It could not be determined if he has entered a plea to the felony charge of murder or retained an attorney who could speak on his behalf.
A longtime friend of the victim’s said she saw Belinda Hernandez at the elementary school on Friday afternoon.
“Gave her a hug and you would have never known that anything was wrong,” the friend told KTRK. “She seemed happy.”
The school district statement said: “Please keep our Shadycrest family and the Hernandez family in your prayers.”
