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Nancy Grace
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Nancy Grace
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. A shock roadside discovery.
Narrator/Reporter
A little boy last seen with an illegal immigrant soccer coach found dead. In the last days, prosecutors add charges against the youth soccer coach now accused of not just murder but sex crimes on the boy.
Nancy Grace
I'm Nancy Grace, this is Crime Stories.
Narrator/Reporter
I want to thank you for being with us. A youth soccer coach, illegal immigrant Mario Edgardo Garcia Aquino, charged not only with killing a boy, one of his own players, but sex assaulting him as well. In the last days, prosecutors file an additional nine counts of sex abuse against him involving another child he coached. What happened to this little boy?
Oscar Omar Hernandez is a 13 year old student and soccer player in Sun Valley, California. Dedicated to his team and the sport, Oscar eagerly agrees to help his coach make jerseys one Friday night. But concerns grow when the 13 year old boy doesn't return home.
Nancy Grace
13 years old, just turned 13. He hadn't even lived 13 years yet. He only lived 12 years and some days. Why is this little boy dead and callously thrown on the side of the road? According to witnesses, he was last seen with his youth soccer coach.
Narrator/Reporter
Listen, Mr. Garcia Aquino was his soccer coach and on that day, Omar Hernandez went up to lancaster to see Mr. Garcia Aquino. Two days later he was reported missing and on April 2, 2025 last week his body was found in Oxnard off a road near Leo Carrillo State Beach.
Oscar Omar is the baby of the Hernandez family. 13. Oscar has settled into his life in North Hollywood. Known as Omar to his seventh grade classmates at the Sun Valley Magnet School, he gets good grades and is well liked. But above all, he's a standout soccer player. If Oscar isn't helping out at home or in school, you can find him at the Whitsit soccer fields.
Nancy Grace
This little boy just turned 13, lived and breathed soccer just like my son. He was always at the soccer field and we believe that is how he met. According to Homeland Security, a depraved illegal alien who was a youth soccer coach.
Narrator/Reporter
Listen, Oscar is out playing soccer. Garcia Aquino approaches Oscar about joining the Walkin Club. When Garcia Aquino offers him one on one lessons without charge, Oscar jumps at the chance.
On a Friday afternoon, Coach Garcia Quino gives his star student a call inviting Oscar to make some money doing a few odd jobs at His Lancaster home. Oscar, a hard worker who would love an addition to his allowance, is immediately interested. Before the 13 year old really gets permission from his family, he grabs the next train to Lancaster, a two hour trip. Oscar facetimes his brother Josue from the train, telling him coach will drop him back at home tomorrow morning.
Nancy Grace
Joining me in all star panel to make sense of what we are learning tonight. But I know this much. The body of a 13 year old little boy who trusted his soccer coach implicitly was found thrown by the side of the road like trash. But how did he get there? What led up to that? Joining me, as I said, an all star panel. But first, let me go to Sierra Vanderbrug, crime safety reporter at LA Daily News. Sierra, thank you for being with us. Tell me about this soccer field and how is it that this little boy is out there playing when he is approached and befriended by an illegal alien soccer coach?
Sierra Vanderbrug
We still have a lot of questions about the process of Garcia Aquino meeting Hernandez, but reports indicate that he was his soccer coach on a travel boys team located out here in the San Fernando Valley. Sheriff Robert Luna here in Los Angeles told us that Garcia Aquino worked as a coach for a youth travel soccer team called the Hurricane Valley Boys Soccer Club where he coached varying age groups.
Nancy Grace
You know, I'm very curious as to your take on this. Moses Castillo joining me, private investigator with the D' or Dulian Law Group, former supervisor, detective with the LAPD. Mr. Castillo, thank you for being with us. It sounds like a textbook case. A textbook case. The boy lives, breathes and eats soccer. When he's not in school, he's at the soccer fields and he is approached by this youth soccer coach and now he's dead. Moses.
Moses Castillo
Yes. Horrible. Thank you for having me, Nancy. First of all, I want to tell you that these groomers are great at what they do. Not only do they earn the trust of the victims that they're targeting, but they also gain the trust of their parents, their family. To the point where they let them get on the train and travel all the way two hours to where he lives and spend the night. Unbelievable that this even happened. But that's the reality. These groomers are so good that they can convince a family that to do just that.
Nancy Grace
Another thing, Moses Castillo, they, they dangle in front of the children and the family that the child has amazing soccer skills or amazing, fill in the blank skills, tennis skills, football skills, basketball skills, and that they could get a college scholarship maybe, or maybe even play pro. And for a lot of children, I Mean, it would have been a huge carrot if my family, when we were growing up, you know, nobody had ever been to college in our family if they thought, wow, she's so good at blank. We can get her in college for free. She can get tuition and a college education. I mean, that's the kind of lure that makes parents believe these coaches.
Moses Castillo
Absolutely. They tell me Johnny's a great player, he's going to be a star, and so on and so forth. But I got to tell you, sources closer to the investigation have told me that this was a self proclaimed coach. He wasn't certified, he wasn't registered with any league as a coach whatsoever. And when the authorities search his residence, they did find pleader ID cards, they found registration forms, applications, which tells me that some league give him access to these children and they should never have done that.
Nancy Grace
Oh my stars. How do you did he do it? You're telling me that adults believed his scam and let him have access to these children? I mean, we know that he approached the little boy Oscar and said, wow, you're amazing and offered him private soccer lessons. Coaching for free. That doesn't happen. My son is a soccer player and he gets goalie lessons. But through the school, the school has a goalie coach that is helping the goalies. This guy just walks out onto a soccer field, approaches a little boy and says, hey, you're awesome. I'm going to give you soccer coaching for free. That's what happened, Moses.
Moses Castillo
That is crazy. And that's bizarre that it went unchecked and nobody stepped in and said, hey, show me your credentials. You're not certified. Parents need to be more vigilant and confirm these things. Are you going to be the coach? Show me your credentials. Show me that you've been certified, that you've been live scanned, that you went through a background check, that you've been through the training. All that was missed.
Nancy Grace
But you know what, you know what? Let me go to Karen Stark, guys. Karen is renowned psychologist joining us out of Manhattan. TV, radio, trauma expert. And you can find her@karenstark.com Karen Parents that are uneducated and I don't mean didn't go to college, I don't mean that. I mean parents like my parents. Why would they question that? Someone's not a soccer coach, right?
Karen Stark
Yes.
Nancy Grace
It's easy for us to say why didn't the parents know? Why didn't the parents check him out? But I'm thinking back when we were growing up, we were exposed to all sorts of adults that didn't have a background check. It didn't have credentials. So I don't. I don't really blame the parents here.
Anna Tsunoda
This is somebody who came across so charismatic outwardly, and he was considered trusted by these children, these boys, they thought he was fabulous. How would they know anything else? And the parents believed him. They are so skilled. This kind of guy is so skilled at coming across that way. But underneath, this is a predator. This is what he wants. He wants psychosexual fulfillment. And so he does the best job he can to convince them they should trust him with their children.
Nancy Grace
You know, Sierra Vanderbrug is joining us from Daily News. You know, I'm looking at those photos. Sierra, take a look at those photos we were just showing. It shows the coach with a team. Now, explain to me he was. He approached little Oscar about joining the club. What club?
Sierra Vanderbrug
So we had Sheriff Robert Luna here in Los Angeles confirming that Garcia Aquino worked as a coach for a youth travel soccer league called the Hurricane Valley Boys Soccer Club, and that as a part of this club, he coached various age groups.
Nancy Grace
Oh, a travel league. That. That's. That's a lot different. Okay, Sierra, explain. What is a travel league?
Sierra Vanderbrug
To my understanding, a travel league would be a competitive team that would travel around to multiple locations competing in soccer games.
Nancy Grace
Okay. Now, and they're not school affiliated. Moses Castillo, my son, played with a similar league. All right? And they. They don't travel far, but they do travel, say, an hour, two hours max, to play basketball. So it's not really affiliated with a school, like you were saying, but it's a travel league, and I find that really interesting because this coach. This coach would then have access to these boys, many of them very young and very small, away from the parents. Moses.
Moses Castillo
Yes, his movie is very, very specific and targeted. He would like to get these kids alcohol, get them drunk, have them over, sleepovers, that kind of thing. And some of them would wake up the next morning, feelings like something went wrong, something happened to them, but they were just too afraid, too ashamed to speak up. But this went on for a long
Nancy Grace
time, and they may not have really understood what went wrong. I mean, they wake up and their clothes may be misadjusted, or they might feel queasy, but they don't really know what happened. It's a. A nightmare scenario, especially for a little boy like this who has just turned 13. Sierra, again, how did this suspect meet little Oscar?
Sierra Vanderbrug
It's unclear the specifics of how he exactly met Oscar, but we've been told that he was his soccer coach. So previous relationship established as a coach
Nancy Grace
to Oscar Moses Castillo. Joining me, private investigator with the d' Or Delean Law Group. Moses, have you seen the image of the Whitsett park facility? It's huge.
Moses Castillo
Absolutely. That's why these predators, they seek these positions because that's a high victim, target rich environment. And that's exactly it. And I gotta tell you, playing on those fields costs money. You have to get permits, you have to pay for that. And he did this unnoticed, unchecked for years.
Victim Advocate
Once you see the photos of this individual that if you may have been a victim, please come forward. I know it's not easy. I know it could be either embarrassing, you don't want to tell somebody. But it's very important that we bring justice not only to the family here to my left, but any families that may have been victimized by this.
Nancy Grace
How could a beautiful young first grade teacher be stabbed 20 times, including in the back, allegedly die of suicide? Yes, that was the medical examiner's official ruling. After a closed door meeting, he first named it a homicide. Why? What happened to Ellen Greenberg? A huge American miscarriage of justice. For an in depth look at the facts, see what happened to Ellen on Amazon. All proceeds to the national center for Missing and exploited children.
Narrator/Reporter
13 year old Oscar Omar Hernandez eagerly takes the train from his home in Sun Valley to Palmade, California with the hopes of helping out his coach make jerseys for the team. But 24 hours later, Oscar still hasn't returned home despite claims from his coach that he dropped the teen off.
Nancy Grace
This is what we know right now. According to Homeland Security, the coach is actually a, quote, depraved illegal alien. Their words, not mine. Why do they say that? And how did this little boy end up hours away from home with the soccer coach?
Narrator/Reporter
Listen, later that night, Josue tries to call Oscar again, but it's not his little brother that answers Garcia. Aquino picks up saying Oscar can't come to the phone because his hands are dirty. Josue tries to ask exactly what time he can expect Oscar home, but the coach waves him off once again promising he'll bring Oscar home at a reasonable time Saturday.
Nancy Grace
Now, we were talking earlier and I believe it was you, Moses Castillo, and I understand why you said it that why didn't the parents check this guy out? Why didn't they ask for a background check where he was certified? Well, I don't know if you're going to remember the name Jerry Sandusky that was ultimately accused of, oh, I don't even know how many Molestations.
Victim/Testimony
Listen, I was kind of thinking that he was going to get off scot free with this and then I'm just going to be another kid in the front page of the newspaper that has a big liar stamped across his forehead.
Victim Advocate
The amount of damage he did and the number of people that he harms is something that I don't know.
Nancy Grace
I don't know that anybody knows. For our friends @ABC and CBS, I mean, for Pete sake, Karen Stark, when Castillo rightfully is saying, well, did the parents check him out? That would be an obvious question. We parents trust the coach, we trust the school. Right? They trusted the youth league as it is called here. You had Jerry Sandusky, the long time renowned, venerable coach, the winner. And all this time he had been raping boys in his charge and everybody was too afraid to say anything about it.
Anna Tsunoda
Especially, especially when you think about it, Nancy, the boys, it's not just they weren't sure of what happened in this case when they stayed overnight. It's also that children are afraid to report these predators. They're in a position of author. We're talking about a coach. We're talking about sometimes someone who's very well known. The parents completely trust them. Why shouldn't they? I mean everyone.
Nancy Grace
Hey. And you know, jumping off what you just said, Karen, Coach Jerry Sandusky, it wasn't that he was just the Pennsylvania State assistant football coach, but he gave summer training to Pennsylvania's underprivileged and at risk youth. That is where he met most of his victims. Right? And they were about the age of Oscar, the little boy Oscar that we're talking about right now. Dubai, 45 counts of sex abuse. And look who he targeted. He targeted at risk little boys, boys that were underprivileged boys whose parents were probably both working or had a one parent in the home who was working and was just happy that their child had been picked by Sandusky to go to his the Second Mile sports camp for underprivileged youth. They probably thought Dubai, they were so lucky to get their child in the summer camp.
Jerry Sandusky Expert
Sandusky had a knack for picking out unsophisticated, uncultured people and he would also garner the sympathy, the respect and the admiration of their parents. So nobody had a problem with him being a part of their lives. But unbeknownst to everybody in the dark, sort of hintergrund, as we say, he was actually laying hands on these kids. He had abnormal sexual perversions and nobody really knew what was going on. And These kids had a warped sense of achievement and accomplishment and kind of went along with it to get along, if you will. And it wasn't until one kid cried foul and said, no, take your hands off me, that the story blew wide open. So it takes one kid for this whole thing to really come to a halt. And fortunately, there was a kid that was courageous enough to come forward. And now Sandusky will spend the rest of his life in prison.
Nancy Grace
I hope you're sitting down. He served in this capacity 22 years as the defensive coordinator, 22 years assistant coach at Penn State. He received the assistant coach of the year twice. He authored multiple books related to his football coaching experiences. He founded this nonprofit, the Second Mile, for Pennsylvania's underprivileged children. And after he retired from Penn State, he continued working with Second Mile on and on and on. It took a grand jury, a secret grand jury, two years to investigate him. He was charged with 52 counts of sex abuse over 15 years that we know of. The children were all afraid to come forward, much like this victim.
Victim/Testimony
Listen, I was kind of thinking that he was going to get off scot free with this and then I'm just going to be another kid in the front page of the newspaper that has a big liar stamped across his forehead.
Nancy Grace
That's from our friends at ABC 2020. And here it seems as if history is repeating itself again. To Dr. Michelle Dupree, joining me, a renowned forensic pathologist, medical examiner, former detective at Lexington County Sheriff's Department, author of a brand new book, money, Mischief and Murder, the Murdoch Dynasty, the rest of the story. But for my purposes, she is also the author of the Homicide Investigation Field Guide and the Child Abuse Investigation Field Guide. I'm curious because we see here, Dr. Dupree, according to investigative reports that we've obtained the coach. And I'm saying that in quoties, the illegal alien coach first of all befriended the little boy at the Whitsett park complex offering free soccer lessons. But then the lure went further. He lured the little boy by saying he had odd jobs for him at his place and that he would pay him. It's our understanding he was going to work on making jerseys or monogramming jerseys or something to do with the soccer jerseys. So now you've got a little boy, just turned 13, alone on transit, going two hours away from home to be alone with a coach at his house, quote, making jerseys.
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Nancy Grace
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Nancy Grace
Crime stories with Nancy Grace.
Narrator/Reporter
The soccer coach Garcia Aquino pled not guilty to the new charges. The new charges being eight counts of sodomy with a minor under 16 and one count of oral copulation with a minor. This is according to the LA County Deputy District Attorney. The parents had no idea what was happening to their son.
Nancy Grace
The movie, the modus operandi, the method of operation, you get the child alone. Whether you like I was talking to Sierra Vanderburgh earlier, Whether you get them at your in your vehicle, your truck, your camper, whether you lure them to your home, you get the child alone. And that is where everything goes sideways. How many cases have you seen homicide cases where the child is lured away?
Karen Stark
Nancy this is a common scenario. This is exactly how they operate. They initially meet the child. They're very personable. Most of these people are personable. They are liked by the kids. They're liked by the families. They gain their trust. And once they gain that trust, it's a little bit at a time, they continue to befriend them, continue to offer them a carrot, if you will, and a bigger reward for something. And children are trusting. You know, children don't think like adults. In most cases, they trust adults. And oftentimes they won't tell if something is a little bit suspicious because they don't know. And also, this is an adult. They wonder would anybody really believe me or not? So this is not uncommon. This is their method of operation. And unfortunately it works way too many times.
Nancy Grace
Dr. Dupree, I never cried. I never got sick. I never vomited. Nothing at the sight of a dead body or on a homicide scene ever. But there was one time I thought I was going to throw up. I didn't. And it was when a child was on the autopsy table. When you see children on the autopsy table over and over and over, it's like, I know right now I'm preaching to the choir. But parents don't get it. I mean, my parents didn't get it. I was left with adults unsupervised that we really didn't know. And through the grace of God, nothing happened to me or my brother or sister. But Parents are trusting, especially when the molester is clothed with the indicia of reliability. He's wearing a soccer uniform. You've got see pictures of him with teams like we're showing you. But he was not with a school, he was not sanctioned, nothing like that. And I mean, do you ever get weary, Dr. Dupree, seeing one child on the autopsy table after the next?
Karen Stark
All the time, Nancy. It's one of the worst cases a medical examiner could ever have. Children and elderly, you know, they're supposed to be protected, they're trusting and they should be, but it doesn't often work out well and this is one of the reasons why. And yes, it gets to me and it gets to others every single time. This should not be happening to our kids.
Narrator/Reporter
Oscar's family is worried sick. After more than a day with no sign of their 13 year old son and soccer student, the boys soccer coach promises he dropped the teen off, but Oscar is nowhere to be found. Then a mysterious text from Oscar's phone claiming the 13 year old is at a party with friends.
Nancy Grace
Joining me now is Anna Tsunoda, clinical social worker who focuses on forensic issues like this and she is the author of Duck Duck Groom. Anna, this is the textbook, the seminal example of luring you heard me lay out. First he was approached at Whitsit soccer complex which is huge and says hey, free one on one coaching for soccer because you're so amazing. Oscar just turned 13. Then he lures him to his house, then he won't respond appropriately to the family. Now we're hearing about a text, a text from little Oscar that says he was going to a party with friends. I mean it would be a cold day in he doublel that my children who are now 17 would just announce they were going to a party with friends. That doesn't happen. I mean I've got to know where are you going with who, who's driving when you're going to be home, what's the location? Have fun, right? So you know, Anna, I strongly believe that the coach was texting as if he was Oscar, the little boy.
Anna Tsunoda
Absolutely. We have several examples here of a grooming situation. What does that mean? What does that word grooming mean? We've said it a few already. This show, grooming is a perverse form of courtship. It convinces not only children, but it convinces their caregivers that they are trustworthy, that they're reliable and that they're caring. This coach exploited his role as a sports youth individual in order to show the parents and the kids, hey, you can trust me. I want what's best for you. And to single that child out as special and unique is classic favoritism that we see in the stages towards the grooming process for sexual exploitation and in this horrific case, ultimately murder.
Nancy Grace
And of course at this juncture, the family doesn't know what to believe. Even though they get this mystery text of a little boy claiming hey, I'm going to a party. What party? Mom hadn't heard anything about a party. Well, the search is now on for little Oscar.
Narrator/Reporter
A desperate joint agency search for Oscar begins. Both the LAPD and LA County Sheriff's Office scoured North Hollywood for the boy. Their only lead was that he was last seen on his way to Lancaster on the Metro link.
Nancy Grace
A massive search is on both LAPD and the LA County Sheriff's Office looking for little Oscar. Listen.
Narrator/Reporter
On the fourth day of the investigation, a teen boy's body is found over 70 miles away dumped in a wooded area off a road near Leo Carrillo State Beach. The remains are confirmed to be those of 1313 year old Oscar Omar Hernandez.
Nancy Grace
I can't believe my son is dead. That is from our friends at KTLA 5. And very quickly after the body is discovered, the coach is tracked down.
Victim/Testimony
Why couldn't the police do anything about my case? And they just left it open and then they had to get to Teenage boy getting killed.
Narrator/Reporter
The same day as his body is discovered, his soccer coach, 43 year old Mario Garcia Aquino is arrested but not in connection to Oscar. Garcia Aquino is accused of attempting to molest a 16 year old boy. The teen also spent the night and felt extremely sleepy after drinking an orange juice Garcia Aquino offered him. He told police Garcia Aquino twice tried to pull down his pants but he fought Garcia Aquino off and called 911. The incident occurred more than a year ago in February of 2020.
Oscar's family hasn't seen the boy in over 24 hours. After he was expected home Saturday morning, a text from his phone claims Oscar is at a party with friends. But Oscar's friends don't have any knowledge of a party. The 13 year old is reported missing and an intense search is launched for the boy.
Nancy Grace
Karen Stark, don't you see the significance of this mysterious text from the little boy saying I'm going to a party and then can't you just see the mom and the brother calling hey, what party? Hey what party? To all the friends and they know nothing about it. This means I believe that the coach was using the little boy's phone to text as if He's Oscar. That's a whole nother level of premeditation,
Anna Tsunoda
and we're familiar with it. Nancy, remember Brian Laundrie? Right. And he took the phone, and he made the mistake of calling the grandfather by the name. People do that. Murderers do that. They take advantage of whatever they can. I'm not the least bit surprised, because this guy needs to come cover up. He's desperate to make sure that nobody finds out what he did. And I'm not surprised it happened, because over time, in this kind of situation, the person gets bolder and bolder and
Nancy Grace
bolder, and that's exactly what happened here. Now you hear Philip Dubay claiming that, oh, it was just a delay. Bs A delay that cost Oscar his life. Listen to one of the first alleged victims.
Victim/Testimony
I go to sleep, I see him, like, trying to pull down my shorts. And I woke up, I punched him. And then he told me it was all a joke.
Victim Advocate
In February of 2024, Garcia Aquino befriended a Sylmar family who allowed their juvenile son to stay with him at his residence in Palmdale. The family subsequently filed a criminal report with the Palmdale Sheriff's Station, alleging sexual abuse of their child.
Nancy Grace
Moses Castillo. I think my head's gonna blow off. That originally was from our friends at NBC la. Now you hear debate. I don't know what dog he's got in the fight with Skin in the game, because normally he is on LA law enforcement like a cheap suit, but today, when it works in the defense's favor, it's like, oh, it was just the misconduct mistake. Did you hear the first boy? Well, probably not the first. The one of the prior molestation victims. I go to sleep, I see him trying to pull down my shorts. I woke up, I punched him, and he told me it was a joke.
Moses Castillo
Absolutely. As a sex crime detective, I was for 20 years with LAPD. This breaks my heart. We did drop the ball on this poor victim. The case was submitted to the DA's office electronically, and it sat in their queue untouched for months. That's what sources familiar with the investigation have told me. And when the investigators called the D office to follow up, they realized that nobody had looked at this case for a long time. And that's where we dropped the ball.
Nancy Grace
Oh, you know what? I don't like what you just said, Castillo. Drop the ball. That's like, oops, I dropped the ball. This is abandoned and malignant heart. Drop the ball. Oscar is dead because somebody dropped the ball. Anna Tsunoda. That's not all. Listen.
Victim Advocate
Detectives learned that there was another unrelated child sexual abuse case being handled by the Los Angeles Police Department's Foothill division involving Garcia Aquin.
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Sierra Vanderbrug
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Nancy Grace
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Nancy Grace
Crime stories with nancy grace.
Narrator/Reporter
A new victim added to the counts
Nancy Grace
against a youth soccer coach.
Narrator/Reporter
Can you ever be too careful? When you have your children under the supervision of another adult, you believe they're trustworthy? They may be with the youth soccer league.
Nancy Grace
They may be a school teacher, a piano teacher.
Narrator/Reporter
But do you ever really know? It's enough to keep you up half the night worried. This boy, Oscar Omar Hernandez dead. Killed during a so called lewd act. The boy known as Omar played for the Hurricane Valley Boys Soccer Club. Garcia Aquino, his coach, Sierra.
Nancy Grace
How many at this juncture, how many young boy victims do we know of at this point?
Sierra Vanderbrug
We know that there were two charges filed against Garcia Aquino now in relation to previous sex abuse cases. One from 2022 and one from 2024. But during this press conference we did hear Sheriff Robert Luna emphasize that police and Sheriff department believe that there may be more victims. They are searching for more victims. Anyone with information or who believes they've been a victim of Garcia Aquino. They ask contact that they were looking at everything. Authorities believe there may be more assault victims or missing persons connected to Garcia Aquino. They are open. They are looking for both.
Nancy Grace
Okay, everybody sit down. You may need to lay down for this too. Listen to the LA County Sheriff Robert Luna.
Victim Advocate
Garcia Aquino was a youth travel soccer coach with a Hurricane Valley Boys soccer club in the Sylmar area. Working with different age divisions. He had no reported criminal history.
Nancy Grace
Bs. And you know, Sheriff Luna, I like you, I don't anything against you, but why did you just say that he had no reported criminal history? Did you not just hear the boy victim? That happened over a year ago and nothing was done. So while there's not a conviction, there is an arrest, there is an allegation. Let me rephrase. Felony assault with intent to commit a lewd act. 2022. Felony assault with intent to commit rape. Lewd act on a child age 14 or 15. Those are the ones that we have been able to dig up. How many more are out there? I mean, you know Moses Castillo isn't it true that statistically when a child molester is caught once that there are dozens of prior undetected child molestations?
Moses Castillo
Absolutely. That's why the message here today is if you're out there and you're a victim of this evil monster, please come forward. It was never your fault and I want you to know that 100% and you have the support of the victim services that are going to be coming for you and available to you.
Nancy Grace
Nothing was done on prior claims of child molestation against the so called traveling coach. Nothing was done. The files gathered dust and now a little boy is dead and his body thrown on the side of the road.
Narrator/Reporter
Listen, we don't have the actual details of how he was killed at this exact moment, nor do we have all the reports that will come in when the coroner produces his or her.
They've already performed an autopsy and it turned out there was a lot of alcohol in his urine. The only thing left to investigate. Investigate is whether he was sexually abused.
Nancy Grace
Things in my boy's drink. And I'm sure of that. Why? Because he didn't resist. Guys, that is from our friends at Univision 34 LA. It's almost more than I can take in what we are hearing. Dr. Michelle Dupree, the boy found on the side of the road like he's trash. I imagine days had passed. Are we going to be able to get a COD cause of death and will we be able to tell had the boy been molested?
Karen Stark
Yes, Nancy, I think we will. We can often tell so much even though time has passed. And in this case it's likely that we did find alcohol in the blood. But we're also probably going to be able to tell that he may have been strangled or certainly if there was any type of blunt force trauma, which is typical in cases like this, especially the strangulation.
Nancy Grace
So how long will alcohol still be in the victim's system?
Karen Stark
It can be there for days. Nancy, if we can't get it in the blood, we can take it from the vitreous, which is an excellent long term way to get this kind of toxicology report.
Nancy Grace
Vitreous is what?
Karen Stark
Vitreous is the fluid inside the eyeball. It's well protected. It gives us a very good premortem indication of many things like electrolytes or alcohol content.
Nancy Grace
Okay, let me just warn the LA District Attorney. Do not jump on the bandwagon, but apparently he is. Listen, if he had been arrested on that earlier alleged offense, he wouldn't have
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been on the streets and he certainly
Nancy Grace
would not be working as a coach
Narrator/Reporter
in order to develop the evidence for any particular offense, as we will be providing in court, it doesn't happen overnight. So even though that original offense occurred back in February of 2024, that investigated approximately within. I forgot. Within weeks of that particular investigation. But you have to actually go through all the different parts of an investigation before you ever get to.
Why would the government, knowing he had such an accusation, allow him to be free?
Nancy Grace
Yeah, why would they? That's my friends at KTLA 5. You know, as much tap dancing as the DA is doing, he needs to just admit the truth. There's no way to fix this now. They dropped the ball. As Castillo said earlier, why is it that we so willingly trust sports coaches named Larry Nassar? Ringing a bell? I wish I never heard it, sir. In fact, what you did in touching these victims, in all of these counts, was ungloved. Is that correct? Yes, your honor. And it was not for any medical purpose, is that correct?
Narrator/Reporter
Correct.
Nancy Grace
It was for your own purpose, Is that correct?
Jerry Sandusky Expert
Yes.
Nancy Grace
I don't want another young gymnast, Olympic athlete, or any individual to experience the horror that I and hundreds of others have endured. One of my heroes right there, Simone Biles. That was from our friends at NBC. Just think about it. At that elite level, an Olympic coach molesting scores of young girls, some as young as 13. I can hardly stand to look at him. He makes me sick just to look at him. Girls representing our country. This little boy is dead. His body thrown on the side of the road and behind bars. The description by Homeland Security is a depraved illegal alien. There's no telling how many little boys were molested by him. And he had Anna Tsunoda unfettered access to them.
Anna Tsunoda
Absolutely. Predators run on gas. Grooming, access and space. Coaches, especially travel coaches, have an exceptional amount of gas. They get time away with the child. They've built trust with the parents. Nancy, parents are good. Parents are doing what they can. This family had high hopes for what this sports coach was going to be able to do for their son. How many countless families are in the same position? And predators, by golly, they know it. And they exploit that every time.
Nancy Grace
You know, Karen Stark, I'm not sure if I told you about this, but I remember a Methodist lay leader who was a college professor came and spoke at our church and promised to coach me free because, you know, we were broke. Spanish, private Spanish coaching. And my parents let me, along with my sister, go to this guy's home with his family. That was an hour away. And I'm thinking about it. My parents were so happy that I could get this private coaching in Spanish. I was taking Spanish at school. This is like by that point I was in the fifth grade and they thought, oh, something we can't afford that we can give her. So it's not the parents fault and I don't want it portrayed that way.
Anna Tsunoda
It's not the parents fault, Nancy. That's so correct because we're talking about master manipulators. They are charming, their exterior is trusting. They act like you can trust them with your children. And parents are looking for help. They're in a position of authority in that way. And you can't count on the children. Unfortunately, parents believe that maybe their children would tell them that something was wrong. But the children are afraid. They don't understand. They don't know how to come forward. They don't even have the words for it developmentally. So it is a terrible problem, really a terrible problem that parents need to be aware of and investigate. Who's with your children beforehand.
Nancy Grace
Guys, let me announce that there is a GoFundMe for Oscar Hernandez's family. There are just trying to get money to pay off the funeral. It's at gofundme.com Oscar Omar Hernandez. Right now the state is building its case. And when I say building its case, I mean looking for other child victims. I believe that these other child victims will testify in a court of law under the theory of similar transactions to bolster the state's case in the murder of little Oscar. The state is also looking for these victims and looking for witnesses to possibly seeing the coach with little Oscar. If you know or think you know anything about this case, please dial 818-374-5415 or toll free 800-222-8477. Repeat, 800-222-8477. I believe that's the number I would use because the state's already dropped the ball on the case already. I would go with crime.
Narrator/Reporter
Omar had just turned 13, last seen traveling to the Antelope Valley to help the coach make soccer jerseys. His body was found in a ditch in Ventura County. We wait as justice unfolds.
Nancy Grace
Nancy Grace signing off. Goodbye, friend.
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Sierra Vanderbrug
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Nancy Grace
This is an I Heart podcast. Guaranteed human.
Release Date: April 5, 2026
Host: Nancy Grace
Panelists/Experts: Sierra Vanderbrug (LA Daily News), Moses Castillo (Private Investigator, former LAPD), Karen Stark (Psychologist), Anna Tsunoda (Clinical Social Worker, author), Dr. Michelle Dupree (Forensic Pathologist)
This episode centers on the tragic case of Oscar Omar Hernandez, a 13-year-old soccer player from Sun Valley, CA, found murdered after last being seen with his soccer coach, Mario Edgardo Garcia Aquino. Garcia Aquino—an undocumented immigrant—has been charged not only with Oscar’s murder but also multiple counts of sexual abuse of minors under his coaching care. Nancy Grace and her expert panel dissect the case’s details, issues in youth sports oversight, and the broader patterns of grooming and institutional failure that allowed these crimes to occur.
Oscar’s Disappearance and Discovery
Textbook Grooming & Predatory Behavior
Institutional Failings and Red Flags
Investigation and Ongoing Search
League and School Oversight
Neglected Prior Allegations
Toxicology and Forensics
The Search for Justice and Prevention
“He hadn't even lived 13 years yet. He only lived 12 years and some days. Why is this little boy dead and callously thrown on the side of the road?”
— Nancy Grace ([04:15])
“These groomers are so good that they can convince a family…to let [a boy] get on the train and travel all the way two hours to where he lives and spend the night.”
— Moses Castillo ([08:14])
“This should not be happening to our kids.”
— Dr. Michelle Dupree ([30:18])
“Grooming is a perverse form of courtship. It convinces not only children, but it convinces their caregivers that they are trustworthy.”
— Anna Tsunoda ([32:19])
“I go to sleep, I see him, like, trying to pull down my shorts. And I woke up, I punched him. And then he told me it was all a joke.”
— Alleged victim ([36:26])
“He had no reported criminal history.”
— Sheriff Robert Luna ([43:28])
“This little boy is dead. His body thrown on the side of the road and behind bars...There's no telling how many little boys were molested by him.”
— Nancy Grace ([49:34])
Nancy Grace and her panel emphasize the recurring dangers of unchecked authority figures in youth sports and the tragic consequences when institutions fail to act on red flags. The episode is both a hard-hitting true crime investigation and a call for greater vigilance and reform—imploring communities to protect children, challenge complacency, and support those who come forward.
Resource Hotlines:
If you have information relevant to the case: