Press Releases

Hendry County cold case
Nov. 15, 2008

As the weather starts to cool off, many seasonal migrant workers will be headed back to Southwest Florida to work in the fields of Hendry and Collier counties. Law enforcement is hopeful that some of those workers will bring with them the secret of what happened to a little girl, murdered and left in a field 20 years ago.

It’s a case that Hendry Sheriff Ronnie Lee assisted with two decades ago - and one which he would love to see solved before he leaves office in January.

During his lifelong career in law enforcement, Hendry Sheriff Ronnie Lee has investigated his fair share of robberies, thefts and countless violent crimes. But it’s the brutal murder of a little seven year old girl that still haunts the Sheriff 20 years later.

“He’s a menace, he’s a child molester and he’s a murderer – and he got away with it once," Lee said.

It was in February 1988 that Alejandra Hernandez and her family arrived in Hendry County - migrant workers ready to work in the orange groves near Immokalee. But on their first day on the job, little Alejandra went missing – prompting a multi-agency search on land and air to find the girl who had been on the field with her parents for less than an hour. It wasn’t until the next day that a worker found Alejandra’s body buried in a shallow grave.

"She had been strangled around the neck, she had bruising around the face, she had been raped, was partially clothed, with nothing on from the waist down," said Alice Campbell, Hendry County Sheriff’s Office Victim’s Advocate.

Investigators questioned nearly 100 workers on the field, but a language barrier and fear of talking to authorities kept anyone from coming forward with an ID on Alejandra’s killer. That man got away – but two decades later, detectives are not giving up.

“Whoever did this to this child is still out there. The family wants justice. We want justice for the family," Campbell said.

Twenty years later, Alejandra Hernandez’s murder may have gone cold, but detectives say a homicide case is never closed until an arrest is made. And Sheriff Ronnie Lee says he’s confident that someone heard something, or knows something, and may be ready to come forward and clear their conscience about what happened that day.

“I guarantee that either the assailant has bragged, and maybe they’re afraid to come to law enforcement, but they’ve got to," Lee said.

The Hendry Sheriff’s Office believes the answers lie within the migrant community – and they’re hopeful someone will have the courage to come forward and help bring a killer to justice.

“Twenty years ago – the person who committed this could have done it again and again & we have to stop it. He’s not gonna get away with it," Lee said.

Anyone with any information on the rape and murder of Alejandra Hernandez is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-780-TIPS (8477). All callers will remain anonymous and will be eligible for up to $1,000 in cash rewards. Tips may also be made online at www.swflcrimestoppers.org.