By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2024-11-27 21:21:25 | Updated at 2024-11-27 23:27:09
2 hours ago
A 17 year old Texas girl clawed for her life in terror as she was raped and murdered, allegedly by a 15 year-old neighbor.
Kaitlin Hernandez died at the hands of Darryl Barrera in March, prosecutors say.
Her aunt Crystal Barron Rodriguez told DailyMail.com: 'She begged him to stop. She fought for her life. She didn't want to die.'
Barrera appeared in court Monday charged as an adult with Hernandez' murder. It was his 16th birthday.
A judge was told that the alleged killer loved to torture cats, dogs and raccoons to death with his bare hands.
Hernandez's DNA was found under Barrera's fingernails, it is claimed, offering a further distressing insight into her awful final moments.
'If he had been tried to as a juvenile, he would have been out by the time he was 17, 18,' Barron Rodriguez told DailyMail.com, saying the family was relieved at how the tenth grader has been charged.
During Monday's hearing, a medical expert also stated that Barrera had admitted to having a porn addiction, local station KSAT reported.
Kaitlin Hernandez, 17, lived on the same street in San Antonio as her accused killer
Darryl Barrera, 16, accused of killing his teenage neighbor and raping her, will be tried as an adult for a crime he's accused of. He was 15 at the time he was accused, and turned 16 just days ago
'I never saw any signs of anything like that. He looked like a normal kid,' Rodriguez explained.
'He choked the counselor at Roosevelt High School. If she would have spoken up, if she would have pressed charges on Darryl, maybe Kaitlin would still be here.'
Rodriguez said Hernandez' family was unaware of the previous choking incident prior to the murder and added they would have never let Kaitlin spend time with him if they had known about his troubled past.
The teens, who grew up on the same street in San Antonio's northeast side, went for a walk around 7:30 p.m. on March 12 after Barrera came to Hernandez's grandma's house and asked if she could come out.
Kaitlin's grandmother gave her permission to go outside for just 30 minutes since it was a school night.
When her barefoot granddaughter didn't come home as planned, missing medication to prevent seizures in the high school senior, her grandmother went looking for her.
Hernandez's family learned Barrera made it to his house, and when he was asked where Kaitlin was, he told them she's gone to a nearby bus station.
'My one question is, "Why,"' Rodriguez said through tears. 'Why did he take her life?"
'She trusted him. Kaitlin trusted him. He not only took Kaitlin's life but I feel like he took a piece of my whole family's life.'
Kaitlan Hernandez, 17, was found naked and strangled to death in a ditch just an hour after she was reported missing by her family
Katilin's devastated aunt, Crystal Rodriguez wept as she said: 'She wanted to become a veterinarian. Y'all took her from us too soon. Seventeen years old'
Officers from the San Antonio Police Department found the missing woman's jacket and later her nude body under a bridge in a drainage ditch on Oak Dell Drive. A cross (pictured) was placed at the site where the murder took place
Kaitlin pictured at a bowling alley with her loved ones
In the months since Hernandez's death, her grandmother and father have moved out of the house where they lived with her.
Her aunt moved out of the Alamo City, saying the idea of returning to the street where her life was brutally taken away was just too much for them.
Additionally, Barrera's family still lives on the same block.
Hernandez, described as the life of the party and a kind soul, had plans to help others once she graduated from high school next year.
'Kaitlin was full of life; she was sunshine' her aunt said. 'Just big hearted and cared so much for everybody. She wanted to become a veterinarian. She wanted to become a special needs teacher. The one thing I remember was her telling me she wanted to become a mother, and he took that opportunity away from her.'
