A man and woman in their 20s were arrested Thursday on suspicion of killing a 21-year-old man whose remains were found in the Barstow area nearly two months after he went missing in South Los Angeles.
Juan “Cookie” Carlos Hernandez was reported missing after being last seen on Sept. 22 in the 8100 block of South Western Avenue, and his vehicle was found two days later in the 6400 block of South Figueroa Street, nearly three miles away, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.
The Los Angeles Police Department’s Robbery-Homicide Division worked with the FBI to investigate Hernandez’s disappearance, and “their efforts provided detectives with a sequence of events to find Hernandez,” police said.
The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department Search and Rescue Team found Hernandez’s remains Sunday in a shallow grave along Afton Canyon Road, east of Interstate 15, north of Barstow, police said.
The cause of death was not released, but police said he “appeared to be the victim of a homicide.”
LAPD Robbery-Homicide Division detectives, with assistance from a SWAT team, served search warrants Thursday at the homes of Ethan Astaphan, 27, and Sonita Heng, 20, who were “persons of interest,” according to police. The locations of the homes were not immediately available.
During the warrants, Astaphan and Heng were arrested for suspicion of murder, police said. They are each being held on $10 million bail, according to sheriff’s department records.
Police said that within a week of Hernandez’s disappearance in September, a person tried to extort money from his family in exchange for his safe return, but detectives determined the attempted extortion was not related to his disappearance.