LA Prosecutors File 9 More Charges in Soccer Coach's Teen Murder Case

Prosecutors in Los Angeles County have filed nine additional felony charges against Mario Edgardo Garcia-Aquino, a 44-year-old youth soccer coach from El Salvador who entered the United States without authorization, in connection with the 2025 murder of 13-year-old player Oscar Omar Hernandez and separate sexual assaults on minors. The new accusations, announced this week, involve incidents from 2022 and 2023 and could elevate the case to include the death penalty.

Garcia-Aquino, who coached boys' soccer teams in the Los Angeles area including the Hurricane Valley Boys Soccer Club, was initially arrested last year for Hernandez's death. The boy was reported missing from his Sun Valley home on March 28, 2025, after taking a train to Lancaster to meet his coach. Days later, Hernandez's body was discovered along a roadside near McGrath State Beach in Oxnard, Ventura County, about 60 miles northwest of Los Angeles. Authorities allege that Garcia-Aquino sexually assaulted Hernandez during the encounter, leading to the boy's strangulation and death. The murder charge includes a special circumstance of committing the killing during an attempted lewd act on a child under 14.