Initially reported her missing to officers
A Duval County man charged with strangling his wife in 2007 and dumping her body in a ditch near Orangedale faces up to 12 years in prison after pleading no contest to manslaughter Tuesday afternoon.
Giving mostly "yes" or "no" answers through an interpreter, Oscar Hernandez, 69, admitted that he killed Maria E. Martinez, 51, "on or about" Nov. 3, 2007, the day before he reported her missing to the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office.
Two men taking soil samples for the Department of Environmental Protection found Martinez's partially clothed body on the side of State Road 13, a mile north of Orangedale the morning of Nov. 5, 2007.
Dr. Terrence Steiner, district medical examiner, determined that Martinez had been "manually strangled."
The victim had been a day care worker at the Mandarin Childhood Learning Center. She and her husband lived at North Wandering Pines Trail in Mandarin.
Hernandez told officers that his wife had gone for a walk at 6 a.m. on Nov. 4 and had not returned. He reportedly said he first checked the jail and the hospital before telling police she was missing.
According to early reports from the St. Johns County Sheriff's Office, Hernandez cooperated with investigators and was not considered a suspect.
When deputies arrested him on June 15, 2009, however, the sheriff's office conceded that he had "always been a subject of interest."
"It went to Cold Case detectives, and they re-looked at the case," spokesman Kevin Kelshaw said at the time. "They got some interesting developments and some new interviews."
Those developments led to a warrant and an arrest for second-degree murder.
St. Johns Circuit Judge John M. Alexander made sure on Tuesday that Hernandez understood the legal implications of his plea.
Second-degree murder is punishable by life in prison; manslaughter is punishable by 15 years. However, the judge said, the state has agreed to cap the sentence at 12 years.
Assistant State Attorney Chris France told the judge that prosecutors believe Hernandez strangled his wife "without a premeditated design." He did not elaborate on the state's theory of the crime.
Alexander notified Hernandez that Circuit Judge Wendy W. Berger may very well question him during his Feb. 15 sentencing hearing.
He will have to answer those questions truthfully, Alexander warned, or Hernandez could be prosecuted for perjury.
The defendant said he understood.
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