Sara-Megan WalshLakeland Ledger
WINTER HAVEN ― Several people knew 20-year-old Sierra Hernandez was being held hostage, and possibly tortured, in a Winter Haven home prior to her death but never called police, according to an unredacted police affidavit released by Polk County Sheriff's Office.
Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd this week announced that deputies had found the body of Hernandez, whose family had previously reported as missing. An all-out manhunt was launched for the prime suspect in her killing, Enrique Martinez, 26. He was arrested Tuesday afternoon.
"I will meet with you later, possibly tomorrow or early next week, and give you great details of what I think you will find to be a very interesting case," Judd said at Tuesday's news conference on Martinez's arrest.
Judd had yet to call a news conference to provide details Hernandez's death. The Ledger requested and obtained an unredacted copy of the police affidavit in Daphne Fernandez's arrest that lays out what may have happened to Hernandez.
Hernandez's mother, Rita Thomas, reported her as missing on Jan. 14 to the Sheriff's Office. Thomas said Hernandez was last seen Jan. 4. Deputies immediately opened a missing-persons investigation.
On Jan. 7, Hernandez was captured on video speaking with a friend, Michelle Tyree. Tyree told deputies that Hernandez said she was going camping with Blake Sterling, according to the affidavit.
The next day, Hernandez stopped by Tyree's workplace to drop off a note.
Deputies arrested Sterling on Jan. 18 on a violation of probation, and he was interviewed about Hernandez. Sterling said he had been communicating with Hernandez on Facebook for about a month, but had never met her in person.
Sterling suggested Hernandez meet him Jan. 9 at an Inwood-area residence on Avenue T Northwest in Winter Haven, according to the affidavit. Sterling told deputies he askedFernandez, 44,to use her house as a meeting spot.
Hernandez drove her 1999 Ford Crown Victoria to the home on Jan. 9 to meet up with Sterling. After some time together, Sterling asked Fernandez if Hernandez could stay overnight, according to the affidavit.
Sterling told deputies he left the house the next day to handle family business. When he returned, Sterling told deputies he saw Fernandez and Martinez standing in Fernandez's son's room.
"Blake [Sterling] indicated that he also observed Sierra [Hernandez] with her hands and wrists bound in front of her, and believed she was being held against her will," reads the affidavit.
According to the affidavit, Sterling told deputies he recognized Martinez as being wanted on murder charges. When Sterling shouted at Fernandez, asking what they were doing, he told deputies Martinez charged at him so he fled the house. Sterling claims he spent several days hiding in the woods, afraid of Martinez.
On Jan. 15, deputies arrested Fernandez on charges of knowingly driving with a suspended license while in Hernandez's car along U.S. 92/Memorial Boulevard in Lakeland. Fernandez told deputies Hernandez had given her permission to use the vehicle.
Fernandez said Hernandez had left with a man named "Richard" in a green truck several days earlier, according to the affidavit.
Deputies obtained a search warrant for Fernandez's phone shortly after her arrest. Her cell phone had numerous pictures of Hernandez's driver's license and a bank card.
The police report then says deputies interviewed April Merrill, Hernandez's sister-in-law. Merrill told deputies she had met with a friend, Brittany Young, at Hungry Howie's on Havendale Boulevard. Young allegedly told Merrill that a friend, Keith Mason, had walked into the Avenue T home to see a girl tied up with three males, according to the affidavit.
"Keith [Mason] asked what they planned to do with her, and they told him they were going to kill her and burn her body in the back yard," the report reads.
Deputies found and interviewed Young, who claimed Mason never said anything. Young told deputies her and Mason were at a house on 32nd Street Northwest in Winter Haven when she overhead two other men talking. Young told deputies that one of the said "they had her tied up and torturing her" at the Avenue T residence, according to the affidavit.
Young told deputies she thought Hernandez was already dead, as she had observed a large fire at the property a few days earlier.
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Deputies obtained a search warrant Jan. 19 for Fernandez's property. Inside the house, they found medical paperwork for Hernandez. Outside, deputies found a large pile of burned items including human remains.
Martinez is being held in Polk County Jail without bond and faces 15 criminal charges, including first-degree felony murder, second-degree felony possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, third-degree felony armed trespass and two third-degree felony charges of tampering with physical evidence.
Fernandez has been charged with attempted murder, kidnap with intention to commit or facilitate a felony and abuse of a dead human body. The State Attorney's Office refiled its motion to hold her without bail on Wednesday.
At his Tuesday news conference, Judd said while Martinez was the "prime suspect" in Hernandez's murder, there are others who were suspected to be involved. No additional arrests had been announced as of noon on Thursday.
Sara-Megan Walsh can be reached at swalsh@theledger.com or 863-802-7545. Follow on X @SaraWalshFl.
