Authorities led to slain woman

Bill Gang

Thursday, Nov. 4, 1999 | 11:01 a.m.

After he was stopped following a high-speed chase near Searchlight in October, Fernando Hernandez blurted out to a Metro Police officer, "Just shoot me, just kill me -- I killed her."

Hernandez, 38, will be tried on charges that he murdered his wife, Justice of the Peace Doug Smith determined on Wednesday.

He was ordered to appear for arraignment on Nov. 18 in District Judge Sally Loehrer's courtroom.

Sgt. David Swoboda testified at the preliminary hearing that inside Hernandez's car was his 3-year-old daughter, who said, "Daddy hurt mommy real bad."

The statements led police to the home of Donna Hernandez in the 2400 block of Clifton Court in Las Vegas, where they discovered the 38-year-old woman's bloody body.

Testimony at Wednesday's hearing indicated the woman had been stabbed numerous times, strangled and bludgeoned.

Her volatile separation from her husband had prompted Donna Hernandez to obtain temporary and extended protective orders from the Clark County Family Court, where she worked as a court clerk.

But they couldn't save her life on Oct. 6.

Earlier in the year, Fernando Hernandez had been arrested for disorderly conduct charges at his ex-wife's home, but Metro Police.