Florida middle school killer dies in penal complex at 31

MIAMI (AP) — The teenage killer who lured a chum into a bathroom stall at their suburban Miami middle school 17 years within the past and reduce his throat has died in penal complex.

Florida Department of Corrections online recordsdata screen Michael Hernandez, 31, died Thursday. He had been incarcerated at Columbia Correctional Institute, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) west of Jacksonville. No cause of loss of life used to be launched, nonetheless WFOR-TV talked about Hernandez used to be considered on video collapsing, and no fallacious play is suspected.

Hernandez used to be serving a existence sentence for the February 2004 murder of Jaime Gough after they were both 14-year-passe college students at Southwood Center College in Palmetto Bay, upright exterior Miami.

Hernandez had lured Jaime into a handicapped stall sooner than school with a promise to screen him one thing. He then pulled out a knife, stabbed him extra than 40 times and prick his throat. He then hid the knife in a secret compartment in his backpack and went to class.

After Jaime’s body used to be realized, a teacher seen blood on Hernandez and notified police. It used to be realized that Hernandez had turn into enthusiastic with serial killers, studying them online. He had made a listing of oldsters he desired to waste, including Jaime. He used to be realized responsible in 2008 of first-level murder after a jury rejected his insanity plea.

Jorge Gough, Jaime’s father, told the Miami Herald that he used to be “horrified” to be taught of Hernandez’s loss of life.

“I was no longer expecting this at all,” Gough talked about. He talked about he and his wife smooth focus on about their son, who would now be 31, nonetheless “no longer in a tragic reach.” His son used to be a straight-A pupil who played the violin.

“We leave out him, and the best ask is: What would he be today?” he talked about.

Hernandez had planned to abolish two associates, nonetheless Andre Martin got leery when Hernandez tried to lure him and Gough into the stall. The bell rang and the three went to class. The subsequent day, Hernandez killed Gough.

Martin is now a Miami-Dade County police detective. He told the Herald he had blended emotions about Hernandez’s loss of life.

“My continued condolences for Jaime Gough’s other folks, and the general Gough family,” Martin talked about. “And the Hernandez family — they were no longer these who dedicated a crime and so that they did lose a family member.”