LAS VEGAS -- A Magic Valley man is dead after a hatchet attack in Las Vegas, and his wife and brother-in-law are accused of killing him. Investigators say Enrique Hernandez's wife was having an affair, and Enrique had talked about taking custody of their four kids. They believe that is likely what led to his murder.
People in a relatively quiet Las Vegas neighborhood are still a little shook up after they spotted an Idaho man dead in the street early Monday morning, after he was attacked with a hatchet.
"You could see the person laying in the street there," said Steve Beard.
On Tuesday, police identified the victim as 43-year-old Enrique Hernandez from the Magic Valley area. Police say he was in Nevada with his wife for a family get-together.
Bertha Flores is another neighbor. "It's scary because this is such a nice neighborhood, you know. It's scary to be around that kind of stuff."
Scary and strange. Hernandez's wife, 33-year-old Maria Hernandez, and her brother, 22-year-old Hector Gutierrez, were arrested and charged in the murder. According to a Las Vegas police report, the sister wired $800 from a Walmart in Burley, Idaho, to her brother in California. Hector said it was for his trip to Las Vegas to carry out the murder. Maria said it was to pay for his living expenses.
The report says Hernandez discovered his wife had an affair, hired someone to beat up the boyfriend and threatened to take the children away. So, she started planning his death a month ago.
On his sister's call, Gutierrez said he struck his brother-in-law at least five times as the man was checking on the van's engine. Enrique fought back despite being held back by his wife and stabbed Gutierrez with a knife. Again, all that's according to the report.
She originally told police she and her husband were carjacked, but the details didn't add up for investigators. Just before their bloody van was found about 10 miles away from scene of the attack, Hector was reported to be at a Las Vegas hospital with a stab wound that he said came from a robbery. But, investigators also followed a half-mile long trail of blood from the van that led to a car registered to Gutierrez. He soon changed his story, saying his sister asked him to kill Enrique and he felt obligated to help her.
Maria Hernandez also allegedly told police she tried to save her husband by grabbing both his arms to pull him away, but police say it appears she actually held him down as her brother chopped at his neck.
Hernandez and Gutierrez now face charges of murder with a deadly weapon and conspiracy to commit murder.
