Bio 

Rodrigo Hernandez was born on June 27, 1973, in Texas. Texas prison records list his native county as Zavala County and his prior occupations as roofer, stocker, and laborer. Hernandez later lived in Grand Rapids, Michigan. News reports state that he moved from South Texas to Grand Rapids around childhood and had several arrests there as a teenager and young adult. These included burglary, property damage, and later a serious assault case.

In 1991, Muriel Stoepker, a 77-year-old homeless woman in Grand Rapids, was shot to death in a parking garage at Grand Rapids Community College. The case remained unsolved for years. In 2010, while Hernandez was already on death row in Texas, Michigan investigators said DNA evidence linked him to Stoepker’s killing.

In 1994, Hernandez was in San Antonio, Texas. Susan Verstegen, a 38-year-old Frito-Lay worker, was attacked while making a delivery at an H-E-B supermarket. Her murder also remained unsolved for years. The break in the Texas case came in 2002, after Hernandez served time in Michigan for a violent assault. As a condition of release, he gave a DNA sample. That sample was entered into a national database and matched evidence from the Verstegen case.

Hernandez was arrested in Michigan in 2002 after the DNA match. He later gave a written confession to Texas investigators, though he later tried to retract or deny it.

Murder Story

In September 1991, Muriel Stoepker was killed in Grand Rapids, Michigan. She was 77 years old and homeless. Her body was found in a parking garage at Grand Rapids Community College. She had been shot. The case remained unsolved for nearly two decades. In 2010, investigators announced that DNA evidence linked Rodrigo Hernandez to Stoepker’s murder. Because he was already on Texas death row, he was not tried in Michigan. Shortly before his execution in 2012, he reportedly admitted shooting Stoepker, though he claimed the gun went off accidentally.

On February 19, 1994, Susan Verstegen was working as a snack foods vendor in San Antonio, Texas. She was making a delivery to an H-E-B supermarket when she was attacked near a stocking area behind the store. According to Hernandez’s confession, he grabbed Verstegen, forced her into her car, placed his hands around her neck, sexually assaulted her, and realized afterward that she was not breathing. He then drove away with her body.

Verstegen’s body was later found inside a 55-gallon drum behind Prince of Peace Catholic Church in San Antonio. Her car and some of her belongings were found nearby or within a few miles of the area. The case stayed cold until 2002, when Hernandez’s DNA sample from Michigan was entered into the national DNA database. The sample matched DNA evidence from Verstegen’s body and car.

After the match, San Antonio police interviewed Hernandez in Michigan. He first denied knowing Verstegen, but after being confronted with the DNA evidence, he gave a confession. In the confession, he said he had been smoking marijuana and drinking alcohol and did not realize what he was doing.

Hernandez was charged in Texas with capital murder. He was convicted in 2004 of the rape and capital murder of Susan Verstegen and was sentenced to death. Texas prison records show he was received on death row on April 7, 2004. Hernandez continued to appeal his case, including claims involving ineffective assistance of counsel and mental impairment. His state and federal appeals were denied.

On January 26, 2012, Rodrigo Hernandez was executed by lethal injection in Huntsville, Texas. His execution took place after the United States Supreme Court refused to block it. He was pronounced dead at 6:19 p.m.