Texas man’s ‘random’ murder in Murfreesboro still a mystery 8 years later

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (WKRN) — In 2016, Fausto Hernandez , from Texas, decided to take a temporary construction job miles away in Murfreesboro to earn some extra money and spend time with his daughter.

At night, he would often walk from his daughter’s home to a spot behind a nearby neighborhood market and pizza shop, where he would sit and catch up with his wife. It was right after one of those night-time phone conversations that things suddenly went awry.

On July 15, 2016, officers with the Murfreesboro Police Department received multiple 911 calls from people who said they had found the 58-year-old lying across a rock behind Marco’s Pizza and bleeding from an apparent gunshot wound.

Hernandez was taken to Vanderbilt University Medical Center but died shortly after undergoing surgery. Before his death, Hernandez was able to tell some of the initial first responders that it was a Black man who shot him. However, that was the only description given of the suspect.

Eight years later, the case remains among a handful of cold case murders Murfreesboro police are still working to solve. Investigators have gone through great lengths to find the killer, with witness accounts and video helping them piece together a timeline of the events that night.

At 9:01 p.m., surveillance footage showed Hernandez walking into the neighborhood tobacco and beer store at 1208 East Northfield Boulevard. Officials said Hernandez had become a regular at the store and was well-liked by many patrons.

“A lot of times some of the kids from the neighborhood might come over and they might not have enough money, you know they might be 10 or 15, 20 cents or a dollar short on what they wanted to buy. Mr. Hernandez would cover it for them,” Lt. James Abbott told News 2 in a 2021 interview. “So, this was not some man that was just a mean person or would have enemies.”

The video footage from July 15 showed Hernandez leaving the store just five minutes after he stepped through the doors. He then walked behind the store in the direction detectives said he normally walked home.

At 9:12 p.m. three juveniles recalled passing Hernandez on their way to the store. He was reportedly sitting on a rocking behind Marco’s Pizza and talking on his cell phone. According to police, that was the last time anyone saw Hernandez alive.

His wife told investigators that she was on the phone talking with him until about 9:15 p.m. when they said goodbye and hung up. However, that night, he almost immediately called her back, which she said was very unusual.

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When she answered the phone, she said she could hear a deep male voice belonging to someone other than her husband. It sounded like they were arguing, but she couldn’t tell anything else from the conversation before the phone went dead.

Detectives believe that call was likely a pocket dial. At around 9:30 p.m., four people walked by and found Hernandez lying on the ground. Afterward, they ran over to what was then a Family Video store next to Marco’s Pizza and called 911.

Authorities received another 911 call moments later after the three juveniles who had seen Hernandez earlier that night left the Family Video store and found him wounded behind the strip of businesses. Police said he had been shot one time.

Unfortunately, no surveillance cameras were pointed on the rock directly, leaving a major gap in the footage from that night. While no arrests have been made in the case, officials have been able to identify at least one possible person of interest.

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Investigators believe Hernandez’s killer was on foot and that the incident was most likely a random robbery. Abbott called the case particularly troubling, stating that “that’s really the scary kind is that when we talk about these type(s) of homicides, is the random ones.”

However, more information is still needed to solve the case. Anyone with information is asked to call the Murfreesboro Police Criminal Investigations Division at 615-893-2717 . Tips can also be emailed to crimetips@murfreesborotn.gov .

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