Half-Brothers Sentenced for Murdering Sister and Her Family in Tijuana Home

A pair of half-brothers were sentenced in federal court Tuesday for murdering their sister, her children aged 9, 8, and 4, and her significant other in their Tijuana home in a brutal family annihilation in December 2021.

Christopher Baltezar Hernandez and Victor Armondo Aguilar were sentenced in federal court Tuesday to six consecutive life terms and 45 years, respectively.

Aguilar, of Tijuana, pleaded guilty in October 2023; Hernandez, of Fresno, California, pleaded guilty two months later, each to a single count of conspiring to murder an American citizen in a foreign country, and five counts of stalking resulting in death.

The half-brothers are U.S. citizens. Their sister and her children — identified in court documents only by their initials — were also U.S. citizens; the significant other was a Mexican national. Hernandez and their sister had the same parents; Aguilar and their sister were half-siblings.

The siblings had been involved in a bitter dispute over property prior to the murder.

“I cannot understand how one can point a gun in front of a child’s face and pull the trigger,” U.S. District Judge Linda Lopez told the defendants during the sentencing hearing, according to a release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

She described the murders as “horrific,” “completely incomprehensible,” and “cold, intentional, planned, calculated, and callous.”

Hernandez has a long history of threats against his sister and her children. In May 2019, his sister called 911, stating Hernandez was threatening to shoot her and her children in the head.

According to court documents, in the months leading up to the murders, the sister hired an attorney to help in a property dispute, which prompted Hernandez to text her: “We already know about the lawyer.”

Hernandez then challenged J.H. to “…try me and see how much you can handle because with me you’re not going to be able to finish it.”

On Dec. 3, 2021, Hernandez traveled from Fresno to Tijuana through San Diego, armed with an assault rifle, .223 caliber ammunition, and two revolver speed loaders. Hernandez met up with Aguilar in Tijuana, where they also picked up a revolver.

The half-brothers, armed with the firearms and wearing dark clothes and gloves, then went to the victims’ residence in Tijuana.

Minutes before the murders, Hernandez removed the SIM card from his phone, and returned it about a half-hour after the murders.

According to the plea agreement, Aguilar searched for and listened to a podcast related to homicide investigations just hours before the massacre. Hernandez researched numerous news articles about the killings and searched, “does the fbi investigate murders.”