charged in Thompson\u2019s murder on Friday<\/a> after prosecutors accused him of driving Thompson to his home in Bowie, killing her in the bedroom and then leaving her body in a grassy area near Route 50 in Anne Arundel County.<\/p>\nInvestigators are still trying to put together the last hours of Thompson\u2019s life. According to court documents, surveillance video shows her park her SUV and walk into a parking lot near a Family Dollar store in Langley Park. She spoke to the driver of another vehicle and then got into the vehicle\u2019s front passenger seat around 3 a.m.<\/p>\n
Court records allege that Hernandez-Mendez threw Thompson\u2019s body off the South River Bridge on Route 50, a drop of more than 30 feet, and that her body had numerous fractures. The motive for the murder is still under investigation and Acting Prince George\u2019s County State\u2019s Attorney Tara Jackson said an autopsy is pending.<\/p>\n
Investigators arrested Hernandez-Mendez in the 12000 Block of Kembridge Drive, where he was a renter, and authorities believe Thompson was killed there and her body was moved.<\/p>\n
\u2018Soft-spoken, kind young lady\u2019<\/p>\n
The bond hearing was routine.\u00a0But the courtroom was packed with family and friends of the victim.<\/p>\n
After the hearing, Da\u2019Cara Thompson\u2019s mother, Carmen, spoke about her daughter.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe had just completed a yearlong internship in which she was very successful. She did a great job. She was an outgoing, soft-spoken, kind young lady,\u201d Carmen said, wearing a wearing a shirt printed with her daughter\u2019s photo and #JusticeForDaCara. \u201cI just want justice served for my daughter.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thompson had graduated from St. Charles High School in Waldorf and worked for a nonprofit as part of a service program for recent graduates.<\/p>\n
In an official statement from the Department of Homeland Security, it said Hernandez-Mendez was in the United States illegally from Guatemala. The agency also said he had been arrested and charged previously with driving under the influence in May of 2022.<\/p>\n
At a news conference Friday, Prince George\u2019s County Executive Aisha Braveboy said Hernandez-Mendez had also been arrested this past April by U.S. Park Police on another DUI charge while driving on the Baltimore Washington Parkway. She noted that despite the federal agency\u2019s understanding that he was living in the country illegally, they released him.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s very disappointing, finding that out now. Because we may not be here today if they did what they were supposed to do,\u201d Carmen said Monday.<\/p>\n
According to court records, Hernandez-Mendez worked for a Baltimore landscaping company.<\/p>\n
Getting justice<\/p>\n
For more than a week, Thompson\u2019s relatives searched for her after she disappeared after saying she was going out to get gasoline for her car on the night of Aug. 22.<\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t until nine days later that they got the terrible news.<\/p>\n
State\u2019s Attorney Jackson said regardless of the suspect\u2019s immigration status, she will press ahead with his first- and second-degree murder charges.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy concern is to hold accountable people who commit crimes against the residents of Prince George\u2019s County,\u201d she said. \u201cThis office\u2019s primary concern is not the legal status of the defendant, or frankly any defendant.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thompson\u2019s mother said she has confidence in the work of the investigators and the State\u2019s Attorney\u2019s Office to find out what happened, and she urged caution to those who are judging her daughter.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s been a lot of people disparaging her character on social media and things and such. Please don\u2019t believe everything you see. Please don\u2019t believe everything you hear. Out of respect for the family and us grieving, please approach everything with grace. We would appreciate that,\u201d Carmen said.<\/p>\n
Hernandez-Mendez is due back in court on Oct. 8 for a preliminary hearing.<\/p>\n
WTOP\u2019s John Domen and Jose Umana contributed to this report.<\/p>\n
Get breaking news and daily headlines delivered to your email inbox by signing up here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\u00a9 2025 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The suspect accused of murdering 19-year-old Da’Cara Thompson last month was ordered held without bond after his first…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":143043,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4,450,84902,89026,451,26901,698,3,452,453],"class_list":{"0":"post-143042","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-breaking-news","8":"tag-breaking-news","9":"tag-breakingnews","10":"tag-dacara-thompson","11":"tag-dan-ronan","12":"tag-headlines","13":"tag-illegal-immigration","14":"tag-murder","15":"tag-news","16":"tag-top-stories","17":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143042","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=143042"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143042\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/143043"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=143042"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=143042"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=143042"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}