In June 2021, Diego Hernandez of Montana was sentenced to life in prison for the October 2019 strangulation murder of Lori Bray, who gave him a ride home from the casino in Laurel, where she worked. District Court Judge Michael Moses stated that he will only be eligible for parole after serving 35 years behind bars. Hernandez was found guilty of deliberate homicide earlier in March.
Bray, 57, who was last spotted giving Hernandez a ride home following her shift at the Cedar Ridge Casino right after midnight on October 1, 2019, was murdered by Hernandez. Her naked body was discovered in a creek approximately three miles from where her abandoned car was found. The DNA found beneath her fingernails matched a sample taken from Hernandez, who had scratches on his face.
Murder in the Heartland is scheduled to chronicle the case and the investigation that led to Diego Hernandez's ultimate conviction. The episode, titled Killer Casino, airs on ID this Wednesday, December 21, at 9.00 pm ET.
Lori Bray consented to give Diego Hernandez a lift home on the night she was killed
Three years after the incident, Diego Hernandez was found guilty of murder in 2012 by a Yellowstone County District Court jury on the sixth day of the trial. It was revealed that Lori Bray, 57, was strangled to death by Hernandez.
The prosecution concentrated on key elements of their case, such as the scratches on Hernandez's face, the blood-stained seat fabric of Bray's car, the wounds and bruises on the victim's face, the cigarette packages he left in her car, his bleached clothing, the gaps in his timeline, and the eyewitness accounts of people who said they saw him leave with the victim.
Diego Hernandez was arrested within days after Lori Bray's body was found east of Laurel on Yard Office Road after she was reported missing when evidence connected him to the scene and the murder. He pleaded not guilty, claiming that he and Bray were acquainted and had a s*xual relationship.
Prosecutors cited surveillance footage and statements from Hernandez to establish that on the night of her death, Bray consented to give him a lift home from the Cedar Ridge Casino where she worked.
However, phone records from the victim's phone and her behavior towards the accused captured on security cameras proved that the two had no prior contact or knowledge of one another before that night. Moreover, Hernandez allegedly did not have scratches on his face before meeting Bray that night.
Evidence placed Diego Hernandez in Lori Bray's car and at the location where her body was found
The prosecution showed video footage of Bray closing up and driving away from the casino minutes after midnight, with Hernandez in the car. The latter claimed during his statements that they went to the shack next to his house to smoke cigarettes and have s*x. Hernandez stated that he last saw her when she drove away from his house.
Further evidence presented in court included the blood-soaked seat of her car, which consisted of both Hernandez and the victim's blood, a broken turn signal stock, mud, and clothes scattered all over the car, which suggested a fight or struggle had taken place.
The shoes discovered at Hernandez's house also matched the prints from the victim's car and had the same tread pattern as those discovered at the scene where Bray's body was discovered. On the night of the incident, her phone's cellular location indicated that she was close to Hernandez's house, where her body was found, and where her car was subsequently located.
Diego Hernandez, 24, was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment.
ID's Murder in the Heartland airs with Lori Bray's case on December 21, 2022.
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