After changing his version of events on multiple occasions and providing unconvincing explanations of damning evidence, 24-year-old Diego Hernandez has been convicted by a jury of deliberate homicide in a recent trial in Yellowstone County, Montana. Testimony at trial offered by detectives, forensic experts, and witnesses depicted a series of incriminating behaviors and bumbling errors by the accused in the days before and after the victim’s death.

Lori Bray, 57, was a casino runner at the Cedar Ridge Casino in Laurel, a town bordering the city of Billings, Montana. In the early hours of October 1, 2019, at around 12:30 am, Bray was approached by Diego Hernandez outside of the casino after the end of her shift. Hernandez initially told officers that he had never met Bray before that night and had simply asked for a ride home when the casino closed. Security video footage shows Bray checking Hernandez’s ID at the casino that night, where they appear to introduce themselves to one another for the first time. The footage also showed Hernandez getting into the passenger side of Bray’s vehicle and leaving the casino. Hernandez explained that Bray indeed gave him a ride home, but their interaction concluded when they arrived at his house. Sadly, Bray was never seen alive again.

The following day, when Bray could not be located, Bray’s son Justin Smith found her abandoned vehicle near Hernandez’s home. Bray’s car contained her clothing, undergarments, phone, car keys, and what appeared to be evidence of wiped blood. Bloodstains on the back seat of Bray’s vehicle were later determined to be a mixture of blood from both Hernandez and Bray. Bray’s body was found on the evening of October 2, 2019, several miles from her vehicle. Coroners concluded that Bray died by manual strangulation. Her body also showed evidence of a sexual assault, and DNA evidence from skin cells found under her fingernails was linked to Hernandez.

Police officers approached Hernandez later on October 1 about his relationship with Bray. Hernandez said that he and Bray’s only interaction had been Bray giving Hernandez a ride home. Hernandez allowed officers to take his phone, providing the password to unlock the device, and also allowed them to take photos of his room. Officers also searched Hernandez’s laundry room, noting that Hernandez had washed and bleached the clothing he had worn to the casino the night before, despite the fact that his room was littered with other dirty clothing. According to investigators, the tread on the shoes which Hernandez had just washed matched the tread prints left near Bray’s gold cross necklace.

Officers also asked Hernandez about the fresh-looking scratches and contusions covering Hernandez’s face and body. He explained that he had gotten into a scuffle with a friend several nights before. When officers asked Hernandez why he did not appear to be covered in scratches in the surveillance footage of his first meeting with Bray on the night she died, he explained that he had covered them with makeup that night.

Officers explained at the conclusion of their initial interview that they had a warrant ordering Hernandez to undergo a medical examination to look for evidence that he had committed a sexual assault. At this point, Hernandez became visibly nervous. The subsequent medical examination revealed evidence that Hernandez had had sex with Bray the night she died, as well as other physical evidence that someone had tried to get away from Hernandez.

On October 2, 2019, Hernandez requested another interview with police officers. During this interview, Hernandez’s story changed dramatically. Hernandez claimed that he and Bray had been in a sexual relationship for over a year. Hernandez, who was 33 years Bray’s junior, said that he hadn’t told officers the truth during his prior interview because he believed that Bray was in another relationship and didn’t want to expose his own relationship with Bray. Hernandez explained that he and Bray would talk on the phone and text, and that Bray confessed to having feelings for Hernandez. He said that, on the night of Bray’s death, he and Bray had actually smoked cigarettes and had sex in the shack behind his house.

When detectives questioned why neither his nor Bray’s phones contained any evidence that the two had exchanged phone calls or texts despite allegedly having been in a relationship for over a year, he said that the couple only spoke in person at the casino where Bray worked. Hernandez’s revised story also stood in contrast to the video footage from the night Bray died where Bray checked Hernandez’s ID, and the two appeared to be meeting for the first time.

Detectives found no evidence of a relationship between the pair when searching Hernandez’s phone, but they did find two suspicious searches in his Google history: “How long do investigations last” and “is there a limit to how many years they can investigate someone,” both googled within hours of Bray’s death. Hernandez claimed that he had been watching the true-crime show “The First 48” when he googled these questions and that the show had made him wonder at the answers.

Hernandez was arrested for the murder of Lori Bray on October 2, 2019. He maintained his innocence, and his trial for the crime of deliberate homicide began on March 15, 2021, lasting until March 22, 2021. After four days of testimony from witnesses for the prosecution, and none presented by the defense team led by Yellowstone County public defenders, the jury spent two hours deliberating before returning with a guilty verdict for Hernandez. He is now awaiting sentencing.