California prison officials are searching for a convicted murderer who escaped Dec. 2 after arriving at the Kern County Superior Courthouse in Delano, according to the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
Officers were transporting Cesar Hernandez to a court appearance at about 10:45 a.m. Monday when he jumped out of the van and escaped from the location about 150 miles north of downtown Los Angeles, the department reported.
Agents from the corrections department’s special services unit and units from North Kern, Kern Valley, and Wasco state prisons responded to the escape.
The California Highway Patrol and Delano and McFarland police departments are helping with the search.
Hernandez, 34, is 5 feet 5 inches and 161 pounds. He has brown eyes and black hair, and was last seen wearing an orange top and orange pants.
The prisoner was sent to the Kern County facility from Los Angeles County on June 27, 2019. He was sentenced to 25 years to life with the possibility of parole for first-degree murder.
The conviction was Hernandez’s second strike, meaning he has a prior serious violent felony conviction.
The department is asking the public to call 911 if they see Hernandez or have knowledge of his whereabouts.
Since 1977, 99 percent of all convicts who have left an adult institution, camp, or community-based program without permission have been caught, according to the department.
