Phoenix police trying to figure out more details about man murdered in 2017

This article originally appeared Feb. 27, 2017.

This is a case where finding out more about the victim may lead to his killers.

At about 2:15 a.m. on Friday, Feb. 10, 2017, 41-year-old Rodolfo Hernandez and a friend walked into the courtyard of an apartment complex at 23rd Avenue and Thomas Road. They were jumped by two armed men in dark clothing.

“What we have is a victim who was killed during a robbery,” Phoenix Police Sgt. Jamie Rothschild said. “What we don’t have is who was Rodolfo Hernandez?

“Tell us about him. Let us begin to piece together his life and what brought him there that night. Maybe that will help us find who these suspects are and if there was a relationship between them prior.”

When the gunmen approached making demands, Hernandez fought back and one of the suspects shot him and fled. Hernandez’s friend was pistol-whipped.

Rothschild said because the second victim had just met Hernandez, he didn’t know very much about him. Investigators said Hernandez’s family is out of state and had been out of touch since he moved to Phoenix about a year ago.

“This is a really unique case because we know who our victim, Mr. Hernandez, is but we don’t know anything about him,” Rothschild said. “We don’t know where he lived, where he worked or who he hung out with and we’re hoping that people can point us to his landlord or roommates or someone who can help us learn more about him.”

Read more about this case here.

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