On the afternoon of Friday, June 1st, 15-year-old Hector Hernandez-Valdez went over to a 16-year-old acquaintance’s house in the 800 block of E. 52nd. He was two blocks away from his home. Court papers say he went over there to smoke marijuana. While going upstairs, the two of them got into a fight. The older boy had a knife and stabbed Hector in the head. The older boy’s 14-year-old brother heard the fight and joined in, stabbing Hector in the neck with a large nail. The two brothers then moved Hector to a bathtub, slashed his throat, and stabbed him a total of 34 times.
The boys’ mother arrived home while the boys were cleaning up. She found bloodstained towels in her living room. Initially her sons told her they were cleaning up chili, but eventually showed her Hector’s body. The boys’ mother drove to the police station to report the murder. When she and the police arrived, Hector’s body had been moved to inside a recycling bin. The police questioned the boys and then took them into custody. It is likely they will both be tried as adults. Hector had on him $166 and less than 40 grams of pot which was taken by his killers.
This is the sixth homicide in Tacoma this year and the third one with a teenage victim in the past twelve months. As the father of a teenager, these deaths are particularly tragic to me. I’d love to say that back in my day we didn’t do things like that, but the truth is Tacoma’s crime rate for teenagers was worse when I was a teenager in the mid-90s. That doesn’t lessen the tragedy of deaths like Hector’s. These are our children. The last thing in the world they should have to worry about is being murdered.
And all too often, like in this case, the killers are also young. It’s relatively easy to point fingers at society, video games, music, or parents, but the bottom line is this crime was committed by two teenagers who are responsible for their actions and are being held responsible. My heart goes out to all of the families involved.
As always, the comments section is reserved for those who knew and remember Hector. It is moderated by me and no negative comments will be accepted. There are plenty of other places on the web for that unfortunately.
– Jack Cameron
tacomastories.com 
I don’t know hector personally . But he’s my ex’s cousin . And she tells me how great of a kid he was . He got along with everyone . And i just wish the best for his family . He’s in better place now . And we will watching over us, and help us from making his mistakes.
my son and his family live on 44th and this scares me. i moved to alaska 4 years ago to get away from the way tacoma was turning into only to leave my son now 21 behind with his two children. first its parents killing there babies and now its our babies killing eachother….parents get more involved,,snoop if you have to….be aware of your kids friends habits and what they do in there spare time and maybe, just maybe some thing like this wil not happen again…..my prayers to the family
I AM VERY SADDENED TO KNOW THAT THIS STORY HAS BEEN WRITTEN INCORRECTLY! HECTOR WAS NOT CARRYING POT…THE MONEY WAS ALSO NOT HIS. YOU FORGET TO TELL HOW HECTOR WAS IN THE JROTC(JR RESERVE OFFICER TRAINING CORP _ARMY_) ,OR THAT HE WAS A QUIET KID WHO PLAYED SOCCER & AVOIDED CONFRONTATION & ARGUMENTS. HE DID NOT LIKE VIOLENCE & WAS NOT A FIGHTER! YOU ALSO FORGET TO SAY HOW HE WAS INVITED OVER..AND YES WAS GOING OVER MOST LIKELY TO SMOKE MARIJUANNA…HOWEVER THE FIGHT BEGAN IN A HALLWAY LEADING TO THEIR UPSTAIRS TO THEIR HOME. WHERE LUIS THE OLDER BROTHER TURNED AROUND TO STAB HECTOR IN THE HEAD,FACE ETC NUMEROUS TIMES..HECTOR TRIED TO FIGHT FOR THE KNIFE TO SAVE HIS LIFE CRISTOBALO THE YOUNGER BROTHER DID NOT HAVE A NAIL RATHER A HOME MADE SHANK WAS ALREADY BEHIND HECTOR COMING UP THE STAIRS WHEN THE INITIAL STABBING ACCURED. CRISTABALO TOOK THE SHANK STABBING HECTOR 3 TIMES IN THE NECK WHILE HIS OLDER BROTHER REPEATEDLY STABBED HIM. HECTOR TURNED TO LUIS AT THAT TIME & STATED,”I THOUGHT YOU WHERE MY FRIEND..I THOUGHT I COULD TRUST YOU”? THOSE WHERE HIS LAST WORDS! THEY ONLY STOPPED WHEN HECTOR FELL & THEY BELIEVED HE WAS DEAD. THE BROTHERS THEN MOVED HIM TO AN UPSTAIRS BATHROOM. IT WAS THERE WHEN THEY THREW HIM INTO THE BATH TUB TO BLEED HIS BODY OUT THEY TURNED THE SHOWER ON HE BAGAN TO MAKE NOISES. THEY THEN CUT HIS THROAT KILLING HIM…YOU DONT LIKE TO HEAR IT? DON’T TELL THE HALF VERSION…DON’T READ THE HALF VERSION EITHER..
Jacquie, I’m sorry you didn’t like the way in which I wrote my article. I didn’t ‘forget’ to mention anything in it. I based my article on what charging papers and the newspapers have said. The fact that none of those sources mentioned Hector’s JROTC work or what sort of person he was is not surprising.
When I write these articles, I base them on court records, media reports, and anything I might personally know. When it comes to the victim himself, I rely on his friends and loved ones to post comments about what sort of person the victim was.
When it comes to the actual crime again I rely on court records and media reports because relying on the ‘word on the street’ is unreliable and frequently incorrect when it comes to the details.
I’m sorry for your loss. The idea behind my writing them is to make it so that these tragic victims aren’t forgotten. If you don’t like what I’ve written, I’m sorry. If anything I’ve written is factually inaccurate, I appreciate the correction, but I’m not going to correct the original article with more evidence than one person’s testimony.
Thanks for commenting.