Erick Hernandez-Mendez: Man gets life in prison for fatally stabbing wife after marrying for Green Card

RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA: A man in North Carolina was reportedly given a life sentence for fatally stabbing his wife 16 times in the neck just a few days after getting married to obtain legal immigration status.

A jury found Raleigh, North Carolina, resident Erick Hernandez-Mendez guilty in a matter of hours. In April 2021, the victim, Christina Matos, was discovered dead inside her apartment.

Eric Hernandez-Mende killed radiology student whom he married for Green Card

Matos was a Wake Technical Community College radiology student, who was only 20 when she was killed.

Matos and Hernandez-Mendez had known each other before getting married when they were living in Clayton, North Carolina. They later became friendly as college students, family and friends told WNCN after she was initially reported dead.

Matos' father claimed he was unaware his daughter had gotten married when she died almost three years ago.

Hernandez-Mendez stated in court that he did not fatally stab the young woman in the apartment they shared a few days after getting married. Instead, he held their roommate Kailey Lynch-Firicano accountable for the murder.

In the end, Firicano was accused of felony accessory to murder and obstruction of justice. Hernandez-Mendez informed jurors that Firicano was jealous of their marriage, according to WRAL.

The man claimed that he and Matos kept their marriage a secret because "that is who Christina was" and she didn't "do her business out there" during an interview with Raleigh police in 2021.

He claimed that because he was undocumented, they got married to "help each other out." Additionally, he disclosed to the authorities that Matos was a stripper and go-go dancer and that he thought he could "change" her.

"My goal was to fix her," he declared in 2021. Hernandez-Mendez, however, admitted to being gay during his trial and said that he had given the victim $15,000 for the marriage.

He had also attended a vigil for Matos a few days after killing her. However, the prosecution painted a very different picture during the closing arguments, claiming that Hernandez-Mendez became resentful and jealous as their friendship deteriorated and never paid up.

Hernandez-Mendez was irritated by Christina Matos' frequent requests for repayment

According to the prosecution, Hernandez-Mendez was irritated by Matos' frequent requests for repayment in text messages. They added that he would become enraged and jealous when she would invite men to the apartment.

Prosecutors claimed that one specific message sent by Matos expressed exactly how she felt about Hernandez-Mendez.

“Tbh Erick,” Matos wrote, using shorthand for “to be honest.” “I’m only doing strictly business with you don’t talk to me at all unless you need to me for something specific.”

Additionally, evidence was presented during the trial that Hernandez-Mendez searched the internet for information on how one could obtain immigration status even in the event of the death of a citizen spouse, according to WNCN.

The victim's parent, Yolanda and Gerardo Matos, were among the family members in attendance at Hernandez-Mendez's sentencing this week.

Gerardo Matos spoke with Hernandez-Mendez directly through an interpreter after the judge imposed a life sentence.

“Today, justice was done for Christina. This gentleman deserves to be in hell,” he said. According to WTVD, Yolanda Matos refused to even refer to him as an animal because "sometimes an animal has compassion."

The man was called a "traitor to your kind" and a "killer to the Hispanic community" by Matos' brother Abraham Matos. An inquiry for comment on Thursday, March 14, was not immediately answered by Hernandez-Mendez's attorney.