Woman’s home burns down days after son is accused of choking her, then hiding in tunnel
A 60-year-old woman’s Benton City home burned down early Tuesday — less than a week after her son is accused of choking her.
The home was empty at the time because the woman hadn’t been staying at the Dimmick Road home since the assault, said Benton County sheriff’s Lt. Mike Clark told the Tri-City Herald.
A passerby noticed the fire about 4:30 a.m. and called fire officials.
Crews from Benton County fire districts 2 and 1 battled the blaze in the rural neighborhood off North River Road but the home was a total loss.
The Benton County Sheriff’s Office is in charge of the fire investigation and hadn’t found anything suspicious Tuesday morning, Clark said.
He said it will be a while before investigators can get inside to begin trying to determine how and where the fire started.
The homeowner’s son, Ritcherd J. Hernandez, 27, remains in the Benton County jail with bail set at $50,000. He’s under investigation for second-degree assault, unlawful imprisonment, harassment and malicious mischief.
Hernandez was allegedly high on methamphetamine or fentanyl when he choked her with an extension cord on Christmas Day, according to initial court documents. He was arrested the next day after deputies found him in a tunnel he’d dug under his mom’s house.
She already had managed to escape to a neighbor’s house the next day.
Reported attack & tunnel arrest
Hernandez was living at the Benton City home with his mother when he arrived home about 4 p.m. on Christmas.
He reportedly had a habit of becoming angry and “taking it out” on his mother, court documents said.
He allegedly accused her of stealing from him and broke two of her cellphones during the argument.
About an hour later, he allegedly used a black extension cord to choke her until she was feeling faint and “seeing black.”
She told detectives that he whipped her with the cord on her back. He also allegedly threatened to use a handsaw to “cut off her hands” for stealing.
He woke up as she was sneaking out of her house the next morning, followed her to a neighbor’s home and told her that she was going to die.
A neighbor heard her yelling for help and told Hernandez to leave or she would call police. Hernandez left and his mother was taken to Kadlec Regional Medical Center in Richland.
When deputies caught up with him at the house on Friday, Dec. 27, Hernandez had barricaded himself inside and retreated to a small makeshift tunnel he’d dug out under the house.
He could get into the underground tunnel from a hole he’d cut into the floor, Clark said.
Deputies, with the help of other agencies, got a search warrant and forced their way in, finding him hiding underneath the house.