A Colorado man may be facing murder charges after his girlfriend was found dead. Luis Antonio Mendez Hernandez allegedly killed his girlfriend, whom he shares a child with, and shoved her body under a bed. After not seeing her for a couple of days, one of the couple’s roommates called police. They revealed to the authorities that the man had been acting weird since his girlfriend’s disappearance, which was also cause for concern. A cause and manner of death are still being determined, and no preliminary information has been provided. Currently, no formal charges against Mendez Hernandez have been released to the public.
Minutes after midnight December 29, 2025, Frisco police officers got a call about a medical emergency, the Town of Frisco shared in a news release. When officers arrived, they found a dead woman. Based on what they saw at the home, they obtained a search warrant. A suspect was taken into custody that day.
The news release identified Mendez Hernandez as the suspect. He was held in custody on suspicion of first-degree murder after deliberation, first-degree murder with extreme indifference, second-degree murder, and tampering with a deceased human body.
Judge Reed W. Owens set bail at $5 million cash surety. The case’s warrantless affidavit was sealed by Owens “to protect the integrity of this ongoing investigation and in respect for the victim,” the release noted. No identifying information was released at that time.
On January 1, 2026, the coroner’s office identified the victim as 20-year-old Griselda Amarilis Lopez Racancoj, 9NEWS reported.
Court records obtained by the outlet showed she was also the victim in a domestic violence case involving Mendez Hernandez back in November 2025. The 19-year-old was arrested and charged with assault at that time.
A court unsealed an arrest affidavit on January 21 that gave more details to the December 29 arrest, the Colorado Summit Daily reported.
When police arrived at the home, two people told them someone was under the bed Luis Mendez Hernandez shared with Lopez Racancoj. The officer and an EMT searched the room, finding clothing and a white trash bag “stuffed” into a corner under the bed, the affidavit read.
Eventually, they found the young woman’s dismembered body. Mendez Hernandez and two other men in the home were detained while police spoke with a female witness, per the Summit Daily. She said the couple had broken up and she hadn’t seen the woman since December 27, when they had gotten into an argument.
The woman also told police she noticed scratches on Mendez Hernandez’s neck, arms, and chest on December 29.
According to the affidavit, Frisco police and agents from the Colorado Bureau of Investigation obtained a search warrant and began searching the home. They found a 6-inch steak knife covered in blood in the closet of the bedroom, the Summit Daily reported. They also found pillows with blood patterns indicating they “may have been held to a person’s face.”
In an email to the Summit Daily, the Summit County Coroner’s Office noted that the autopsy and cause and manner of death for Lopez Racancoj were not yet available.
Frisco police officers and agents from the Colorado Bureau of Investigation interviewed Mendez Hernandez around 6:30 a.m. December 29.
During the interview, he said he got into bed to cuddle with Lopez Racancoj in the middle of the night on December 27. When he got closer, she was cold to the touch and “obviously deceased.”
The roommate who called the police, however, mentioned getting “strange” texts from Mendez Hernandez after the last time they saw Lopez Racancoj. According to the affidavit, he told the roommate that his girlfriend was suicidal and asked to borrow their truck to help her, per the Summit Daily. The roommate found the behavior odd and went into the bedroom, seeing what they believed to be her body under the bed.
When asked about what could have killed his girlfriend, Mendez Hernandez gave investigators the name of another man, claiming he had been “harassing her.” He believed she died by suicide as a result.
Mendez Hernandez then told his interviewers that he wrapped his girlfriend’s body in a blanket and put it under the bed, the Summit Daily reported. Using his phone, he searched for how to get rid of the body. He also searched for ways to get to Mexico because he considered running away.
According to the news release, formal charges against Mendez Hernandez were expected January 6. A preliminary demand hearing was set for January 12. Thus far, no information from either event has been made public.
If you or someone you know has been the victim of domestic abuse, you can find help and support at DVIS.org, the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233, or by contacting your local women’s shelter (domesticshelters.org).
