Tulsa's 3rd Homicide of 2007

The murder of a pregnant woman is Tulsaâ€™s third murder of the year and homicide detectives already have a suspect in custody. <br/><br/>The case started when a woman was found dead in her Tulsa apartment

Wednesday, January 10th 2007, 10:54 am

By: News On 6

The murder of a pregnant woman is Tulsaâ€™s third murder of the year and homicide detectives already have a suspect in custody.

The case started when a woman was found dead in her Tulsa apartment in the 7600 block of East 21st Street Wednesday morning.

32 year old Alethia Kikugawa's former boyfriend stopped by her apartment to pick her up for an appointment. He found the door open and went inside, which is when he saw her on her kitchen floor. Tulsa Police officer Jason Willingham: "We have a door to door canvass going on to see if anybody heard anything. We think it happened sometime overnight."

Tulsa Police say there was no forced entry and the apartment was not ransacked. The murder understandably had people in the neighborhood a little on edge. One woman had talked to the woman just Monday and the victim confided she was four months pregnant. Cheryl: " I'm worried and scared."

The victim's car was missing, so police immediately asked all officers in the city to be on the lookout for her gold Honda. In the meantime, detectives got the name of a possible suspect and a location where he hangs out, they went there and with moments, the man drove up. Officers say his clothes were covered in blood. They had him change into a jail jumpsuit at Tulsa Police headquarters, questioned him and fingerprinted.

The suspect is identified as Jesus Hernandez. Police records say Hernandez could not remember anything after seeing the victim lying on the kitchen floor with blood on her. He also said he could not remember how he got blood on his pants or a fresh scratch on his face.

Tulsa Police records also show officers had been called to the hospital once before because the victim had been assaulted, but she declined to tell them who did it. Officers were called to her apartment just a week ago, but no report was made.

The Centers for Disease Control says the leading cause of death for pregnant women in this country, is murder.