LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — The woman accused of burglarizing the home of one of the UNLV professors who was killed in the UNLV campus shooting last month planned to sell items she found, a new arrest report reveals.
31-year-old Bianca Hernandez was arrested last week on charges of conspiracy to commit burglary and possession of stolen goods above $1200 in value. The house in question belongs to the late UNLV professor Naoko Takemaru, who was identified as a victim of the UNLV campus shooting on Dec. 6, 2023.
According to the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, officers found the front door of Takemaru's residence to be "ajar," but no suspects were located inside. Officers described the residence as "ransacked" in the arrest report, detailing multiple photos taken at the scene that show damage throughout the house.
The person reporting the burglary also provided officers with photos of the suspected female, who was observed leaving the house with items believed to belong to Takemaru.
On Dec. 30, 2023, Metro received a 911 call about a located stolen vehicle being used by suspects "who burglarized their residence," according to the report. The caller told police that he observed the vehicle parked in his driveway alongside two white male adults exiting his front door carrying property belonging to him. The caller said he witnessed the two males steal an iPad, a Sony PlayStation, and a brown 254CE guitar.
Hours after the report, police would be alerted to an advertisement listing a similar guitar that had been reported stolen. The advertisement had been posted by Bianca Hernandez, according to the selling account's profile. Police were able to confirm that the guitar belonged to the 911 caller using pictures provided by the caller.
With the Facebook advertisement, police located Hernandez's residence and confirmed that it was on the same side of the street as Takemaru's residence.
"I believe that due to Hernandez's proximity to Naoko's residence and the presence of signs of support and mourning Naoko's loss by means of posters and signs affixed to Naoko's residence and front yard, Hernandez was likely aware that Naoko was deceased and that Naoko's residence would be vacant," an investigator noted in the report.
After obtaining a search warrant for Hernandez's residence, SWAT and police were able to surround the residence and take Hernandez into custody.
Upon entry into the garage, an investigator also noted that the guitar was located immediately. He also noted that Hernandez was wearing the same sandals that could be seen in the advertisement on Facebook.
Police would speak with Hernandez to ask about the burglary, and she would admit to "jumping the back wall into Naoko's residence along with her cousin." She added that it was her "intention to obtain property" but "only touched the backdoor" because she "became scared that her presence would be detected."
Police would then ask Hernandez if any items belonging to Takemaru would be found inside her house, which she adamantly denied. Detectives would then alert investigators to the fact that a document related to ownership of Takemaru's house had been found inside a safe in Hernandez's garage. When asked by police how she obtained it, she claimed that she "printed off the documents" shortly after Takemaru's reported death.
She claimed that she did not have to pay a fee to receive the documents — something disputed after officers observed $19 and $25 fees on the document, noted by the Clark County Recorder.
Hernandez would further claim that she "wished to begin tax payments in an effort to gain ownership of Naoko's residence," according to the report. Hernandez also told police that she was an active user of the illicit narcotic fentanyl.
Hernandez was booked into Clark County Detention Center on charges of conspiracy to commit burglary, residential burglary, and intent to buy, receive, possess, or withhold stolen property above and below a value of $1200.
