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Slain Buffet Worker Was Mexican Citizen

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By STEPHEN THOMPSON The Tampa Tribune

The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 28, 2008

LARGO - LARGO - The Pinellas County Sheriff's Office has released the name of a man found shot to death this month in a rented house in Seminole where he lived with a number of people who worked at the same restaurant.

Flavio Sanchez Hernandez, 20, was found June 10 at 13937 85th Terrace N. According to court documents, he was found on top of a bunk bed with a gunshot wound to the head.

Sanchez Hernandez was a foreign national from Cintalapa, a city in Mexico's southernmost state, Chiapas. Sheriff's spokeswoman Cecilia Barreda said he had been in the United States about two years.
Barreda said Hernandez had some type of identification on him, and a friend of his confirmed who he was, so investigators were able to name him without consulting Mexican authorities.

Authorities say three Hispanic men who wore dark long-sleeved shirts and pants are thought to be the killers. They wore do-rags and sunglasses and are thought to be Mexican.

Sheriff's officials issued a special plea today to the Hispanic community asking anyone with information on the suspects to contact Detective Don Wiwi at (727) 582 6200 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-873-TIPS. A person using Crime Stoppers can leave an anonymous tip in Spanish which will be translated later, Barreda said.

After finding Hernandez's body, deputies left and obtained a search warrant. During the search, they found $366 cash and a cell phone but no weapon, court documents say.

Investigators took fingernail scrapings from Hernandez and lifted foot patterns, the documents state.

They swabbed these items for DNA testing: a straw in a Styrofoam cup, an empty Modelo beer can, a Gatorade container, a Burger King cup, a Red Bull can and several Aquafina bottles.

It was determined the home is a rental property used to house about fifteen employees of the Super Buffet restaurant at Seminole Mall. The employees were described as Chinese nationals and Mexican nationals, none of whom speaks English.

Officials from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement were notified of the investigation because most of the employees were not documented workers.

County property records list Hanny Lau as one of the home's owners. Hanny Lau also is listed in state corporation records as the vice president of Super Buffet.

Reporter Stephen Thompson can be reached at spthompson

@tampatrib.com or (727) 451-2336.

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