Formal Charges Brought In Fire Death

Dodge County authorities have brought formal charges against a 21-year-old Cambria man they believe broke into a mobile home last Saturday morning and set fire to it killing a Beaver Dam High School student. Jose Hernandez, Jr. went to the mobile home in the Town of Calamus to pick up his sister who may have attended an underage drinking party there. A vehicle she had taken to the trailer park was parked in front of the trailer with its flashers on and it was locked. There were no keys in it. Witnesses say he began loudly banging on the trailer and when he couldn’t get in broke into it to get the keys. While inside the trailer he got into a fight with 18-year-old Victor Manuel Aguilar-Bustamante. A witness said Hernandez punched Aguilar-Bustamante everywhere. An autopsy performed after the fire showed Aguilar-Bustamante died from carbon monoxide poisoning from the fire, but also had hemorrhaging on a number of areas on his head. Hernandez allegedly set the fire when he went back to the trailer later that night to retrieve his cell phone. He used matches to see and spilled a box of wooden matches on the floor. Investigators later found the victims cell phone in Hernandez’s car. Charges brought against Hernandez could be amended now that the body found in the fire has been identified as Aguilar-Bustamante. To see the criminal complaint click here.