The true story behind the José Herrán case ahead of The Friday the 13th Murders season 1 episode 4

In the small coal-mining town of Freeland, Pennsylvania, 60-year-old Cuban exile José Herrán disappeared in mid-October 2015, leaving behind a legacy of unanswered questions. With his close connections to relatives overseas, Herrán worked as an FBI confidential informant, providing information on drug and weapons trafficking in the Philadelphia region.

But this profession reportedly made him a target. Enlisted on false pretenses to a secluded trailer belonging to an acquaintance, Roberto Torner, José Herrán was murdered by Torner's friend, David Alzugaray. His corpse was subsequently butchered with a hatchet, parts incinerated in pits on the land, and remains tossed into the adjacent Lehigh River.

The murder was a result of fear that Herrán was assisting authorities against local drug enterprises. What made the case spooky was the quiet that ensued: on November 17, 2015, his mother's birthday, José Herrán never called, as he did each year, which led to her frantic search. This turning point of fear centers on Investigation Discovery's The Friday the 13th Murders.

Tune in to season 1 episode 4, titled Feared Silent, featuring Herrán's case, on Wednesday, October 22, 2025, at 10 p.m. ET on Investigation Discovery, with all-new episodes available the next day on ID GO.

---

The Friday the 13th Murders: The disappearance of José Herrán

The Friday the 13th Murders(Image via Unsplash/ @ Scott Rodgerson)

José Herrán, born in Cuba, had settled in the Freeland area of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, by 2015. At age 60, he lived a modest life, often staying in rooming houses like one at 559 Washington Street owned by Roberto Torner. José Herrán stayed connected with his mother, Virginia Rodríguez, in West New York, New Jersey, calling her regularly, especially on her birthday each November 17, as per the Times Leader.

Records show his last social media activity in June 2015, and his phone made outbound calls until October 21 that year. Around mid-October, Torner, a 47-year-old with prior drug convictions, invited José Herrán to his remote property at 6851 North Buck Mountain Road in Foster Township, claiming they would burn trash. This was Herrán's last confirmed sighting.

No one reported him missing right away, as his transient lifestyle raised few alarms. But by late November, Rodríguez grew worried. She last spoke to her son on November 13 or 14, 2015, a Friday the 13th weekend, when he promised to call for her birthday two days later.

The call never came. Phone records contradicted her memory, showing no activity after October 21, but her concern led her to alert authorities, according to the Times Leader.

State police initially classified it as a missing persons case. Herrán had no major debts or conflicts noted beyond his past associations with low-level crime. Tips trickled in over the years, pointing to Torner, who had solicited others to harm Herrán at least 12 times in the fall of 2015, according to a cooperating witness.

By 2018, searches of the Buck Mountain site began, but Herrán remained officially missing, his body unrecovered. The delay highlighted challenges in rural investigations, where isolation can hide secrets. Rodríguez kept her phone number active, hoping for word, as the case shifted from absence to suspected foul play, as per the Times Leader.

5 chilling details about Cathy McNaughton's murder

---

Uncovering the murder and evidence

José Herrán was shot in the back of his head (Image via Unsplash/ @ Max Kleinen)

Investigators from the Pennsylvania State Police, the FBI, and the DEA pieced together José Herrán's fate through persistent leads. In 2018, forensic teams processed Torner's trailer, removing carpet to reveal a subfloor hastily painted over bloodstains that tested positive for human traces. Three burn pits on the property yielded bone fragments, though DNA links were inconclusive.

Search warrants at multiple Freeland sites uncovered knives, hatchets, mallets, ammunition, and a .22-caliber handgun, the suspected murder weapon. Prosecutors alleged Torner drove Herrán to the trailer between October 13 and November 17, 2015, where Alzugaray shot him once in the back of the head in the bedroom, as per the Times Leader.

They then dismembered the body, soaking blades in bleach, smashing bones into feed bags, burning clothes and parts in pits, and discarding flesh in the Lehigh River near White Haven. Herrán's informant work exposed Torner's heroin operations, fueling the plot; Torner had begged associates to kill him earlier to prevent problems.

Witness accounts broke the case. Liza Robles, Torner's fiancée, described his confession post-killing and was granted immunity for her testimony. FBI Agent Thomas D'Amico confirmed José Herrán's role in tracking Philly-area trafficking. Rodríguez's emotional account of the missed call underscored the human toll.

By February 2020, nearly 12 warrants and surveillance tied Torner and Alzugaray to the conspiracy, shifting the probe to homicide. No full-body recovery complicated closure, but the evidence painted a clear picture of calculated disposal in a hidden rural spot, according to the Times Leader.

Criminal Minds: Evolution Season 3 Leaves Fans With These 5 Burning Questions

---

Trials, convictions, and justice

Torner and Alzugaray are in prison (Image via Unsplash/ @ Carles Rabada)

In May 2023, Torner's Luzerne County Court trial took six days before Judge David W. Lupas. Prosecutors showed the forensic and witness testimony and pleaded first-degree murder on the grounds of José Herrán's betrayal as an informant.

A jury found Torner, aged 50 at the time, guilty of first-degree murder, conspiracy, and solicitation upon the testimonies of Alzugaray, who invoked self-defense but acknowledged the shooting, and others, such as Richard DeStefano, who established connections between Torner and previous body dumpings in New Jersey.

In August 2023, Torner got life without parole, plus 20 to 40 years on related charges; he was already serving federal time for drugs, as per WNEP. Alzugaray, 54, entered a guilty plea in October 2023 to third-degree murder, conspiracy, and abuse of a corpse, receiving 17 to 45 years in state prison. His cooperation helped Torner's case.

Charges traced back to February 2020, when DA Sam Sanguedolce and the DEA made homicide filings following years of collaborative investigations, according to WNEP. Torner appealed in 2025 on grounds of prejudicial testimony, but the Pennsylvania Superior Court affirmed the verdict in July on a common plan in the crimes. Rodríguez sat through trials, wanting answers without a body.

The verdicts revealed danger for informants and small-town connections to crime, with no additional appeals reported through October 2025, as per the Times Leader. Justice was late, but convictions wrapped up a decade-long book on investigators and family.

---

The Real Murders on Elm Street season 2 episode 3 - Why was the killer on a rampage?

5 chilling details about Joy Hibbs’ murder