By F. Scott Faulkner
November 17, 2025 – Santa Barbara County, CA
A year after a high-speed crash tore an Infiniti in two and left his two young daughters dead, 24-
year-old Brian Hernandez Cervantes of New Cuyama has been arrested and charged with two
counts of murder.
The tragedy unfolded on the night of November 20, 2024, when a California Highway Patrol
officer parked along the roadside spotted Hernandez Cervantes’ vehicle racing past.
According to Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department , “the driver
crossed double yellow lines” weaving through a narrow, curving grade.
CHP and SBSD Patrol radar readings later confirmed bursts of 75, 87, and 100 mph “where the posted limit is 55 mph.”
Seconds later, Hernandez Cervantes lost control. The Infiniti slammed into a tree and sheared
apart.
At a November 14, 2025 Lompoc Superior Court hearing, Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s
Deputy Francesca Arnoldi, one of the first to reach the wreckage, described the scene. “I saw
just chaos,” she testified. “There was a lot of debris in the roadway.”
She found 3-year-old Stella Aliyah Hernandez still strapped in her car seat and 7-month-old Luna Alani Hernandez, citing
“obvious signs of death.”
Nearly three hours after the crash, tests still placed Cervantes’ blood alcohol content at 0.097%,
“with THC also present.”
During Friday’s preliminary hearing, Deputy District Attorney Nicholas Harmon pressed for the
arrest of Cervantes on multiple murder charges, presenting evidence that Cervantes took a 35-
mph curve at “just under 110 mph.”
Lompoc Superior Court Judge Stephen Dunkle upheld the murder charges.
Cervantes was taken into custody and transported to Santa Barbara County Jail where he remains in custody on a no-
bail hold.
