Ricardo Dagoberto Diaz-Nivarez, Facing Same Murder Charges as His Convicted Mother, Sees Jury Deadlock

​Ricardo Dagoberto Diaz-Nivarez's mother was sentenced in the spring to 25 years to life in state prison for plotting with her son the 2005 robbery and murder of Mario Hernandez, a 78-year-old Santa Ana jewelry salesman whose body was never found.

Today, a jury deadlocked 10-2 in favor of convicting the 26-year-old Garden Grove resident, prompting Judge Richard F. Toohey in Santa Ana to declare a mistrial. The judge also scheduled a Nov. 4 hearing to set a new trial date.

Hernandez would periodically travel to Los Angeles to re-stock his jewelery collection and sell pieces to his client base. On March 17, 2005, he told his granddaughter he was getting up early to meet a client the next morning. When he failed to return home that night, his concerned family contacted Santa Ana Police. The family also discovered the last number Hernandez made on his cell phone was to Rebeca Nivarez, the 46-year-old mother of Diaz-Nivarez.

Nivarez

​A week later, Hernandez's torched van was found abandoned at Pavion Park in Mission Viejo. Detectives meanwhile discovered that Nivarez sold many of Hernandez's jewelry items to Santa Ana pawns shops before having her daughter hold onto the rest as she fled the area. Before she could, Nivarez was arrested, although her son fled to Mexico. A year later, Mexican authorities extradited Diaz-Nivarez back to Orange County.

A jury on Feb. 1 convicted Nivarez of murdering Hernandez despite his body never having been found. She was sentenced in May.

Previous coverage:

• Rebeca Nivarez Found Guilty of Murdering Jeweler Despite No Victim Body