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July 16, 2025 • 15 mins
20 year old Christina agreed to marry her gay high school friend 23 year old Erick so he could get his green card and remain in the United States, in return Erick would pay Christina $15,000. Erick and Christina had lived together along with their other room mate Kailey. But after Erick and Christina's "fake" marriage, Erick not coming up with money for Christina, things went south quickly.

Promo for A Hateful Homicide

Intro: Shire Girl by David Fesilyan
Outro: Beating Heart by David Renda

Resources:
https://abc11.com/post/christina-matos-raleigh-nc-maria-signature-1505/10501894/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Q4WEl7D5nM
https://www.wral.com/story/it-was-lie-after-lie-jury-member-shares-what-led-to-erick-hernandez-mendez-guilty-verdict/21331625/
https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/crime/femicide-victims-murder-partner-b2541731.html
https://www.aol.com/murder-defendant-denies-stabbing-christina-171903269.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAMAs7Iw72mL_b7dvrD7iJJcQ1qX6NNhm0VWIgEtJy9o8M5x7IGw2Ctt0ymEIPUCUWSgmwoqYKMvM_rmRjl2WIqVe26f_5BeZarY51jIGo9vn-vEnPBfn07Kt7vVPtfBr4cjYPWNYdQVEzpYKaPmPqo8Q55IqI11ELMmCGzDeAeSo

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Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hi, my name is Mallory Jenner Robinson. Join me on
A Hateful Homicide. A true crime, an investigative journalism podcast
dedicated to telling the stories regarding the murders and hate
crimes of our transgender, non binary, intersex and two spirit
community members in the United States and abroad.

Speaker 2 (00:23):
This is.

Speaker 1 (00:25):
A Hateful Homicide.

Speaker 3 (00:29):
Dark Cast Network the best in indie podcast. Check out
all the great Darkcast shows at darkcastnetwork dot com. Hey there,
I'm Crystal and it's now time for Rainbow Crimes and
hopefully some Unicorn justice.

Speaker 2 (00:56):
Hello and welcome to Rainbow Crimes. Fine eighteen to Raleigh,
North Carolina. I'm your flight attendant, Fabulosa. Please make sure
your seats are in the forward position, lock the tray
in front of you, and fasten your seatbelts. Although this
is a quick commuter trip, a snack and drink cart

(01:17):
will make its way around to you once we're settled
in the air as oweys. Thank you for flying Rainbow Crimes.

Speaker 4 (01:27):
Hey there, warriors, it's me Cej. I hope you're all well,
both physically and mentally. My days with the kids being
gone flew by, and I feel like I accomplished so
very little and my daughter's urging, I did dive into
the show's Quick Game on Netflix, and although almost all

(01:50):
of it was in Korean with English subtitles, I loved
all three seasons that I binged, and I binged them
in three days. My daughter had told me that the
actors in it were wonderful face actors, and she was
so right. It was an intense show and the actors
conveyed so much emotion through their faces and body language.

(02:12):
She also thinks that they're putting together an American version
of the show. Honestly, the English speaking actors who were
in the Korean Squid Game, they were only in it
kind of briefly. They weren't nearly as good as the
Korean ones in my opinion. So if they do make
an American based one, I just hope they get some
good actors for it. I don't know, guys, I have

(02:36):
been in such a fonk lately. It's been hard to
get motivated to get out of bed in the mornings.
I forced myself to because I got animals to feed
and jack Jack to walk. But if I could, if
I didn't have any responsibilities with living creatures, I probably
would just stay in bed all day, and I probably

(02:56):
have made it sound worse than it is. I just
have zero motivation to do anything. I really have to
find myself a new project or something creative, something to
get excited about. But anyway, that's what's been going on
with me. I want to warmly welcome Beth to the
Rainbow Crimes Patreon family. Hey, Beth. On our end of

(03:21):
the month Patreon exclusive episode Ride, You'll be accompanied by
the beautiful golden caramel colored unicorn that we call Machiato.
You'll also receive your episodes on Patreon ad free and
earlier than the regular episodes. Drop so happy to have
you as part of our Warrior Patreon family.

Speaker 5 (03:43):
You rock, Beth.

Speaker 4 (03:46):
Now let's go ahead and get into this minisode. All
she ever wanted was what many little girls want out
of life, and that's to find your person, marry them,
and live happily ever after. But what she found was
a man, a gay man, no less, from another country, Mexico.

(04:07):
He desperately wanted his green card so that he could
stay in the US. Not quite the pictured fantasy that
played in her head, but the man offered her fifteen
thousand dollars for her pardon, helping him remain in the country.
When he was a small boy, twenty three year old

(04:27):
Eric Guiel Hernandez Mendez had come to the United States
with his family from Mexico, but he lost the ability
to legally re enter the States when he was ten.
Now he was in the US undocumented and considered an
illegal alien. He also, for some reason, didn't qualify for

(04:48):
the DACA program DACA standing for Deferred Action for Child Arrivals,
so he figured his best bet at staying legally in
the US was to marry into it. The young woman
I had previously mentioned Eric had actually gone to high
school with her name Christina Mattos, and she was twenty

(05:11):
years old. After high school, her and Eric lived together
with another female roommate named Kayleie lynch Ferkano. Kaylee attended
North Carolina State University. Christina attended Wake Technical Community College
in Raleigh. Christina agreed to marry Eric because they were friends,

(05:33):
but mostly because the fifteen thousand dollars he offered her
would help her family, who were not wealthy by any means.
The plan was to marry and in three years the
two would divorce and go their own ways. It seemed
like a small ask to give of herself when fifteen
thousand dollars could really help her family out of some

(05:55):
financial troubles. For me, I think it would seem a
very little payout to give three years of my life
for maybe when I was younger, it would have been
something I would have considered, because time back then didn't
seem to be fleeting away as it does now, and
when I was younger, I thought I'd live forever. But

(06:16):
the money Christina would gain would only equate to five
thousand dollars a year, which honestly, in the year twenty
twenty one was hardly anything, but I guess in a
lump sum, it was worth it to her. On Monday,
March twenty ninth, Christina and Eric would marry and a
quiet little Justice of the Peace ceremony. It definitely wasn't

(06:41):
a big affair at all. Even Christina's family were unaware
of it, and her friends said that there was no
love between the couple, except maybe as friends, but then again,
they really weren't that close of friends. Truthfully, there was
nothing romantic about their relationship all. There did seem to

(07:02):
be a level of trust, however, at least for a
little while. The day of their marriage, Eric still hadn't
come up with any of the money for Christina. This
became a point of contention for the couple, naturally, or
at least it was for Christina, who held up her
end of the deal. She had finally texted him to

(07:23):
be honest, Eric, I'm only doing strictly business with you.
Don't talk to me at all unless you need me
for something specific. She would only keep communications open with
Eric because she wanted the money that he owed her
and he was not producing it. I think he's damn
lucky she didn't expose him and have him deported right

(07:44):
then and there, because who knew if he would ever
give her the money Eric was supposed to pay her
the day they were married. Yes, it was going to
be a long three years for the both of them
playing this charade, especially if one of them wasn't living
up to their end of the deal. A day or

(08:05):
two after the bogus marriage occurred, Christina brought home a date.
This pissed Eric off. After all, her dating could blow
his cover if the wrong people found out. Angrily, Eric
scoured the internet. He was looking for ways that he
could earn his immigrant status should his citizen's spouse die.

(08:27):
On April fifth, after not hearing from Christina for a
few days, Christina's mother and brother drove to the home
that she shared with her roommates Eric and Cayley. The
door was locked, no one seemed to be there. Her
mom luckily had a spare key to the apartment and
she let herself and Christina's brother inside. They searched the inside,

(08:51):
calling for Christina, but there was no answer. Then they
tried Christina's bedroom door. That was odd. They thought the
door was locked and they had no key to enter.
They placed a phone call to the local sheriff to
come and do a welfare check for them. Deputies arrived
and they were able to open the door of Christina's bedroom.

(09:15):
What they discovered was a dead Christina. Her throat had
been slit and she had been stabbed sixteen times. Their
thoughts were that the killer most likely was someone she knew,
someone who was angry with Christina to have stabbed her
so many times. Investigators into the case began interviewing everyone

(09:38):
that Christina knew. This included her two roommates. At his
first interview, Eric's story was that he and his other roommate, Kaylee,
had went out to dinner and Christina must have been
attacked while they were out getting food. But on April seventh,
twenty twenty one, Eric was arrested in public for the

(09:58):
murder of Christina. During his second interrogation, Eric changed up
his story. He first admitted that his marriage to Christina
was a sham and that was so he could get
his green card. He then told detectives that in a
fit of jealousy and rage, Kaylee was the one who
killed Christina. He went on that after the deed was done,

(10:22):
Kaylee went to Eric's room and told him what she
had done, and then she screamed that he needed to
help her cover up the murder for she was going
to hurt his family. Eric told detectives that he was scared.
He knew covering it up wasn't right, but he wanted
to protect his family, so he went along with Kaylee's plan.

(10:44):
Eric then said that he and Kaylee went out to
dinner on the evening of April fifth. They talked about
what they needed to do when they got back to
the apartment, as far as cleaning up and disposing of
Christina's body, and then they went and ransom air errands
before returning back to their apartment. When they got back

(11:05):
to the apartment, police were there, as were Christina's mother
and brother. But what Eric didn't know was that some
pretty damning evidence had been recovered in his room, including
a recent receipt for bleach and other cleaning supplies. But
Eric he stuck to his story that their other roommate, Kaylee,

(11:27):
had been Christina's murderer. At Eric's trial, he was still
claiming he was just an unfortunate victim to mastermind Caylee's
murderous ways that took the life of his wife, Christina Mattos,
But the prosecution team was able to build a convincing
case against Eric, presenting DNA through blood and skin lifted

(11:50):
from under Christina's fingernails. Even under oath, As Eric continued
to blame their roommate Kaylee for everything, the jury was
seen through was every lie some.

Speaker 5 (12:03):
Fair saying that you told him a number of lies? Yes?
Are you selling the truth now? Yes? I am. Do
you like the detective oil about the labs time? Did
you lie to Detective O'Neill about the last time you
saw Christina? Yes? I did.

Speaker 6 (12:16):
I told him that The last time I saw Christina
was on Tuesday, when Christina and Jayley were fighting over
almost then nothing. I called him the last myself Pastina.
But really the last massa Pristina was that Saturday morning
when when she knocked on my bird to use the bathroom,
and then when when I was happy birthday, happy late birthday,
and I told her that I loved and everything.

Speaker 5 (12:38):
That old last time I truly saw Pastina. Did you
lie to the detective Bonial about being sick? Yes, I did,
allied to the tech being sick. Did you tell the
truth about your feelings for Christina? Yes and no.

Speaker 7 (12:53):
So when I ever started to interview, they didn't know
all that old fraudulent marriage. So when he asked, you know,
like do you love her and all of that at
the tender and said yes, but later on like I
do love her, but like as my best friend.

Speaker 5 (13:08):
I love her as a friend, but.

Speaker 6 (13:10):
Not nothing the incident, nothing like that, because again, like
I said before, I'm gay. I like men, so I'm
not into like Christina or in any sexual nature or whatsoever.

Speaker 5 (13:23):
But they darned him an interview. I slowly like started
the knitting.

Speaker 6 (13:28):
You know that you know that it is the fag
of marriage, and slowly kind of like almost like not
saying it fully, but like you know, like the technic
was asking questions. So this is not like an incident
marriages with this small like a convenience for you. And
so that's when I started, like, you know, yes, they
was a convenience, but just.

Speaker 5 (13:46):
Say this is shape. And so that's when I wanted
till that's when that's why I was telling the truth.

Speaker 4 (13:52):
I got that clip from Eric's court hearing, and I
hope you were able to make out most of what
he said. He admitted to lying a lot to the
detective who is questioning him. As we know warriors, the
cold hard evidence almost never lies. Definitely not as much
as Eric. The jury knew that too, and they found

(14:14):
Eric guilty of Christina's murder. Eric was sentenced to life
without the possibility of parole, and now he'll get to
remain in the United States, just not how he wanted to. Incidentally, Kaylee,
eric and Christina's roommate. She was also arrested and she

(14:37):
was charged with felony, accessory and the obstruction of justice
in June of twenty twenty three. It doesn't look like
she's had her day in court for the charges, yet
if she is found guilty, she's looking it up to
twenty years in prison for whatever significant or insignificant part

(14:58):
that she played in Christina's murder. Well, Warriors, it does
look like some unicorn justice has been served in this case.
Rest in power, Christina. I love you, Warriors. You matter
very much. Remember it's not a crime to be gay

(15:19):
or to live your truth, unless you're a murderer.
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