A missed birthday call became the red flag that unraveled a chilling murder in small-town Pennsylvania. José Herrán, a 60-year-old Cuban exile and FBI confidential informant, vanished in October 2015 after being lured to a remote trailer. His dangerous work exposing drug traffickers made him a target—and ultimately led to his brutal death. Investigation Discovery’s “The Friday the 13th Murders” chronicles this haunting case in Season 1 Episode 4, airing Wednesday, October 22, 2025.
Table of Contents
José Herrán Case Overview
| Category | Details |
|---|---|
| Victim | José Herrán, age 60 |
| Location | Freeland, Pennsylvania |
| Disappearance | Mid-October 2015 |
| Last Contact | November 13-14, 2015 |
| Discovery | 2018 (remains not fully recovered) |
| Convicted | Roberto Torner, David Alzugaray |
| Motive | FBI informant exposing drug operations |
| Episode Air Date | October 22, 2025, 10 p.m. ET (ID) |
The Dangerous Life of an FBI Informant
José Herrán lived quietly in Freeland, Pennsylvania, a small coal-mining town in Luzerne County. What neighbors didn’t know: he worked as an FBI confidential informant, providing intelligence on drug and weapons trafficking in the Philadelphia region. This clandestine work connected him to dangerous criminal networks—and painted a target on his back.
Born in Cuba, Herrán maintained close ties with family overseas, particularly his mother Virginia Rodríguez in West New Jersey. He called her religiously, especially on her birthday every November 17. This routine would ultimately expose his murder when the 2015 call never came.
In mid-October 2015, Roberto Torner—a 47-year-old with prior drug convictions who owned a rooming house where Herrán occasionally stayed—invited him to a remote property at 6851 North Buck Mountain Road in Foster Township under the guise of burning trash. It was a fatal deception.
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The Murder That Went Silent
At Torner’s isolated trailer, David Alzugaray shot Herrán once in the back of the head in a bedroom between October 13 and November 17, 2015. What followed was systematic disposal designed to erase evidence. According to prosecutors, the killers:
- Dismembered Herrán’s body with hatchets
- Soaked cutting tools in bleach
- Smashed bones into feed bags
- Burned clothing and body parts in three burn pits on the property
- Disposed of remains in the Lehigh River near White Haven
The motive was clear: Herrán’s informant work exposed Torner’s heroin operations. Witness testimony revealed Torner had solicited at least 12 different people to kill Herrán during fall 2015, desperately trying to silence the man threatening his criminal enterprise.
The Birthday Call That Never Came
José Herrán’s transient lifestyle meant his absence raised few immediate alarms. But when November 17, 2015 arrived—Virginia Rodríguez’s birthday—and her son didn’t call, she knew something was terribly wrong. According to the Times Leader, she last spoke with him on November 13 or 14, a Friday the 13th weekend, when he promised to call for her birthday.
Phone records later contradicted her memory, showing his last activity on October 21, but her maternal instinct drove her to alert authorities in late November. Pennsylvania State Police initially classified it as a missing persons case. Herrán had no major debts or known conflicts beyond his criminal associations.
The investigation languished for years. In rural areas like Foster Township, isolation can hide secrets effectively. Rodríguez kept her phone number active, hoping for word that never came.
Breaking the Case: Evidence and Testimony
The breakthrough came through persistent multi-agency collaboration between Pennsylvania State Police, the FBI, and the DEA. By 2018, forensic teams processed Torner’s trailer, removing carpet to reveal a subfloor with human bloodstains hastily painted over. Three burn pits on the property yielded bone fragments, though DNA links proved inconclusive without a complete body.
Search warrants across multiple Freeland sites uncovered damning evidence: knives, hatchets, mallets, ammunition, and a .22-caliber handgun—the suspected murder weapon. The case hinged on witness testimony, particularly from Liza Robles, Torner’s fiancée, who described his post-killing confession and received immunity for her cooperation.
FBI Agent Thomas D’Amico confirmed Herrán’s role tracking Philadelphia-area trafficking. By February 2020, nearly 12 warrants and extensive surveillance tied Torner and Alzugaray to conspiracy and homicide charges.
Justice Delayed But Delivered
Roberto Torner’s trial took place in May 2023 in Luzerne County Court before Judge David W. Lupas. The six-day proceeding featured forensic evidence and witness testimony painting a clear picture of premeditated murder. The jury found Torner guilty of first-degree murder, conspiracy, and solicitation.
In August 2023, now 50 years old, Torner received life without parole plus 20-40 years on related charges. He was already serving federal time for drug offenses.
David Alzugaray, 54, pleaded guilty in October 2023 to third-degree murder, conspiracy, and abuse of corpse, receiving 17-45 years in state prison. His cooperation proved crucial in securing Torner’s conviction. Torner appealed in 2025, claiming prejudicial testimony, but the Pennsylvania Superior Court affirmed the verdict in July 2025.
Virginia Rodríguez attended the trials, seeking answers despite never recovering her son’s complete remains. The convictions closed a decade-long investigation but couldn’t fully heal the wound of her son’s brutal death.
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FAQs
Q: Why was José Herrán murdered?
José Herrán was killed because he worked as an FBI confidential informant exposing drug and weapons trafficking in the Philadelphia region. His intelligence threatened Roberto Torner’s heroin operations, prompting Torner to solicit at least 12 people to kill him during fall 2015. David Alzugaray ultimately shot Herrán in the back of the head at Torner’s remote trailer in mid-October 2015.
Q: Was José Herrán’s body ever found?
No, Herrán’s complete body was never recovered. Investigators found human bloodstains in Torner’s trailer and bone fragments in burn pits on the property, but the killers successfully dismembered, burned, and disposed of most remains in the Lehigh River. Despite this, forensic evidence and witness testimony secured murder convictions against both Roberto Torner and David Alzugaray.
