ST. FRANCISVILLE — After a tragic accident on Jan. 5 that resulted in the death of a beloved head chef, son and father, the man’s family is seeking answers on the whereabouts of some of his prized possessions.
Jaime Hernandez was killed in January when a tree fell on his Jeep while he was driving down Hwy. 965. After the tree fell on his Jeep, Hernandez swerved off the road and hit other trees, according to officials.
Hernandez died at the scene. He was the head chef at the St. Francisville Inn restaurant, where he’d been working for about six months.
“The way he was tragically killed was just a shock to everybody,” his mother Donna Miller told UWK. “He was our only son.”
Before the St. Francisville Inn, Hernandez worked locally at popular eateries like Gino’s, City Club of Baton Rouge and Stabs. He also was among the chefs invited to work during Gov. Jeff Landry’s inauguration, along with some of the private dinners at the Governor’s Mansion. In a condolence letter to Hernandez’s parents, Gov. Landry called the chef’s talent “undeniable.”
His coworkers, and others who knew him from his previous positions, all had wonderful things to say about him, Miller said. Even after the funeral, the family still receives messages on social media and over the phone about how Hernandez helped give them a job or what an upstanding character he possessed.
“He was a really great guy, and so passionate about what he was doing,” owner of the St. Francisville Inn Brandon Branch told UWK after Hernandez’s passing in January. “And I spoke to his parents this morning, and they said, ‘Finally, he found a place where he was so happy, and he loved working here’, and we loved him. We just gave him free rein to do what he wanted to do.”
Important items missing from vehicle after wreck
The initial inventory report of Hernandez’s Jeep from Louisiana State Police showed that there was a backpack and “several tote bags” in the vehicle after the accident. However, once the vehicle was checked out at the tow yard, the only items (aside from his keys and Chef’s coat) found were the backpack with some paperwork inside and his cell phone, his family told UWK.
The totes were missing, along with any items that had been inside them, his mother said.
“When you see chefs with those backpacks, it’s because they have all their equipment and their knives. It’s special to them,” Miller said.
He never left his knives at work and would instead pack them and put them all in a roll-up tote bag, coworkers told his family. While they do not know the exact brand of the knives, many of them were a Japanese brand according to those who worked alongside Hernandez over the years.
The family has reported the items as stolen to the West Feliciana Parish Sheriff’s Office.
Hernandez has a daughter, who just turned 18, and currently lives in Florida. Her grandmother said the these items are more than just tools or recipes to her, as they represent her childhood spending time with her dad at the restaurant he owned in North Carolina.
“She was with him a lot. She would go to the restaurant that they owned and stay there and do her homework and things like that in a quiet little corner,” Miller said.
While Hernandez’s knives are unaccounted for, there is also a binder that is missing, which his daughter and ex-wife brought to the family’s attention as they were cleaning up his now vacant apartment.
“Who would take those things? The knives, not only do they have sentimental value to his daughter (who would get them if we recovered them) but some of them are very valuable,” Miller said to UWK.
Hernandez’s ex-wife and daughter asked about the black binder and a notebook while the family cleaned up the apartment, remembering how he always had it with him and in his backpack. The only photo Miller knew of that shows the binder was in a photo Hernandez took while drinking wine at home.
The binder most likely had handwritten recipes and notes from different points in his career, Miller explained. While some of the recipes could be coveted information, they are of the utmost importance to the Hernandez family. They don’t want to lose their son and father’s legacy of creating and perfecting dishes that were beloved by so many.
Getting these items back means a great deal to his whole family, especially with how suddenly they lost Hernandez in January. Miller said she can’t imagine why anyone would want to take items from someone who died.
“I just can’t believe someone would do that,” she said.
His family is seeking more information on the whereabouts of these precious items and is working with officials in the process.
“He’s had a lot of these things for a long time,” Miller explained. “It’s not like these were just replaceable to us. It means a lot to his daughter, because she was there, right there with him through his career and his work, and it just means a lot to her to have it back.”
Anyone with information on the whereabouts of the knives or binder is asked to call the West Feliciana Sheriff’s Office at 225-784-3136.
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