BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) -- Years before he became Kern County's most wanted, Cesar Moises Hernandez had a girlfriend who tended bar in Lynwood. They spent a lot of time there.
One night, after arguing with her, Hernandez chased down a pickup that left the bar's parking lot, forcing the truck to pull over a block away.
Then he shot the the driver in the head.
Found guilty of murder, Hernandez, 34, was serving time at Kern Valley State Prison when he escaped Monday while being transported to the Delano courthouse.
Since then, residents have been on edge, with schools closed and law enforcement swarming the area as the search continues.
Hernandez was due in court Monday after pleading no contest to manufacturing a weapon in prison. He'll face more charges for escaping.
But it was his actions in Lynwood six years ago that -- current circumstances notwithstanding -- sent him to prison for the rest of his life.
A night at the bar
Hernandez's girlfriend, named only as "Gabby" in appellate court filings, had stopped working at Las Cariñosas Bar when she and Hernandez showed up around 10 p.m. on June 24, 2018. She wanted her job back, and the owner agreed to rehire her.
The couple stayed there the rest of the night.
Sometime between 11:45 p.m. and 1:15 a.m., however, they got into a "heated argument," according to the filings.
Surveillance footage captured Gabby leaving at about 1:25 a.m. Hernandez followed her.
He moved the car they arrived in -- a white Nissan Altima -- from the front of the bar to the rear parking lot.
Meanwhile, Gabby ran down an alley behind the establishment. She stopped a block away, in front of Salgado's Bakery at 10007 Long Beach Blvd.
Hernandez apparently lost track of her. Surveillance video shows him reentering the bar and looking around. At one point, he knocks on the door of the women's restroom.
When a security guard asked what he was doing, Hernandez responded, "F -- you," according to the filings.
He then said said goodbye to the owner.
"(Hernandez) appeared pretty upset," the filings say.
The shooting
Edgar Vasquez, the victim, now enters the narrative.
He arrived at the bar at about 11:45 p.m. and parked his pickup in the rear lot. The filings say he had no interaction with either Hernandez or Gabby while inside the bar.
At 1:35 a.m., Vasquez got in his truck and left. Hernandez immediately followed.
"Seconds later, Vasquez's truck and the white Nissan were captured driving on Long Beach Boulevard past the front entrance of Las Cariñosas Bar," according to the filings. "Within one block of the bar, the Nissan forced the truck to pull over in front of Salgado's Bakery."
Surveillance footage shows the Nissan's driver get out and walk to the driver's side of the truck.
The video didn't capture what happened next -- but a motorist driving by described what he saw.
"As (the motorist) began to slow down to pull over to the side of the road," the filings say, "he saw a man, who was standing next to a pickup truck, pull out a gun and shoot the driver of the truck."
The motorist said the shooter got into a white car with damage to its front bumper and drove away.
Fifteen minutes later, a deputy checked on Vasquez, who was slumped over in the truck. He had a gunshot wound to the head.
The investigation
Did Hernandez and Vasquez exchange words outside the bar? Were they involved in a fender bender in the parking lot, or a road rage incident immediately after leaving?
It's unclear from the appellate court filings exactly what the motive was.
But authorities gathered enough evidence to arrest Hernandez on Aug. 3, 2018, in South Los Angeles. They ran his name and discovered he'd been pulled over for a traffic citation in February 2018 in Pasadena.
He'd been driving a white Nissan Altima.
Detectives examined photos of the car taken by an automated license plate reader -- it had the same damage that was described by the witness.
The car was eventually discovered in an impound lot in Tijuana. A pay stub with Hernandez's name was in the glove compartment.
Authorities transported the car to L.A. County for examination.
"Paint chips from the white Nissan and Vasquez's truck were compared and analyzed," according to the filings. "There was no chemical difference in six of the areas that were tested" -- suggesting the two vehicles had collided.
The motorist who witnessed the shooting testified at Hernandez's trial, but another witness -- Hernandez's girlfriend -- did not.
"Why hasn't she reached out to law enforcement?" a prosecutor asked during rebuttal argument according to the filings. "Because she was an eyewitness to the murder that her boyfriend committed. That's why. She doesn't want to be found."
In April 2019, Hernandez was found guilty of first-degree murder and being a felon in possession of a gun. He was sentenced to a total term of 80 years to life in prison, the filings say.