Mario Edgardo Garcia Aquino, 43, is scheduled to appear in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday.

A youth soccer coach is expected to appear in court Tuesday after he was charged with murdering a 13-year old boy whose body was found by a road in Oxnard.

LOS ANGELES (KABC) — The Department of Homeland Security said a youth soccer coach who was charged with murdering a 13-year old boy whose body was found by the side of a road in Oxnard is an undocumented immigrant.

Mario Edgardo Garcia Aquino, 43, is scheduled be arraigned Tuesday in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom in connection with the killing of Oscar Omar Hernandez.

He’s scheduled to appear in court at 1:30 p.m.

Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman announced the charge Monday as he stood with the victim’s parents and sister at a news conference.

The murder charge includes the special circumstance allegation of murder during the commission or attempted commission of a lewd act with a child, with the District Attorney’s Office expected to subsequently determine “whether or not the death penalty is appropriate for this particular case,” Hochman said.

Garcia Aquino faces a possible maximum sentence of death or life in prison without the possibility of parole in connection to the teen’s death.

A soccer coach was charged with the murder of a 13-year-old Los Angeles boy who was found dead in Oxnard.

He was arrested Wednesday in an unrelated case in which he is accused of sexually assaulting a 16-year-old boy in Palmdale on Feb. 22, 2024.

Garcia Aquino was charged with one felony count of assault with the intent to commit a sexual offense and faces a possible maximum sentence of six years in state prison in that case.

“Sexual predators who target victims for their own gratification will be held accountable and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” said the Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman.

Garcia Aquino killed 13-year-old Oscar on March 28 in Lancaster and dumped his body in Ventura County, prosecutors allege.

That day, Oscar had boarded a Metrolink train to Lancaster to help the soccer coach at a complex. When he didn’t return home that night, the family worried and started looking for him. He was reported missing by his family two days later.

Investigators found the boy’s body on the side of the road in Oxnard on Wednesday. The LAPD was assisted by the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office and the FBI during the investigation.

“No parent should ever have to endure the unimaginable pain and sorrow of learning their child has been murdered,” Hochman said. “Oscar simply boarded a train and little did he or his family know that he would never return.”

Police have not revealed what evidence led them to find his body more than 60 miles away in the remote area.

The teen’s mother is devastated over her son’s death. Gladys Bautista described her son as a happy kid who loved soccer and was excited that he was about to receive his visa so he could return to visit relatives in Honduras.

Last Thursday, family and friends held a vigil where the teen’s body was found.

“He didn’t need to be treated like an animal. That was my son,” Bautista cried out in Spanish.

One of his friends there described him as the “nicest person.”

“He was just trying to have his own money and accomplish his goals in life,” another friend said.

That evening, friends and relatives paid tribute to the teen with a memorial outside his home in North Hollywood.

“He was always kindhearted. He had such a great personality, he was funny,” 12-year-old Melanie Samayoa said. “He would always bring out a smile to us, and like one of my friend’s said he’s such a great dancer, too.”

Detectives are still investigating. A cause of death is unknown.

Additional victims or anyone with information is asked to contact the Los Angeles Police Department at (818)374-5415 or the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department at (877) 710-5273.

Anyone who wishes to remain anonymous can call the Los Angeles Regional Crime Stoppers hotline at (800) 222-8477 or online at lacrimestoppers.org.

City News Service contributed to this report.