On November 16, 2010, eighteen-year-old Joshua Wilkerson was murdered by his classmate Hermilo Moralez, who was an illegal immigrant to the United States from Belize. Both boys were students at an alternative school for at-risk students in Pearland, Texas. Wilkerson was reported missing after his abandoned truck was located in a strip mall parking lot. A massive search began on the morning of November 17. Moralez, who was nineteen at the time of the murder, became a suspect when the police noticed him loitering in the area near Wilkerson's abandoned truck. At first he denied having anything to do with the crime, but he gave the police false information about his identity which raised their suspicions. Moralez eventually confessed and led officers to the body.