NORTHRIDGE : Man Sought After Wife’s Lover Is Killed

A man considered a suspect in the slaying of his wife’s lover is being sought by police, who fear that he may have abducted the woman, authorities said Thursday.

Police are searching for Hernando Q. Jose, 42, of Northridge, who disappeared Tuesday after witnesses said he shot Moises Benjamin Diaz, 23, in a car in Encino, authorities said.

Both Jose’s wife, Rhodora, 38, and his 6-year-old child were in the car at the time of the killing, police said.

The woman, a nurse at Tarzana Medical Center Hospital, had had a yearlong relationship with Diaz, a janitor at the hospital, police said.

The morning of the shooting, police said Diaz met Rhodora Jose about 7:30 a.m. after the two had worked their respective night shifts. They were confronted by Jose while they sat in her parked car near Burbank Boulevard and Lindley Avenue, Rick Swanston said.

“He pulled up behind them, got out of his car and approached the passenger side,” Swanston said. “After saying something to Diaz, he put a gun in the car and fired a number of times.”

Jose then dragged Diaz from the car and onto a grassy parkway in front of an apartment complex, Swanston said witnesses told police.

Diaz died about three hours later at Northridge Hospital Medical Center, authorities said.

Rhodora Jose, who was struck in the shoulder by a bullet, was treated at a downtown Los Angeles clinic about an hour after the shooting. Police said she fled before they arrived.

Police said they do not know the sex or location of the child.

Swanston said investigators believe that the Joses are traveling together in a brown 1991 Honda Accord.