A year after Hilton Head acid attack, victim seeks answers
It was Dec. 20, 2024.
Maria Hernandez was having a typical day on the north end of Hilton Head Island. She drove her youngest of six children to school, cleaned up her front yard, worked her shift at a nearby restaurant and cooked dinner. She went to church and then to Walmart, where she was picking up some last-minute Christmas gifts. The last task on her list was to get some extra cash from the bank to get through the holiday season.
Around 10 p.m., Maria pulled into the Bank of America ATM, just minutes from the main entrances to Hilton Head Plantation and Indigo Run. She withdrew a few hundred dollars, placed the bills in her glove compartment and started to pull out of the parking lot.
That’s when she heard a big bump and saw a figure near the hood of her car.
Thinking she hit someone, Maria called the police. But suddenly, her doors flew open, and two masked robbers threatened to stab her.
They assaulted her with a punch to side of her head and, in an act of unexpected brutality, doused her in a solution that caused lasting burns on her chest, shoulder and arm — all to steal her purse and the stack of Christmas gifts that filled the passenger seat.
After fleeing from the car into a nearby wooded area on the side of the highway, Maria called her sister. Screaming, she told her sister she was going to die from the pain. But Maria didn’t die. She was airlifted to a burn center at Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, where she underwent several surgeries over the course of several days.
A year later, as many of Maria’s external and internal wounds continue healing, the perpetrators have still not been identified by police. The case has been closed for more than six months, only to reopen if any new information comes forward.
When it closed, it was because leads were exhausted and there were no known witnesses, police previously told The Island Packet.
‘It’s unbelievable that there are no leads’
“The fact that there’s no one to blame bothers me a lot,” Maria said. “Someone robbed me and threw acid on me. It’s unbelievable that there are no leads. There are two suspects still out there without being arrested.”
Maria said she felt as though her case was not treated as “important.”
“I called, left messages and went to the police station to inquire about the case, but they had nothing,” she said.
It’s been difficult to get back to her old self after the attack, she said.
“Besides the physical pain, looking in the mirror and seeing my scarred body is simply heartbreaking,” she said. “I’ve always been a hard-working woman, a provider, and it frustrates me that I can’t fully return to work because my arm won’t let me. There are days when I feel good and others when the pain is unbearable.”
Right now, Maria says, she is in the process of undergoing six surgeries, one every four weeks. Her skin grafts have still not healed completely.
The Island Packet requested a copy of Maria’s case file on Dec. 10, but had not yet received it as of Dec. 23.
Sheriff’s office sends information to Savannah for comparison
On the night of Dec. 10, a Savannah woman was attacked with acid while walking near Forsyth Park after attending a Christmas program at a nearby church. Ashley Wasielewski, 46, remains at the Augusta Burn Center after suffering third degree burns covering nearly 50% of her body.
So far, no arrests have been made, and the investigation into the attack is ongoing.
Many have wondered if there is any connection between the two attacks, given the proximity between Hilton Head and Savannah, the timeframe and the unusually violent use of a chemical weapon.
Beaufort County Sheriff P.J. Tanner said that investigators within his department forwarded information about Maria’s case to the local FBI office in Savannah for comparison. Tanner said the federal investigators now have access to the evidence collected, including information about the suspected chemical used, on Hilton Head.
For Maria, watching the incident in Savannah unfold has left her once again “shaken.”
“Right now, I’m suffering with her,” she said. “I’m reliving what happened. I know the pain and suffering she’s going through. I wish her a speedy recovery and God bless her.”
Maria called for anyone who knows anything to speak up. Any information could be a lead to find the attackers so that no one else has to suffer through what she and Ashley did, she said.
Anyone with information that could help open Maria’s case back up and lead law enforcement to suspects is asked to call the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office. Tips can also be submitted anonymously through Crimestoppers or the P3 Tips app.
The Island Packet interviewed Maria in Spanish. Her answers to our questions were translated by Maru Antuñano, a bilingual journalist at El Nuevo Herald within McClatchy.
This story was originally published December 23, 2025 at 8:48 AM.
