Alice Herrera (2024)

Alice Herrera
Vital statistics
Name	Alice Herrera
Profession	Housekeeper
Gender	Female
Notability	Murder victim
Played by	Jade Bender
First appearance	“Jane Doe 38”
Latest appearance	“Wish You Were Here”

Alice Herrera is the alias used by Mariana Wallace, a previously unknown homeless girl who was a murder victim in Jane Doe 38. She was drowned and her body found stuffed in the trash. The Major Crimes squad investigated her death but were unable to identify her, getting the name "Alice Herrera" from her library card. She also went by the name Jessie/Jesse at a Las Vegas homeless shelter. She has a younger sister named Paloma and an older brother named Gustavo, or Gus. Rusty Beck, an aspiring journalist, began an effort to identify her with his search being the subject of his YouTube blog Identity. Rusty succeeded in identifying Mariana and returning her body to her brother. Mariana was later given a proper burial thanks to Rusty's efforts and with the help of Lieutenant Andy Flynn, Mariana's search for Paloma was completed and it was verified that she was OK. Mariana's killer, Slider, later went on trial for her murder and multiple other crimes which he committed. Slider was eventually convicted of Mariana's murder as well as numerous other crimes and sentenced to death. Rusty predicts Slider will eventually exhaust all of his appeals for murdering Mariana and be executed for the crime.

History[]

Mariana was living on the streets of Los Angeles and got a job as a housekeeper at the home of Joanna Cass -- who claimed to like the girl but never asked her age or where she lived -- cleaning house. She did a good job and wanted to go to beauty school. According to the director of a homeless shelter, she was good at doing people's hair and could have succeeded in that profession. One day, she got a ride to her job from Justine Pinkman and Slider. The latter demanded she help him rob the Cass house. Mariana refused and Slider drowned her in the pool and stuffed her in the trash, destroying her cellphone as well. The squad are able to arrest Pinkman and Slider, who confesses, but neither knows who Mariana really is with Slider having lied to Pinkman about them being related due to her jealousy towards Mariana. While they get a confession, Slider refuses to accept a deal and the case is going to trial with Slider now claiming he only told the police what they wanted to hear and Pinkman murdered Mariana. As they couldn't identify her, she is labeled as Jane Doe #38. According to Sanchez, if her body isn't claimed within a year, it will be cremated with other Jane Does and John Does. The squad is upset that they are unable to identify her, but their job legally ends when they catch the killer and they aren't allowed to investigate any further. They hope the murder trial will help identify the victim and they permanently hang her picture on their murder board as a reminder as well as organizing a small memorial service attended by the squad, DDA Hobbs and Dr. Morales.

Before having to put the case to rest, they manage to learn a few things about her: she's about fifteen years old and she lived briefly in a homeless shelter near Las Vegas for a time under the name Jesse/Jessie before she left after an unknown man visited. While they suspected it was Slider, he tells them he's never been to Las Vegas and denies this. She likes to draw a bird everywhere including on her sneakers and tent though they don't know why, she has a picture of herself with a much younger girl at possibly the St. Louis Arch. She may be from a state starting with the letter "M", possibly Maryland (a linguist identified her accent from a video recording as being Virginia Piedmont which includes southern Maryland). Whomever she was, it seems no one is looking for her as she doesn't match any missing persons they could find that has her description.

After months of her remaining unidentified, Rusty Beck decides to take up the case and try to identify her at Buzz Watson's suggestion when he's looking for a story. Being formerly homeless himself, the case hits close to home for Rusty, who (like Mariana), had he disappeared on the streets, no one would have been looking for him and so he could also have become a John Doe. Rusty begins posting his efforts on a video blog called Identity on YouTube and makes some progress in his efforts: he learns from Slider that the bird reminds Mariana of her sister who is probably the girl in the picture with her and her name is Paloma as it was Mariana's security question for her cellphone account. As "Paloma" is Spanish for "dove", the bird itself is likely a dove.

Dr. Morales also tells Rusty that his autopsy reveals that Mariana had several teeth replaced and they were good replacements too and she is mixed race, having one Caucasian and one Latino parent. Morales also believes that Mariana was abused when she was about thirteen from cigarette burn marks and that she was later removed to some kind of foster care where she received better medical treatment. The autopsy also reveals that Mariana was from some place colder than California, she was a virgin, she didn't do drugs, took good care of her fingernails and gums and had her tonsils out when she was about four or five.

Rusty's efforts later lead him to her cellphone number and he is able to access her voicemail after figuring out her password. This leads to a possible clue: a voicemail from the man who visited her in Las Vegas, causing her to run away. The message indicates that the man knows who she really is as he knew Alice wasn't her real name and about her sister, Paloma. He wasn't able to leave any more messages afterwards as her message box was full, but Rusty deleted a few of her old messages and left a new outgoing one, asking anyone looking for "Alice" to call him in hopes the man will call back and help him figure out who she is. The man eventually called back and left a message, identifying himself as Gustavo Wallace. In his message, he shows that he knows Mariana and her sister Paloma and is worried about them and that he doesn't know that she's dead. While he wants to meet with Rusty to discuss Mariana, Rusty decided to find out more about him before setting up such a meeting even though Gustavo could be the key to Mariana's identity. Using a background check, Rusty discovers that Gustavo, who identifies himself as Mariana's older brother, has a criminal record including an assault with a deadly weapons charge. Rusty is suspicious that he may have had something to do with Mariana's burns and missing teeth given her running away from the shelter where she was safe and had everything she needed to survive to live on the streets of LA which is a very difficult and terrible life after learning that he was looking for her, apparently seeing the streets as the lesser of two evils. However, Rusty still intended to meet with Gustavo in a safe place as he is his best chance of discovering Mariana's identity before she is cremated.

Rusty eventually meets with Gustavo who identifies Alice as Mariana Wallace, his younger sister. Their father had died when Gustavo was fifteen and his mother started hanging out with a terrible guy named Greg who tortured both Gustavo and Mariana. Gustavo ran off as soon as he could, joining the Army and going to Afghanistan, but when he went looking for his family, they were gone. Mariana had wanted Gustavo to stay and protect her and was upset by his leaving and couldn't forgive him for it which is why she'd been avoiding him for so long. Gustavo had been looking for her and Paloma in hopes of reconnecting with them and had no idea Mariana was dead. After the meeting, Rusty took Gustavo to meet his mother, Captain Raydor so she could inform him of Mariana's death.

Gustavo, or Gus as he prefers, also informs Rusty of a few details of Mariana's life as Rusty takes him to meet with Raydor: Mariana was born on February 16, 1999 in Washington, D.C., and was thus fifteen when she died. Her grandfather had owned two hair salons and her father worked at one. Mariana enjoyed watching the customers getting their hair cut which is where her interest in being a hair stylist likely came from. When Mariana was eight, her father and grandfather died in a car accident which led to her mother getting a boyfriend, who abused her and her children.

After Gus is informed of Mariana's death, a DNA test is performed to confirm Gus's genetic relationship to Mariana. He then officially identifies her remains. As Mariana's past will be a part of her trial, DDA Hobbs tries to make a deal with Gus to testify, but he asks for Paloma in return. Hobbs worries about why Mariana would run from her brother and finally gets him to explain that when he returned from the Army, he wanted to put his family back together despite their mother's terrible boyfriend now being their step-father. Mariana feared that and ran off even though Gus backed down on wanting to put the family back together. In return for his help, Lieutenant Andy Flynn offers to unofficially search for Paloma whose location is unknown as if she is officially found, she will either be returned to her mother and step-father or placed in foster care in Las Vegas based on Gus's abuse allegations. Gus agrees to this with Rusty's encouragement and Flynn begins a search for Paloma.

Rusty is able to secure an interview with Gus who explains much of Mariana's past and what led her to living on the streets of Los Angeles: by the time Gus returned from serving in Afghanistan, their step-father had moved the family to Las Vegas and into a not-so nice apartment, sharing one bedroom. Before their father and grandfather had died, the family wasn't well off but they did good enough with the hair salons they had in Washington, D.C., and Baltimore. After their deaths, Gus and Mariana's mother tried to keep up the business, but didn't have the skills to do so. Their mother met her future husband who was supposed to help, but instead ran through all of their money and sold the business and house as well as abusing the siblings.

While Gus was gone, Mariana's step-father threw her into a stair railing, knocking out some of her teeth. Afterwards, their mother dropped Mariana and Paloma off at a church for rehoming. The people at the church took care of Mariana and Paloma, getting them medical treatment for their abuse and finding them new homes. However to do that, the church had to separate Mariana and Paloma temporarily. One day Paloma disappeared and all Mariana knew was that the woman she was staying with took a bunch of kids to Los Angeles County. Mariana had run away to Los Angeles in hopes of finding her missing sister who meant the world to her. While living on the streets, Mariana never committed crimes, did drugs or sold herself on the streets for money.

After a search, Flynn locates Paloma in a good foster home that wants to adopt her. While Gus wants to see her, as part of his deal he can't until she's 18 when his presence in her life won't threaten the new life she has built for herself. While Gus finds it unfair, Rusty suggests that it is what Mariana would want given how deeply she loved her sister: a chance for Paloma to live a new life where she is safe and happy. Mariana is finally laid to rest in a Los Angeles cemetery with her funeral attended by the Major Crimes squad, Rusty and her brother. Rusty is left upset that while his actions resulted in her being identified and getting a real burial, he can't tell her that her sister has been found and is okay or that her brother is with her too. He also is upset that he can't tell Mariana how much she means to him. Sharon Raydor suggests that for now he can spread Mariana's story to others and that he return one day with Paloma to tell Mariana everything.

Slider eventually goes on trial for Mariana's murder and several other crimes with her brother and Rusty in attendance. Rusty is left in a moral dilemma as he is also there for Slider who he has befriended while covering Slider's own story and hasn't told Gus. With Andy Flynn's testimony on how Slider could've easily drowned her in the minute that Justine Pinkman saw her being held under, the jury returns with a verdict in about a day, a surprisingly short time and finds Slider guilty of all charges, including Mariana's murder. The trial moves to sentencing with the DA's office planning to ask for the death penalty for the nature of the crime. Slider's attorney calls upon Rusty to testify on Slider's behalf to make the jury see him as a person as Rusty is his only friend. This enrages Gus who Rusty hadn't had the chance to tell about his connection to Mariana's killer before Slider's attorney interrupted them. Rusty privately admits to Sharon that he doesn't want Slider to get the death penalty for her death, not because he thinks Slider deserves to live, but because he wants it all to be over and knows that the death penalty will just result in appeals. After seeing Mariana's trial, Rusty also admits he understands the appeal of plea deals as otherwise, the search for justice just drags on as Mariana's will.

At Slider's sentencing hearing, psychologist "Dr. Joe" states that he believes that Mariana's murder was a conscious choice made by Slider and that Slider believes he should get away with it. Rusty points out that while Slider had a hard life and the system failed him, that's no excuse for murdering Mariana as both she and Rusty lived on the streets at age fifteen but neither turned to drugs or murder like Slider did. When Bobby Munroe, Slider's lawyer, keeps referring to Slider as the victim, Rusty reminds everyone that Mariana is the true victim in the case, not her killer. Slider himself testifies that he's sorry Mariana's dead, but hadn't thought the wealthy Joanna Cass would have had her arrested as Cass had insurance. Slider shows no remorse for murdering Mariana, again professing his innocence despite having been convicted of murdering her and stating that he can't regret killing someone he didn't kill. Rusty's testimony on Mariana's behalf at Slider's sentencing causes Gus to look into Rusty's story on Slider and understand what he was trying to do and that he's still on Mariana's side.

The jury ultimately sentences Slider to death for murdering Mariana. Judge Grove reviews the sentence and ultimately upholds it. While Slider will appeal the decision, Gus is willing to be there through it all for Mariana's sake while Rusty believes Slider will ultimately exhaust his appeals and be executed for her murder.

In his final entry in The Other Side of the Coin, his story on Slider, Rusty shows how the state will spend millions of dollars on Slider through his lifetime but nothing on Mariana beyond the costs incurred by her death and chipping in for her funeral.

Trivia[]

• While only appearing in one episode, Mariana's picture remained on the Major Crimes murder board from “Jane Doe 38” to “Hostage to Fortune” with a box around it marked Hold as done by Sharon Raydor in “Two Options”. Consequently, Mariana's picture is seen in the background of many scenes in season 3 and the first half of season 4. The picture was removed at the end of “Hostage to Fortune” after her true identity was discovered.
• Mariana played a major role in the life of Rusty Beck after her death. Along with Rusty's work to uncover her true identity and his role in Slider's trial for killing Mariana, the circ*mstances surrounding her murder played a role in Rusty accepting Sharon Raydor's offer to adopt him. Also, Rusty entered a long-term romantic relationship with Mariana's brother Gus.

Appearances[]

Major Crimes[]

Season 3[]

• “Jane Doe 38”

Season 4[]

• “Wish You Were Here” (body)