A 37-year-old Chicago man has been charged with murder after confessing to police that he had nearly decapitated his 2-year-old son.
Rolando Ortiz was reportedly trying to get some sleep on Wednesday afternoon in his family’s apartment on the Southwest Side of the city, according to CBS Chicago. He said that he couldn’t rest because his toddler son, Mateo Garcia Aguayo, was making a lot of noise, running around the apartment and keeping him up.
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Ortiz allegedly slashed the young boy’s throat with a kitchen knife, nearly severing his head entirely. When he came to his senses and realized what he’d done, police say he tried to kill himself by cutting his own wrists.
After that Ortiz allegedly attempted to flee. He found a trash bag full of clothes, dumped it out, and put his child’s remains inside. He made it as far as Kankakee County, where Illinois State Police intercepted him and took him into custody. He reportedly confessed on the spot, and told authorities he had been heading for Mexico.
Family members told police and reporters that Ortiz had told them what he’d done. Police spoke about the case in a news conference not long after Ortiz was apprehended.
“Mateo wasn’t old enough to make a bad decision,” Chicago Police Supt. Eddie Johnson said in a public statement. “Mateo wasn’t old enough to take the wrong path in life. He was just an innocent kid whose trust and safety was betrayed by the one man that he should never have to question: his father.”
“These are the kinds of tragedies that keep police officers working without sleep,” he added.
The FBI described Ortiz as “an animal.”
Ortiz was already scheduled in bond court on Friday.
Photo credit: Twitter / @CBSChicago
