Mexican Immigrant Charged with Murdering Son, ‘Nearly Decapitating Him’

A Mexican national has been charged with murder in Chicago for allegedly almost decapitating his crying infant son to keep him quiet, police say.

Rolando Ortiz, 37, is charged with the murder after the two-year-old child’s body was found in a garbage bag on Wednesday, Chicago’s ABC 7 reported.

Prosecutors charged Ortiz, who has been in the U.S. for 14 years, with one count of first-degree murder in the death of Mateo Garcia Aguayo after Chicago police were called to the Ortiz apartment in the 2700 block of South Avers at about 2 PM on February 21.

Officials said that Ortiz admitted to the crime saying that the child was being too noisy and interrupting the man’s slumber. Ortiz told police he works the night shift and was trying to sleep. In a video confession, Ortiz said he retrieved a large knife from the kitchen, grabbed the boy, held him down, and slit his throat. He then said he tried to cut his own wrists once he fully realized what he had done.

“The defendant admitted to kneeling on the victim and cutting his throat while holding the 2-year-old down. He admitted to placing his son in a garbage bag and that he intended to dispose of the bag in the garbage,” Asst. Cook County State’s Attorney Jamie Santini said.

Police also said that after he committed the murder, he called several people, including his wife, and told them what he had done. He then fled the scene.

Some two hours later, agents of the FBI and members of the Illinois state police pulled Ortiz over in Kankakee, Illinois, a city sixty miles south of Chicago. The suspect told police he was attempting to return to Mexico, WGN Channel 9 reported.

Rolando Ortiz is held without bond at the Cook County Jail.

Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston.