SUN-TIMES MEDIA WIRE - A father has been charged with first-degree murder in the killing of his 2-year-old son, who was found dead with his throat cut Wednesday at his Little Village neighborhood home, the Chicago Sun-Times is reporting.

Rolando Ortiz, 37, faces the murder charge in the "brutal and horrific slaying," of Mateo Garcia Aguayo, according to Chicago Police Supt. Eddie Johnson.

The child was found unresponsive about 1:55 p.m. Wednesday in a second-floor apartment in the 2700 block of South Avers Avenue, authorities said.

"These are the kinds of tragedies that keep police officers working without sleep," Johnson said.

Ortiz was home with Mateo on Wednesday afternoon when he grew "very frustrated that he couldn't sleep" because Mateo "was wandering around" their home and keeping him awake, said Area Central Detectives Cmdr. Brendan Deenihan.

Ortiz grabbed a kitchen knife, held the child down and cut Mateo's throat, Deenihan said. After he realized he killed his son, Deenihan added, Ortiz tried to cut his own wrists. He then put the child in a garbage bag.


Ortiz called his wife, but couldn't get through to her, so he called his sister-in-law and "confesses to killing the baby over the phone," Deenihan said.

The sister-in-law then called family members who lived one floor below Ortiz. They went upstairs and found the child in the garbage bag and called police, according to Deenihan.

Ortiz ran to his car and fled, Deenihan said. He was apprehended about four hours later in south suburban Kankakee. The FBI, Illinois State Police and Kankakee Police assisted in the arrest.

After he was brought back to Chicago on Wednesday, he confessed to the killing in police custody, Deenihan said.

Ortiz has no prior arrests, Deenihan said. Six other children live in the home, but none was there at the time Mateo was killed.

Chicago Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said the extent of the boys wounds were "near decapitation."

The boy was pronounced dead at the scene, according to Chicago Police and the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office. He lived in the apartment. An autopsy Thursday found he died of an incised wound of the neck and his death was ruled a homicide.

Deenihan stressed that the gruesome nature of the death couldn't help but leave an emotional impact on the officers.

"These guys aren't robots," Deenihan said. "They're police officers and they have families, of course it affects them."