Man Charged With Killing Ex-Girlfriend And Son In Stone Park
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A 32-year-old man has been charged with strangling and stabbing both his ex-girlfriend and their 4-year-old son in Stone Park last week.
Police said Daniel Barraza confessed to murdering 31-year-old Miriam Cruz Hurtado and 4-year-old Corbin Dallas Barraza to death at Hurtado's home on Thursday. Prosecutors said Barraza strangled Hurtado with his hands and an electrical cord and stabbed her multiple times in the back.
During that attack, Corbin woke up and Barraza strangled him and stabbed him multiple times. Barraza then cleaned the boy in the bathroom and put him in bed with a stuffed animal and a sheet over him, prosecutors said.
Barraza was arrested Saturday night, when he returned to the scene of the crime, police said. He has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder. He was ordered held without bond after a hearing at the Maybrook Courthouse in Maywood on Monday. Barraza's public defender asked for a psych evaluation. She says her client is schizophrenic and may not have taken his medication.
Hurtado had been renting a home in the 1700 block of Mannheim Road in Stone Park since mid-August.
Relatives apparently found the bodies of Hurtado and her son Thursday night. Around 9 p.m., neighbor Anthony Gomez heard screaming from Hurtado's home, and he ran inside.
"They're saying 'The little boy's dead. The little boy's dead,' you know, and so I go inside, and the little boy's on the bed. His neck was bruised," he said.
Gomez said he also saw Hurtado dead near the bathroom. She was bloodied, with injuries to her head and back. Gomez said he broke down and cried.
Stone Park Police Chief Christopher Pavini said the deaths appeared to be "an isolated domestic violence incident."
Neighbors said Hurtado and her son had moved in a few weeks ago, and described the two as friendly and warm. Gomez said it appeared Hurtado seemed to be trying to avoid domestic violence when she moved in.
"She was nice lady, you know? She cried at times outside, saying that she wants a better life," he said. "The little kid was always happy. You know, you'd see him in the back playing on the swing. Good little kid, you know? It's going to be kind of hard, you know what I mean?"
Neighbors said Hurtado had two other children, but it was not immediately clear where those children were when she was killed.