martes, 8 de octubre de 2013

Woman charged with murder in dismemberment - Chicago Tribune

After her ex-boyfriend's brother was attacked with a pipe and knife, and then decapitated, Daisy Gutierrez called her father and told him that she had "fixed the problem," authorities say.

Then, Cook County prosecutors contend, Gutierrez's new boyfriend dismembered the body, and her father spent three hours digging a hole in the family's Southwest Side backyard before placing the victim's body parts in plastic bags and burying them.

The remains of the man, identified as Jose Reyes, were buried there for nearly five months until police obtained a search warrant and dug up the yard Friday.

At a Sunday bond court hearing, Cook County Judge Maria Kuriakos Ciesil ordered Gutierrez, 19, held in lieu of $2 million bail on a charge of first-degree murder. Bail was set at $500,000 for her father, Salvador Gutierrez, 56, who is charged with concealing a homicide.

Daisy Gutierrez's current boyfriend, with whom authorities said she fled to New Jersey after the slaying, has not been charged, prosecutors said Sunday.

The plot unfolded May 21, when Gutierrez and her boyfriend decided to lure Reyes to her home in the 8300 block of South Scottsdale Avenue, Assistant State's Attorney Heather Kent said. Gutierrez has two children — a 2-year-old and a 1-year-old — with Reyes' brother, relatives and prosecutors said.

As part of the plan, Gutierrez told her family to leave the home, said prosecutors, who contend that she invited Reyes over while her boyfriend prepared to attack him.

Reyes had "expressed his own interest" in Gutierrez and had called her in the past, Kent said. Jealousy was a potential motive, she added.

When Reyes arrived, Gutierrez led him to her bedroom, where she began to undress, authorities said she later told them. Then Gutierrez's boyfriend kicked in the door and attacked Reyes, slitting his throat and later decapitating him, Kent said.

Afterward, Gutierrez called her father, who returned home and watched the boyfriend dismember the body, Kent said. Salvador Gutierrez, who works as a busboy in a local restaurant, dug a hole in the backyard and buried the remains, authorities contend.

The next day, Daisy Gutierrez and her boyfriend left town, prosecutors said.

Soon after, Reyes' family started peppering his Humboldt Park neighborhood with fliers, looking for information on the Honduran native's disappearance.

Reyes, whose age was listed by authorities as 28, though his family said he was 30, moved to Chicago five years ago in hopes of improving his life, according to his family, who identified him as Jose Reyes Ramos.

The oldest of four children, Reyes worked in construction and sent most of his money back home to Tegucigalpa, where he has family, his brother Jorge Moncada Ramos said. Reyes had planned to return to Honduras in December to help take care of his sister, who has been sick for the past eight months.

"He was the nicest guy you could ever meet," said David Martinez, 31, a neighbor and friend. "He didn't deserve what happened to him. The cruelty … that's bad, that's gruesome. Who does that?"

Through an interpreter, Moncada Ramos said there was never a relationship between his ex-girlfriend and brother, adding that Daisy Gutierrez started harassing his brother over the phone after Moncada Ramos changed his number.

She wanted revenge because Moncada Ramos ended their three-year relationship in January, he said, adding that her family had also threatened to kill his relatives.

Daisy Gutierrez "did this to make me suffer," Moncada Ramos, 28, said Sunday as he stood on the block where his brother lived. "She threatened me a lot."

Daisy and Salvador Gutierrez were arrested Friday afternoon, the same day detectives searched the family's home. Prosecutors said the two admitted to their roles in the crime.

An autopsy on Saturday showed that Reyes died of multiple sharp force injuries from an assault.

In bond court, Daisy Gutierrez's public defender requested that she be held in the jail hospital because she is three months pregnant.

In addition to two children with Moncada Ramos, Daisy Gutierrez has a 3-year-old child, her lawyer said. Moncada Ramos said the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services has custody of his two children, but the agency declined comment.

After his brother disappeared, Moncada Ramos said he immediately suspected his ex-girlfriend was involved. When he confronted her over the phone, she cried and told him multiple times that she had no idea what happened to his brother, he said.

Moncada Ramos said his grandmother died Friday, the same day he learned detectives had found his brother's body. He said he is trying to focus on getting his kids back and raising money to send his brother's ashes to their native country.

"Right now, there's a lot of problems," he said. "I don't know how to send him to Honduras."

Tribune reporters Rosemary Regina Sobol, Carlos Sadovi and Abel Uribe contributed.

jmdelgado@tribune.com

kgeiger@tribune.com


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