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Claudia Mojarrieta Matos, a 21-year-old Cuban woman who had been reported missing on Saturday in the state of Illinois, was found dead, and the police have a man in custody who is accused of her murder.
The search for Mojarrieta began on Saturday, December 6, around 4:35 a.m., when the police of Elmhurst, located in DuPage County, received a call from a man reporting his disappearance.
The person reported that, around 1 a.m., they had left the young woman at the 600 block of West Lorraine Avenue to meet someone, who was later identified by the police as Santino Ortiz, 22 years old.
About 15 minutes later, the reporter received a call from the young woman, during which he heard a struggle and her crying, before the communication was abruptly cut off. He then returned to the location where he had taken her, and upon being unable to locate her, he called 911 and reported her disappearance, confirmed the DuPage County State's Attorney.
The investigators identified Ortiz as a suspect, whose residence is located on the 600 block of West Belden Avenue, just a block north of the site where they had left Mojarrieta that morning. Both avenues are parallel, the statement clarified.
On Saturday afternoon, Ortiz was questioned at the Elmhurst Police Department and detained, just 12 hours after the 911 report call.
According to the prosecutor's report, the suspect allegedly solicited sexual services from the woman and arranged a meeting with her on Lorraine Avenue.
From there, he took her to his garage, where he attacked her: he slammed her head against the ground and stabbed her several times with a knife. Then, he wrapped her head in a bag and placed the body in a trash container.
The authorities indicated that around 8:00 a.m., Ortiz placed the corpse in his truck and drove to a wooded area in Wadsworth, where he abandoned it about 12 meters from the road, among bushes and trees.
On Sunday, shortly before 6 p.m., the Lake County Coroner's Office was notified of a grim discovery. In a wooded area near Adams and Delany Streets in the village of Wadsworth, a body was found.
The coroner identified the body as that of Claudia Mojarrieta Matos, 21 years old, a resident of Greenacres, Florida, whose disappearance was being investigated by the Elmhurst police.
The autopsy revealed the atrocious manner in which the killer took Mojarrieta's life: he stabbed her approximately seven times in the face and head.
Ortiz appeared on Tuesday afternoon before the Circuit Court and is charged with six counts of first-degree murder, one count of armed robbery, and one count of concealment of a homicide, all serious offenses, reported the State Attorney's Office. Judge Joshua Dieden ordered him to be held in preventive detention without bail.
Their next court hearing is scheduled for January 5, 2026, before Judge Margaret O'Connell.
Dismay over the atrocious crime that cut short the life of Claudia Mojarrieta Matos
The murder of Claudia Mojarrieta Matos, who had recently resided in Florida, has caused deep shock among her family and friends.
Telemundo 51 gathered testimonies from close individuals. From Houston, Texas, a close friend identified as Sandra, who knew her from Cuba, made statements to the television channel.
He stated that she was a person “with an immense heart, always very humble, whatever she lacked, she sought in order to help you, she would give up her own.”
Sandrá expressed the dismay that overcame her upon learning of the terrible outcome: “It was something very, very, very, very hard,” she confessed.
Lilian Infante, who for about two or three months had rented her an apartment in Greenacres, in Palm Beach County, described her as a good girl, kind-hearted, with “a heart too big for her chest”.
He asserted that what happened "was something really intense, super intense; I never imagined that something like this could happen to her."
The impact of crime has also echoed in Illinois. The state attorney for DuPage County, Robert Berlin, expressed his condolences to the loved ones of the victim: “I extend my deepest sympathies to the family and friends of Claudia as they try to come to terms with this terrible loss.”
"With a total disregard for human life, young Claudia was taken in an act of brutal and senseless violence," Berlin declared, warning that "the type of violence reported in this case will not be tolerated in DuPage County and will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."
Through a fundraising campaign, the necessary funds were raised to cover the repatriation of the Cuban young woman's remains to the island, so that her mother and other family members can say their final goodbye, confirmed close sources.
Claudia Mojarrieta Matos was originally from Moa, Holguín.
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