A 50-year-old Ewing man has been charged with the murder of his girlfriend, Acting Mercer County Prosecutor Angelo J. Onofri reported.
Carlos Ortiz (DOB 2.16.66), of Ewingville Road, is charged with murder, two counts of possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose and two counts of unlawful possession of a weapon. Bail was set at $1 million cash only by Mercer County Superior Court Judge Pedro J. Jimenez Jr.
The body of 51-year-old Rufina Castro was discovered in a Ewing home on Wednesday morning. Ewing police responded to a residence on Ewingville Road just before 3 a.m. on Wednesday, August 17, to perform a welfare check after receiving a call. Upon arrival, police found Castro lying deceased in a bedroom on the first floor.
Investigation by the Mercer County Homicide Task Force and the Ewing police revealed that Ortiz engaged in an argument with Castro while inside the bedroom on August 16. During the argument, Ortiz struck Castro in the head with a glass beer bottle, causing injury. He then strangled her with a cell phone charging cord and attempted to conceal her body under a pile of clothes and blankets. Ortiz fled the scene in his Ford Explorer and was located in a motel in Belleville, NJ on Wednesday.
Onofri thanked the New Jersey State Police, the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office, and the Belleville and Readington Police Departments for their assistance with the arrest.
Despite having been charged, every defendant is presumed innocent until found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
