An Elmhurst man is facing multiple felony charges after authorities discovered the body of a missing Florida woman in a wooded area in Wadsworth, Illinois, over the weekend.
The Lake County Coroner’s Office said it was notified shortly before 6 p.m. Sunday that a body had been found near Adams and Delany roads. The victim was identified as 21-year-old Claudia Mojarrieta-Matos of Greenacres, Florida. She had been the subject of a missing person investigation launched earlier by Elmhurst police.
According to the DuPage County State’s Attorney’s Office, Elmhurst police received a 911 call around 4:35 a.m. Saturday reporting Mojarrieta-Matos missing. The caller said he had dropped her off in the 600 block of West Lorraine Avenue to meet 22-year-old Santino Ortiz, and about 15 minutes later received a phone call from her during which he heard crying and a struggle before the call suddenly disconnected. When he could not locate her, he contacted police.
Elmhurst officers identified Ortiz as a suspect because he lived just one block north of the drop-off location. Ortiz agreed to meet investigators at the police department, where they interviewed him and then took him into custody.
Prosecutors allege Ortiz had solicited Mojarrieta-Matos for sex work and lured her into his garage. There, he allegedly took out a knife and repeatedly stabbed her from behind, wrapped her head in a garbage bag, and placed her body inside a garbage can.
The next morning around 8 a.m., prosecutors say Ortiz loaded the body into his pickup truck and dumped her remains approximately 40 feet off the roadway in Wadsworth.
An autopsy found Mojarrieta-Matos had been stabbed seven times in the face and head.
Ortiz appeared in court Tuesday and was ordered held without bond. He is charged with:
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Six counts of first-degree murder
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One count of armed robbery
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One count of concealment of a homicidal death
He is due back in court January 5, 2026.
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