CHICAGO — Prosecutors say a Little Village man stabbed his brother to death, wrapped the body in plastic, and then denied knowing who the victim was after cops cut open the wrapped corpse on New Year’s Day.
Chicago cops arrested Freddy Diaz, 40, at the scene, but he was later released so investigators could continue their investigation. Now, he’s back in custody, charged with the murder of his 40-year-old brother, Vicente.
The brothers lived with their mother in a basement apartment in the 2200 block of South Central Park. Around 7:47 p.m. on New Year’s Eve, their mom left for the night, leaving them home alone, prosecutors said in a written proffer provided by the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office.
Shortly after 4 a.m. on January 1, Diaz called 911 to report a dead body in the apartment, but the call disconnected before anyone could be dispatched, according to the proffer.
It said he called back at 5:41 a.m. to report a dead woman near his apartment, but he “changed his account several times in the span of the call to say the body was inside, was outside, and that he had just returned, had been gone for 7 days, or had been gone for 15 days.”
Officers found Vicente’s body inside the apartment, encased in plastic bags and industrial pallet plastic wrap, prosecutors alleged. At first, the cops thought a mannequin was inside the wrapping, but they quickly learned the truth. Vicente had been stabbed more than 20 times, including multiple times after he was already dead, the proffer said.
Diaz allegedly called his mother to tell her about the body but said he didn’t know who it was. He allegedly told the cops that he didn’t know who the dead person was, but he thought it might be his brother.
Physical evidence allegedly recovered from the home included a knife on Freddy Diaz’s bedroom dresser that tested positive for his brother’s DNA; a roll of industrial plastic pallet wrap in the kitchen; garbage bags similar to the ones used to encase Vicente; and blood on rags, a mop, and the floor of Freddy Diaz’s bedroom.
Investigators found two latex gloves in the plastic that surrounded Vicente. Prosecutors said DNA testing showed 1% of the genetic material inside one glove matched Freddy Diaz and his brother contributed the rest of it.
Court records show that Judge Ankur Srivastava ordered Diaz detained on a charge of first-degree murder.
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