Ewing man indicted for brutal murder of girlfriend
TRENTON » A Ewing man who remains incarcerated on $1 million bail in connection with a 2016 domestic violence slaying has been indicted on murder charges and related offenses.
Carlos Ortiz, a convicted felon who had been paroled for robbery in 2014, is accused of brutally killing his girlfriend on Aug. 16, 2016, inside their township home on the 300 block of Ewingville Road.
Ortiz, 51, got into an argument with 51-year-old Rufina Castro and bludgeoned her with a Corona beer bottle, wrapped a phone cord charger around her neck and strangled her to death, prosecutors alleged. He fled the home in a Ford Explorer after stacking clothes and blankets on top of his deceased girlfriend, prosecutors said.
Castro’s body was discovered a day later, Aug. 17, 2016, after police were called to the residence around 3 a.m. for a welfare check. Officers found her body in the bedroom. Police later that day found Ortiz’s SUV outside of a hotel in Belleville and arrested him, according to the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office. He could serve 30 years to life in prison if convicted on the heaviest charges.
Castro was employed by the ShopRite on North Olden Avenue in Ewing. She started working at the store in May 2014 and was born in Oaxaca, Mexico, according to her Facebook page. She left behind three beloved children: Eduardo Castro, Betty Webb and Roxana Galindoand. A Mercer County grand jury on Wednesday returned a seven-count indictment charging Ortiz with first-degree murder, seconddegree aggravated assault, two counts of third-degree possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, two counts of fourth-degree unlawful possession of a weapon and third-degree theft by unlawful taking, Mercer County Prosecutor Angelo Onofri announced on Thursday.
Assistant Prosecutor Sean D. McMurtry presented the case to the grand jury.