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‘I just killed my son ... I am hearing voices’: Ohio man accused in 5-year-old son’s death

By Bob D'Angelo, Cox Media Group National Content Desk,

2021-03-26
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PARMA, Ohio — An Ohio man is accused of killing his 5-year-old son with a baseball bat and telling a 911 dispatcher that he was “hearing voices,” authorities said.

Matthew J. Ponomarenko, 31, of Parma, was charged with one count of aggravated murder in Thursday’s death of Jax Ponomarenko, The Plain Dealer of Cleveland reported.

Matthew Ponomarenko is due in court at 11 a.m. Monday before Parma Municipal Court Judge Ken Spanagel, the newspaper reported.

On Friday, police released an audio call the elder Ponomarenko made Thursday afternoon, WEWS reported.

Warning: Graphic content in YouTube video featuring 911 call.

“I just killed my son,” Ponomarenko tells the dispatcher, who asks, “what do you mean?”

“I am hearing voices,” Ponomarenko says. “He’s dead ... in the living room.”

When the dispatcher presses Ponomarenko for more information, he says, “Can you please just send the cops?”

Later in the 911 call, Pomomarenko tells the dispatcher that he killed his son with a baseball bat. He remains silent while the dispatcher attempts to ask questions and then says “They’re here,” before hanging up.

Cuyahoga County spokesperson Mary Louise Madigan confirmed late Thursday that the county’s Department of Children and Families closed out an investigation into Ponomarenko, the Plain Dealer reported. According to court records, Ponomarenko had a child endangerment case brought against him in 2017, the newspaper reported.

The charges relate to a July 20, 2017, incident where police found Ponomarenko and his son, then a year old, naked. Matthew Ponomarenka’s mother had called authorities and said her son was suffering a mental breakdown, according to a Parma police report.

The boy was placed in the custody of an undisclosed relative. Matthew Ponomarenka later pleaded no contest to the charge of child endangerment and was found guilty, the Plain Dealer reported. He was ordered to pay fines, the newspaper reported.

The most recent contact the Department of Children and Families had with the family was in 2019, WEWS reported.

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