Milton Miranda / Photo from Chicago Police
A third suspect was extradited from New Jersey and ordered held without bond Sunday in connection to a grisly Southwest Side murder.
Milton Miranda, 22, faces one count of first-degree murder in connection with the May killing and dismemberment of Jose Reyes, police said.
Miranda has been held since October in the Morris County Jail in Morristown, N.J., according to jail officials. He was extradited to Chicago on Saturday.
Reyes was the brother of a former boyfriend of Daisy Gutierrez, who is charged in the murder along with her father, Salvador Gutierrez.
Miranda is Daisy Gutierrez’s current boyfriend, authorities said.
Daisy Gutierrez told her family to leave their Southwest Side home on May 21, according to prosecutors. She invited Jose Reyes to come over.
Gutierrez lured Reyes to her room and began to undress — all while her boyfriend lay in wait.
And that’s when the horror began to unfold inside the single-story home in Chicago’s Scottsdale neighborhood, leading prosecutors to charge Miranda and Gutierrez with murder.
Gutierrez’s father, 56-year-old Salvador Gutierrez, is charged with concealing a homicide for allegedly watching while Reyes’ body was dismembered and for allegedly helping bury the remains.
Chicago Police believe a love triangle was at the center of the violence at the home in the 8300 block of South Scottsdale Avenue, sources told the Chicago Sun-Times. A prosecutor said Daisy Gutierrez had children with Reyes’ brother.
Reyes, 28, had expressed his own interest in Daisy Gutierrez and had been calling her cellphone, Assistant Cook County State’s Attorney Heather Kent said in October during Gutierrez’s bond hearing.
So on May 21, while Daisy Gutierrez was undressing in front of Reyes in her bedroom, Kent said, the boyfriend kicked in the door and pounced on Reyes.
The boyfriend attacked Reyes with a pipe and a knife, slitting Reyes’ throat in front of Gutierrez and decapitating him, Kent said.
When it was done, Gutierrez called her father and told him she had “fixed the problem,” Kent said. Her father came home, and they allegedly convinced him to help get rid of the body.
Salvador Gutierrez watched while his daughter’s boyfriend dismembered Reyes, Kent said. Then Salvador Gutierrez spent three hours digging a hole in the backyard and helped bury the remains in plastic bags, Kent said.
Daisy Gutierrez and her father were arrested in Chicago. Reyes’ remains were found Oct. 4, and an autopsy determined his death was caused by “multiple sharp force injuries” and “assault,” according to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office.
Miranda was ordered held with no bail Sunday, according to the Cook County Sheriff’s office. A judge set Daisy Gutierrez’s bond at $2 million and her father’s at $500,000.
Miranda will appear in court again Monday. Gutierrez will appear in court Feb. 6, but her father’s next court date was unavailable Sunday night.
— Sun-Times, Sun-Times Media Wire