Prosecutors rested their case Monday against Diego Uribe, who is accused of killing six members of his family in Gage Park in a 2016 robbery attempt.
Uribe, 28, faces multiple counts of murder in the slayings. He allegedly shot, beat or stabbed various members of the family after demanding money from his aunt, Maria Martinez, on Feb. 2, 2016, at her family’s home in the 5700 block of South California Avenue.
Jurors in Cook County Judge Carol Howard’s seventh-floor courtroom at the Leighton Criminal Courthouse were shown video clips Monday of an emotional Uribe confessing to the killings to authorities after his arrest May 19, 2016.
Chicago Police Detective Mike Herman, who interviewed Uribe, testified for the prosecution.
Video shows Uribe sitting on a metal bench in a cramped room. During the first interview, detectives ask Uribe about scratches on his hands and arms around the time of the killings and then question him about his whereabouts when his relatives were killed.
“I was at home the whole time,” Uribe tells detectives.
He’s then told that his DNA was found at the home. “There shouldn’t be no type of blood or stuff like that in that house,” he tells detectives.
Later, Uribe asks detectives about his girlfriend, Jafeth Ramos, who authorities say was with Uribe at the time of the slayings. He’s told that Ramos was talking with detectives and “is being very honest with us,” one of the detectives says.
During a second interview, Uribe admits to being at the house and shooting Maria Martinez with a .22-caliber gun. Video shows Uribe growing emotional as he recounts to detectives killing Rose Martinez, 58; Leonardo Cruz, 13; Alexis Cruz, 10; Noe Martinez Sr., 62; and Noe Martinez Jr.
Ramos, now 25, pleaded guilty last year to a reduced charge of armed robbery with a suggested 25-year prison sentence in exchange for testifying against Uribe.
Uribe’s attorneys questioned the environment in which Uribe made his confession. They asked Herman how long it took for them to give Uribe water, noting that the room he was being held in was small and windowless.
The defense contends Uribe could not have killed all six family members alone. His lawyers have acknowledged he was present at the home but suggested the killers were a group of masked men who demanded money and threatened the lives of Uribe, Ramos and their families to get them to stay quiet.
Prosecutors rested their case after Herman testified. The defense will begin to make its case Tuesday.
