A day after a Wayne County farmworker was charged with two counts of murder, Sheriff Barry Virts praised the collaborative effort that helped bring this case to a conclusion.
At a press briefing Wednesday afternoon, Virts said that skeletal remains found in October were identified last week as the remains of 1-year-old Owen Hidalgo. The Monroe County Medical Examiner’s Office used DNA analysis to make the identification, Virts said.
When asked if a weapon was recovered, @SheriffVirts said no. When asked if a weapon was used, he declined to comment. #roc @DandC pic.twitter.com/g5uFA6czDw
— Will Cleveland (@WillCleveland13) December 19, 2018
Everardo Donoteo-Reyes, 26, also known at Alberto Reyes, was indicted by a Wayne County grand jury Tuesday. He is now charged with two counts of second-degree murder and two counts of tampering with physical evidence, each felonies, in the slayings of Owen and Owen’s mother, Selena Hidalgo-Calderon, 18.
Donoteo-Reyes was arraigned in Wayne County Court and remanded to the Wayne County Jail without bail. He is scheduled to return to court on Jan. 15.
Virts praised the deputies and investigators in his own department as well as collaborators from a number of other agencies who worked tirelessly to bring this case to a conclusion.
Watch the press conference below:
Charges filed after mother, baby found dead in Sodus in the spring
The man charged with evidence tampering in the disappearance and death of a Sodus mother and child last spring has now been indicted on murder charges.
According to the Wayne County Sheriff’s Office, a grand jury indicted Alberto Ebarado Gutierre-Reyes, 26, for two counts of murder in the 2nd degree and one count of tampering with physical evidence.
The indictment stems from the death of Selena Hidalgo-Calderon, 18, and the the disappearance and apparent death of 14-month-old Owen Hidalgo-Calderon earlier this year.
The 14-month-old Sodus boy and his mother went missing on May 16. An AMBER Alert was issued for Owen on May 25 after Selena was found buried in the woods near her Joy Road home earlier that week. The alert was canceled on May 29.
A massive search for the child ensued over the next few weeks and months. On Oct. 10, skeletal remains “consistent with someone of Baby Owen’s age” were discovered on a farm in Sodus, near the site where Selena was found back in May.
The remains were sent to Monroe County for lab testing in order to confirm that they belong to the young boy. A report has yet to surface on the results.
Reyes, who officials identified as Selena’s boyfriend, was charged back in the spring with tampering with evidence charge in connection to Selena’s death.
Investigators said Baby Owen was possibly last seen with Gutierrez-Reyes on or around May 16. According to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Gutierrez-Reyes was removed from the United States on two previous occasions in 2016 and 2017 and now faces federal immigration charges.
Reyes admitted to deputies that he removed Selena’s body from their home and buried her in the woods, but did not admit to killing her.
