Father Indicted For Beating 5-Year-Old Autistic Son To Death With Baseball Bat

KEY POINTS

Jax Ponomarenko died from blunt force trauma to his head on March 25
His father Matthew Ponomarenko was arrested on the same day
The father indicted for murder is now held on a $5 million bond

An Ohio father who has been accused of murdering his 5-year-old autistic son with a baseball bat was indicted Tuesday.

Matthew Ponomarenko, 31, has been charged with aggravated murder and child endangerment in the killing of Jax Ponomarenko on March 25. Ponomarenko was arrested on the same day and is currently being held in the Cuyahoga County Jail on a $5 million bond.

The four-count indictment said it has reserved the prosecutor’s rights to file additional charges that would make Ponomarenko eligible for the death penalty if convicted, Cleveland.com reported. If convicted, he can be sentenced to a maximum of a life sentence without the possibility of parole with an additional 16 years in prison.

The police had previously released the 911 call that Ponomarenko made to the emergency responders on the day of the incident. Ponomarenko told the officials that he had struck his son with a baseball bat and was hearing voices.

“I just killed my son,” Ponomarenko was quoted by NY Post telling the dispatcher. “I am hearing voices."

The officers responded to his home and found his son lying on the living room floor with severe head trauma. The child was pronounced dead at the scene. Medical examination revealed that the child died of blunt force trauma to his head and his death was ruled a homicide.

The court records indicated that Ponomarenko has been previously charged in July 2017 on counts of child endangerment. On July 20, 2017, Ponomarenko’s mother had reported to the police that he was going through a mental breakdown. The officers responded to the call and found Ponomarenko and his then 1-year-old son naked. He had pleaded guilty to the charges of child endangerment and was ordered to pay fines. The most recent contact Department of Children and Family Services had with the family was in 2019.

In his initial court appearance on March 29, Ponomarenko was ordered to be held without bail owing to the “brutality of the crime.” The court has not yet scheduled his arraignment but the prosecutors said they expect it will be this week.