A Burlington man charged with first-degree murder in connection with the 2010 death of an 11-month-old child in Aurora was ordered detained pretrial at a hearing Friday, according to the Aurora Police Department and Kane County State’s Attorney’s Office.
Spiros Elias, 44, was taken into custody Aug. 21 and ordered detained pretrial on Friday, with his next court date set for Oct. 15 in Kane County court, the police department and state’s attorney’s office said in a news release.
On Dec. 17, 2010, Aurora police and fire personnel responded to a home in the 100 block of Cross Street in Aurora concerning an 11-month-old boy who was unconscious and not breathing, the news release said. The child, Michael Ortiz, was initially taken to an Aurora hospital and later taken to another hospital for additional treatment, but he ultimately died from his injuries the following day, officials said.
An autopsy identified multiple injuries, and the DuPage County Coroner’s Office ultimately determined that his death was caused by injuries resulting from child abuse and classified the death as a homicide, the news release said.
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But initial investigators were unable to determine who was responsible, and the case remained unresolved, the police department and state’s attorney’s office said in the release.
Then, in December 2024, the Aurora Police Department’s cold case investigator initiated a comprehensive review of the case, the news release said. Working alongside a department investigator with specialized expertise in child abuse cases, investigators reexamined the original reports, witness statements, medical records and other evidence collected during the initial investigation, officials said.
As part of that review, investigators did additional interviews, including reinterviews of those connected to the case, the police department and state’s attorney’s office said in the release. They also consulted an independent pediatric radiologist and obtained additional laboratory analysis, the release said.
The specialized medical review helped investigators better establish when the fatal injuries occurred, which investigators compared with the evidence and statements collected throughout the investigation, the news release said. Elias, the live-in boyfriend of Ortiz’s mother at the time, was then identified as the person they believe was responsible for his death, the release said.
On Aug. 18, the case was presented to a Kane County grand jury, which returned an indictment charging Elias with first-degree murder, according to the police department and state’s attorney’s office.
Then, Aug. 21, Aurora police investigators and members of the U.S. Marshals Great Lakes Regional Fugitive Task Force located Elias in Burlington and took him into custody without incident, according to the police department and state’s attorney’s office.
Elias then appeared for a pretrial detention hearing on Aug. 28, and was ordered detained, the news release said. He remains in custody as of Friday at the Kane County jail, according to Kane County detainee records.
He is next set to appear in court on Oct. 15, per the news release.