18-year-old Chicago Man Charged For Christmas Day Decapitation Homicide

Alexis Valdez

Police find decapitated body on Christmas Day.

By H. Nelson Goodson

December 26, 2013

Chicago, IL - On Thursday, Alexis Valdez, 18, was charged with murder in connection with the early Christmas Day discovery of a decapitated body of Silvestre Díaz-Hernández, 41. Police were called around 2:00 a.m. to a Belmont Gardens neighborhood apartment where Díaz-Hernández was found in the basement at his apartment located in the 2500 block of North Kildare Ave.

Valdez within minutes was taken into custdy near the apartment without incident and charged with first-degree murder. Police recovered a knife believed to have been used by Valdez to murder and decapitate Díaz-Hernández.