A FATHER is in custody after reportedly killing his five-year-old son with a baseball bat on Thursday and confessing to the 911 dispatcher that he was “hearing voices.”
Police in Parma, Ohio, found the body of Jax Ponomarenko at a home in the 4700 block of Russell Avenue around 2pm, and his 31-year-old father, Matthew Ponomarenko, was arrested at the scene.
The chilling audio recording of the 911 call made by Matthew after allegedly killing his child was released by police, revealing how he confessed his dead son was now lying on the living room floor.
“I just killed my son,” Matthew tells the shocked dispatcher at the beginning of the five-minute call.
“I’m hearing voices,” the dad states after being asked what he means.
“He’s dead … in the living room,” Matthew continues, breathing heavily on the phone and asking for officers to be sent to the house.
When questioned about why he killed his son, whose name he had tattooed above his eyebrow, the 31-year-old responds: “I don’t know.”
He claims that there was nobody else in the house with them at the time.
According to WOIO, the house belongs to Jax’s mother but the young boy lived with his grandparents.
Matthew had reportedly been dropped off at the home earlier in the day.
The elder Ponomarenko remained on the phone but refused to answer any further questions, saying only, “I’m shaking.”
“They’re here,” he finally states as cops arrive, while he was allegedly waiting for officers on the front porch.
According to the boy’s uncle Johnathan Cherni, Matthew was recently released from a behavioral health center and was off his medication.
The 31-year-old had reportedly spent time in several facilities and struggled with mental health issues and addiction.
Cherni told WOIO that Matthew had appeared fine and was “vibrant, completely content” when his mother dropped him off earlier that day.
“All of a sudden, we get hit with all this,” Cherni said.
He added that Jax had autism and had learned to communicate using a tablet.
The boy’s cause of death has not yet been released by the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner but the family has said that the funeral will be a closed casket.
Jax was also involved in a 2017 child endangering case brought against his father, according to Cleveland.com.
It related to an incident on July 20, 2017, when Matthew and a then one-year-old Jax were found naked on a local road.
Matthew’s mother had called police saying he was having a mental breakdown, and running and swearing at people driving past him, a Parma police report said.
Jax had been left in the middle of a road in the Cleveland suburb as his father yelled at strangers.
Matthew later told police that he had taken meth, psychedelic mushrooms, and PCP, and he was taken to a hospital for treatment.
He was found guilty of child endangerment and ordered to pay fines.
Jax was placed in the custody of an undisclosed relative at the time of the incident but local reports say he was living with grandparents at the time of his death.
The grandparents had allegedly hoped to keep Matthew as part of the young boy’s life.
Cuyahoga County spokeswoman Mary Louise Madigan confirmed to Cleveland.com that the county’s Department of Children and Families had previous contact with the family.
She said that the county had not been in contact since 2019 and that they had worked with the family on parenting skills.
Neighbors were devastated to learn of the death of the young boy, described as “amazing” by his family.
“I’m super sad, and you know, mad all at the same time,” neighbor Amanda Bohach told WOIO.
“I just realized it just sucks being this close to home and across from a school that’s right over there. The timing is also really bad — kids were getting off the school bus.”
Ponomarenko is charged with one count of aggravated murder and will be arraigned on Monday in Parma Municipal Court.
