Boyfriend charged with strangling Ewing woman with cellphone charger

EWING  — The boyfriend of a township woman found dead Wednesday in the bedroom of the home they shared  has been charged with her murder.

Carlos Ortiz, 50, was arrested later in the day in a Belleville hotel, according to acting Mercer County Prosecutor Angelo Onofri.

The prosecutor said Ortiz hit Rufina Castro, 51, in the head with a beer bottle during an argument and then strangled her with a cellphone charging cord.

Ortiz then tried to hide her body under a pile of clothes and blankets inside the Ewingville Road home and then fled the scene in his Ford Explorer, officials said.

Police said they found Castro's body after they responded to a 3 a.m. call requesting a wellness check on the residence.

Ortiz is charged with murder, two counts of possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose and two counts of unlawful possession of a weapon. He was being held at the Mercer County jail with a cash-only bail set at $1 million.

Property records show the Ewingville Road home, which faces Antheil Elementary School, is owned by Castro and Roberto Miranda. Their relationship to one another is not clear from the records.