Man pleads guilty to beating his autistic 5-year-old son to death with baseball bat

On March 25, 2021, Matthew Ponomarenko, 34, called 911 from his home in Parma, Ohio, to say that he had killed his son, Jax, 5.

“What do you mean you just killed your son?” said the dispatcher, according to audio released by cleveland.com.

“I’m hearing voices,” Ponomarenko said.

He said he did not know why he killed the child.

Now, more than two years later, he pleaded guilty to the crime and was sentenced to life in prison. He will be eligible for parole after spending 45 years behind bars.

The charges are aggravated murder, kidnapping, and endangering children.

Jax Ponomarenko and Matthew J. Ponomarenko

Ponomarenko’s behavior put Jax in danger before. He pleaded no contest to a 2017 child endangerment case, according to Cleveland. Authorities said he left his son, then 1, in the middle of a road and yelled at people. He told cops he took substances such as meth and PCP, authorities said.

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