CHICAGO — A 51-year-old Chicago man has been charged with first-degree murder in the death of Belinda Ruiz, 84, who was found dead inside her Morgan Park home nearly eight months ago, in a case that was first treated as a natural death and then ruled a homicide by the Cook County Medical Examiner. Chicago police said Joseph Ruiz, who lives in the same block of South Washtenaw Avenue as the victim, was arrested on Thursday, November 5, and charged after an investigation by Area 2 detectives. The charges are allegations; Ruiz is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.
Ruiz faces two felony counts: one count of first-degree murder and one count of murder with a strong probability of death or injury, according to the Chicago Police Department. He was scheduled for a detention hearing on Saturday, November 7, at the Leighton Criminal Courthouse at 2600 South California Avenue, where a judge will decide whether he remains in custody while the case proceeds. Police said he remained detained following his November 5 arrest at the 11000 block of South Washtenaw Avenue, in the department's 22nd District. Police have not publicly detailed the relationship between Ruiz and the victim; the victim was found by her son, and both she and the accused lived in the same block.
Source: Chicago Crime Chaser (reporting Chicago Police Department charges and Cook County records)
A death first thought to be natural causes
Belinda Ruiz was discovered on her living room floor at about 8:45 a.m. on Friday, March 13, 2026, by her son, according to the reporting. First-responding paramedics noted that her body was “cold to the touch” and initially reported that she appeared to have died of natural causes. She was pronounced dead at the scene at 9:12 a.m. The call initially drew a multi-agency response to the home in Morgan Park, the Far South Side neighbourhood in the city's 22nd police district.
An autopsy by the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office overturned that first assessment. The medical examiner ruled the death a homicide, caused by multiple injuries sustained in an assault. That ruling turned a closed welfare-check call into a murder investigation — and it is the foundation of the case prosecutors must now prove: that the injuries the medical examiner documented were inflicted by the man police have charged.
An eight-month investigation
Area 2 detectives led the homicide investigation that followed the autopsy ruling. According to police, investigators identified Ruiz as the person responsible for the death, and he was taken into custody on November 5 in the same 11000 block of South Washtenaw Avenue where he resides and where the victim was found. Police have released no additional information about the evidence behind the identification, and no motive has been publicly alleged. Nothing in the police account released so far describes a weapon, and the detailed evidence is expected to be presented first in court rather than in press releases.
Prior arrests at the same address
Court and police records reported by Chicago Crime Chaser show a history of earlier arrests involving Ruiz at the same Washtenaw Avenue address. In January 2018 he was arrested there and charged with domestic battery involving physical contact and with violating an order of protection. In February 2017 he was arrested at the address and charged with domestic battery involving bodily harm. In September 2016 he was arrested at the same location on an active warrant, and in October 2015 he was arrested there and charged with criminal damage to property under $300. These are records of prior arrests and charges, not findings in the current case, and they do not by themselves prove anything about the murder charge; they are part of the record a judge may weigh at the detention hearing when the court considers criminal history and risk.
Known: the victim's identity and age, the medical examiner's homicide ruling, the two murder counts, the November 5 arrest and the November 7 detention hearing. Not yet public: the evidence linking the accused to the death, any alleged motive, and whether prosecutors will seek detention without release. Police say no additional information has been released at this time.
What happens next
The detention hearing on Saturday, November 7, at 2600 South California is the immediate next step: prosecutors are expected to lay out the outline of their evidence and ask that Ruiz be held, while the defence can argue for release with conditions. Under Illinois' pretrial system, the judge weighs the strength of the evidence, the accused's history and any risk to the community. If the case proceeds, the next stages are a preliminary hearing or a grand jury indictment, followed by arraignment in Cook County Circuit Court. For Morgan Park neighbours, the charge closes an eight-month question that began with an ambulance call on a March morning — but the case itself has only just entered the court system, and the allegations remain unproven.