Michael Lee Rodriguez (Maricopa County)
El Mirage, Ariz. - Police are accusing a man of murdering his own father in the West Valley.
What we know:
El Mirage Police responded to a home on North Luna Street around 7:30 a.m on July 15 after a state trooper reported finding a dead body under "suspicious" circumstances. Officers identified the victim as Salvador Ortiz Rivera Jr. and the suspect as his son, Micheal Lee Rodriguez.
Police arrested Rodriquez and booked him into a Maricopa County jail on second-degree murder and other felony charges.
A judge has ordered a cash-only bond of $2 million.
What we don't know:
Police have not released the men's ages, nor how the victim died.
Dig deeper:
A witness described the body being left under a "carport-type structure." Investigators later found the victim underneath a plywood sheet on top of a concrete pit.
During an interview with the suspect, he had described the "beef" he had with his dad, according to police documents.
Police detailed the conversation: "He responded that he was not like his dad; he stated that he was good and that his dad put him in prison for not minding his business at the compound. He told me that he had spent six years in prison."
The suspect said the victim had been drinking, the two had started fighting and the suspect just "lost it" after being called "crazy" by the victim.
What's next:
The investigation is still open and coroners are trying to figure out the cause of death.
FOX 10 will update this story as new information comes in.
Map of the residential street where the body was found.
The Source: Information for this article was gathered from the El Mirage Police Department.