Facebook video leads police to murder suspects

July 15, 2012 (CHICAGO) (WLS) -- Police say video of a deadly assault posted on Facebook helped them catch three teen-aged murder suspects.

Police say Malik Jones, 16, was with two other people when he approached Delfino Mora, 62, in the 6300-block of North Artesian Avenue on Tuesday morning.

According to prosecutors, Jones punched the man, causing him to fall and hit his head on concrete.

One of the people with Jones allegedly recorded the attack on a cell phone and posted it to Facebook.

Mora died of blunt-force head trauma.

Jones was charged as an adult with first-degree murder. Nicholas Ayala, 17, and Anthony Malcolm, 18, were also charged with robbery and first-degree murder.

The Mora family all wore black Sunday, hugging each other and grieving for the family patriarch.

"We just want to go with him," said Jose More, the victim's son. "A lot of pain. We just want to die with him. It's hard to realize he won't be here with us."

Mora, a husband and father of six boys and six girls, recently stopped working in construction because of health problems, and he loved to play the guitar. He died in the hospital on Wednesday.

"If you are down for some reason, he'd come to cheer you up," said Emmanuel Mora, another son. "That's my father, he was my idol. Thanks to him, I learned how to work, how to be respectful."

Mora was in an alley Tuesday morning collecting aluminum cans to earn money for his family. That's when his family and detectives say the suspects took his wallet and phone, one suspect punched Mora in the head and he fell to the ground hitting the cement. As this was happening, another suspect recorded the attack on a cell phone.

"I think they're heartless," Jose Mora said. "Why they would do this to an older guy, who (is) 62. I don't know, right now it is so painful"

Investigators said Jones threw the punch in the video, which was then allegedly posted on his Facebook page.

That is exactly how he got caught. Coincidently, a friend of Emmanuel Mora, the victim's youngest son, saw the graphic video on Facebook. Emmanuel watched it in horror, as his father was beaten up.

Now Mora, a man who worked hard for decades to bring his family here to America, will go back to Mexico to be buried. The family is now trying to figure out how to pay for the funeral.

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local, jason knowles

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