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A Provo man with a history of mental illness was charged Thursday with strangling his father and hiding the body in a food freezer.
Omar Carmona, 27, was charged in 4th District Court with murder, a first-degree felony, and obstruction of justice, a second-degree felony, in the death of 57-year-old Marco Carmona on June 8.
Omar Carmona was arrested June 9 after Provo police — searching his family's home after Carmona's mother had reported her husband was missing — discovered his body stuffed into the freezer at their residence in the Leisure Village Mobile Home Park, 957 W. 100 South.
Omar Carmona told police he had "choked out" his father for about 20 minutes, charging documents state.
The son said he did this because his father had pushed him and then thrown a glass of water in his face, charges state.
The son said that after choking his father, he had attempted to break the man's neck to prevent his father from "telling" on him, charges state.
An autopsy revealed likely postmortem injuries that included a broken neck and back.
A probable cause statement filed last week with the jail says Omar Carmona told detectives that he had gotten into an argument with his father on June 8 "because his father did not believe him when he told his father that someone could break into the home and hurt him while he was taking a shower."
"As the two got closer, his father put his hand on the chest of Omar and threw water in his face," the jail statement alleges. "Omar reached around with his arm and grabbed his father around the throat. The two of them fell to the ground as Omar continued to choke his father."
As his father struggled, leaving scratches on his son's chest and back, and the son estimated he held his grip on his father's neck for about 20 minutes.
"After Omar let his grip go, his father did not move. He said he was afraid of going back to jail so he grabbed a white towel and put it around his fathers neck and tried to break his neck. He then took the body of his father and put it in a deep freezer located in the living room and then plugged the freezer in," the jail statement adds.
Carmona then allegedly turned off his father's cellphone and hid it, used gloves and cleaning solution to remove evidence of the struggle and took money from the victim's truck "to buy soda," the statement claims.
According to the charging documents, the circumstances surrounding the slaying suggest that the son "was possibly operating under delusions brought about, in whole or part, by a mental illness."
But the documents add that the son's statements "indicate that he knew the nature and likely results of his conduct and that he intended his actions result in the death of his father."
An initial court appearance was set for June 23.
Omar Carmona's criminal history includes a November 2014 episode in which he held a razor to his father's throat during an argument.
He was initially charged with third-degree-felony aggravated assault and misdemeanor unlawful detention. But on June 16, 2015, 4th District Judge Fred Howard granted prosecutors' motion to dismiss the charges after Omar Carmona had completed a course of mental health treatment.