Jesus Correa, left, and Francisco Alvarado, both 18, face charges in connection with a man's death, authorities say. A 16-year-old girl also has been charged. (DuPage County State’s Attorney’s Office)
Two men and a teenage girl have been charged in what authorities described as the "vicious" and "heinous" killing of an 18-year-old man whose body was found smoldering Tuesday just outside Chicago, officials said.
The victim, Luis Guerrero, was choked, stabbed, set on fire, run over with an SUV and then set on fire again, the DuPage County State's Attorney's Office said in a statement, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.
The body was discovered by a group of firefighters who were training nearby, the statement said.
"The vicious brutality allegedly displayed by the defendants in this case is beyond imagination. I can’t begin to fathom the pain that Mr. Guerrero must have endured as his life was brutally taken from him," DuPage County State’s Attorney Robert Berlin said, according to a release.
"The vicious brutality allegedly displayed by the defendants in this case is beyond imagination. I can’t begin to fathom the pain that Mr. Guerrero must have endured as his life was brutally taken from him."
Arrested Wednesday were Francisco Alvarado, 18, and a 16-year-old girl, authorities said. Both were charged with first-degree murder, armed robbery and concealment of a homicidal death, prosecutors said, according to the paper. Fox News is withholding the girl's name because she is a minor.
Robert Berlin, DuPage County state’s attorney
Both were also denied bond, prosecutoirs said.
Also arrested was Jesus Jurado Correa, 18, who was also charged with concealment of a homicidal death. Bond was set at $100,000 for Correa.
Prosecutors said Alvarado approached Guerrero from behind and began choking him with a belt, the report said. At the same time, Alvarado and the girl stabbed Guerrero multiple times in the neck, authorities said.
After Alvarado and the girl lit Guerrero on fire, the victim got up to run away, but that's when the two suspects ran him over with a vehicle, officials said.
Alvarado and the girl then brought Guerrero's body to a fire pit and lit him on fire again before putting a picnic table over him, the report said.
“We are deeply grieved by the news of this heinous crime committed in our community,” West Chicago Mayor Ruben Pineda said in a statement obtained by the Sun-Times. “We trust those responsible for this horrific disregard for the life of the victim will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law and, while small comfort to those who have lost their loved one, justice will be served.”
West Chicago is a city of about 27,000 people, just west of Chicago.
The suspects' motive was not immediately known, but Alvarado and the girl allegedly stole items from Guerrero, including his backpack, the report said.
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