() A migrant charged with concealing the death of a suburban Chicago woman whose body was found in a container in the man’s backyard in April was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Chicago over the weekend.
Luis Mendoza-Gonzalez, a 52-year-old migrant from Mexico, was arrested by ICE after he had previously been released from custody by a local judge. Mendoza-Gonzalez was charged with two counts of concealment of death, abuse of a corpse and obstructing justice in April in connection with the death of Megan Bos, 37, who had been reported missing in March.
A month later, local police questioned Mendoza-Gonzalez about the woman’s whereabouts. He told police that Bos had come to his home and snorted some drugs and that he later found her dead in his basement and believed she had overdosed.
Yet after the woman’s body was discovered in a container in April and Mendoza-Gonzalez was charged, a judge released him rather than ordering him detained as he awaited trial. A spokesperson for Lake County State’s Attorney Eric Rinehart told on Monday that the charges Mendoza-Gonzalez faced did not qualify him for detention under the SAFE-T Act, and he was placed on pretrial release conditions.
“It is absolutely repulsive that a judge freed this monster and allowed him to walk free on Illinois’ streets after allegedly committing such a heinous crime,” Tricia McLaughlin, the Department of Homeland Security assistant secretary, said in a statement released by the agency Sunday announcing Mendoza-Gonzalez’s arrest.
Rinehart’s office said that it has remained in constant contact with Bos’ family about the death and ongoing investigations by local authorities about how Bos may have obtained fentanyl and what role the drug may have played in the woman’s death. However, both the State’s Attorney’s Office and the woman’s family disputed DHS’ report that Bos was found decapitated in the bleach container on Mendoza-Gonzalez’s property.
Mendoza-Gonzalez is being held in the Lake County Jail, DHS officials said. Rinehart’s office said it has not been contacted by ICE but is working to have Mendoza-Gonzalez held and tried locally rather than having him face deportation.
“The defendant is charged with several felonies, which can result in potential consecutive prison sentences upon a conviction,” Rinehart said in a statement provided to on Monday. “As people know, deportation to another country does not lead to prison in that country. If he were to agree to deportation, he could be free in days. We are hopeful that he will be brought to court so that he can be held fully accountable for his actions.”
In its statement, the Department of Homeland Security said that Megan Bos and her family will have justice.
In an interview with ABC7 in Chicago, Bos’ mother said that the family became frustrated when Mendoza-Gonzalez was released by the judge.
“It has driven me crazy every single day to think that he’s been out there,” Jennifer Bos told the local television station.
Jennifer Bos was in Washington last week for an event at the White House for President Donald Trump’s Halt Fentanyl event when she got Trump’s attention and shared her daughter’s story. Trump replied, “Watch what happens.”
Three days later, Mendoza-Gonzalez was arrested in Chicago.
“I am thrilled,” Jennifer Bos told ABC7. “I don’t know what’s going to happen now, but I do know he wasn’t sleeping in his bed last night.”
