ICE arrests illegal immigrant accused of decapitating Illinois woman after judge set him free
Jose Luis Mendoza-Gonzalez, 52, of Waukegan, Illinois, was arrested in April and charged with concealing a corpse, abusing a corpse and obstruction of justice, according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
Immediately after his first court appearance, Lake County Judge Randie Bruno released Mendoza-Gonzalez from custody.
He was arrested again Saturday afternoon at a market in Chicago by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and remains in ICE custody, according to DHS.
In April, police in Waukegan, Illinois, found the body of 37-year-old Megan Bos, who was reported missing March 9, in a container in Mendoza-Gonzalez's yard.
She disappeared in February, according to family members.
Mendoza-Gonzalez was accused of keeping Bos' body in his yard for nearly two months and abusing her corpse.
DHS officials told FOX News Bos' body had been decapitated, and she was found in a bleach-filled storage container.
"It is absolutely repulsive this monster walked free on Illinois' streets after allegedly committing such a heinous crime," a DHS spokesperson told Fox News. "Megan Bos and her family will have justice."
After Mendoza-Gonzalez's release in April, Antioch Mayor Scott Gartner criticized laws that allowed the suspected criminal alien to be released, according to a report from affiliate FOX 32 Chicago.
"I was shocked to find out literally the next day that the person that they had arrested for this had been released from prison under the SAFE-T Act less than, detained less, I think, than 48 hours," Gartner said. "There's other extenuating circumstances in this case. Not only the type of crime, how long the crime was concealed, the fact that the person that was arrested for this is not a U.S. citizen, and, you know, can maybe [flee] the country."
Mendoza-Gonzalez allegedly told authorities Bos overdosed at his house and, instead of calling 911, he broke her phone and kept her body in the basement for two days before moving it outside, according to the report.
Republican state Rep. Tom Weber expressed concern about Mendoza-Gonzalez's release in April.
"Someone that hid their body in a garbage can for 51 days after leaving it in the basement for two days, after not calling 911 [and] breaking a phone. Is this a non-detainable offense?" Weber said. "Should we not find out, wait for a toxicology report, anything?"
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