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02-16-2007, 02:06 PM #1
Extradition deal upsets parents of slain woman
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/loca ... i-news-hed
Extradition deal upsets parents of slain woman
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By Matthew Walberg
Tribune staff reporter
February 16, 2007
Three years after they discovered their daughter stabbed to death in her condominium, Tom and Judie Stromek saw the man accused of killing her in court Thursday for the first time.
ViviulfoEscobar, 31, appeared in Bond Court at the Bridgeview Courthouse on charges of first-degree murder after his forced return from Mexico.
Judge Colleen McSweeney-Moore ordered him held in lieu of $3 million bail for the January 2004 slaying of Melissa Stromek, 26.
While the Stromeks, who live in Willow Springs, were glad to see their daughter's former boyfriend returned to the United States to face trial, they are upset that Escobar cannot face the death penalty or life imprisonment.
In a deal with the Mexican government, the Cook County state's attorney's office agreed not to seek those penalties in exchange for Escobar's extradition. Now, the most he could face if he is found guilty is 20 to 60 years in prison.
"I would like to see him in prison for the rest of his life," Judie Stromek said outside the courtroom. "You can still make a life for yourself at 80 years old. I would like to see him die in prison."
The family also is angered that Escobar, who was living in the U.S. illegally, had been allowed to stay in the country despite a 1995 conviction for burglary.
"He should have been deported with his first felony," Judie Stromek said. "Then he commits this heinous crime, and he gets the low end [of the range of punishment]?"
Assistant State's Atty. Bill Delaney told the judge that in December 2003, Melissa Stromek planned to break up with Escobar, her boyfriend of four years who lived with her in the 10300 block of Ridgeland Avenue in Chicago Ridge. On Dec. 31, they attended a New Year's Eve party at a hotel in Chicago, where Escobar told friends "he was not happy" with Stromek's intentions, Delaney said.
They returned home the next day, and "sometime between 2 and 6 p.m., the defendant became enraged with the victim," Delaney said.
Stromek was stabbed eight times. Her heart and left lung were punctured, her throat was slashed and she had wounds on her thigh and hands, authorities said.
Concerned after they hadn't heard from her for days, Stromek's parents visited her condo Jan. 4. After letting themselves in with a spare key, they discovered their daughter's unclothed body in bed, Delaney said.
Investigators determined Escobar stole Stromek's 2000 Ford Focus and traveled to Chicago, where he tried to get several acquaintances to give him money to leave the area, authorities said.
He went to O'Hare International Airport, where he bought a one-way ticket to Mexico City, Delaney said.
Before he left, Escobar, a janitor, called his boss and told him he was quitting "because of family problems" and asked the employer to send his last paycheck to the defendant's mother, Delaney said.
Escobar then called his mother and asked her to tell his sister in Acapulco that he was on his way there. He allegedly told his mother that "he left Melissa in a bad way and if the police came to talk to her, to tell them nothing," Delaney said.
"He also called his brother and told him that he thought Melissa was dead, but he didn't want to talk to the police because they wouldn't listen to him because of his bad background," Delaney told the judge.
State and federal warrants were issued for Escobar, and he was arrested in February 2006 after investigators from the South Suburban Major Crimes Task Force and the Chicago Ridge Police Department learned he would be attending his birthday party at a location in Chilpancingo, Mexico.
Cook County Sheriff's Police First Deputy Chief John Palcu, a commander in the task force, said the tip came from Escobar's brother.
"We deported his brother because he was [an] illegal [immigrant]," Palcu said. "He wasn't real happy with us, and wasn't too cooperative, but in the course of our talking with him, he told us [Escobar's] birthday was coming up.
"U.S. marshals went and sat on the house and arrested him either when he was coming in or going out of the party," Palcu said.
Palcu sympathized with the Stromek family. "I would rather see him get the death penalty, but we had to give up something to get him back [from Mexico], so the family could get some closure."
After receiving her bachelor's degree in geology at Northern Illinois University, Stromek was hired as a technician at Pollution Control Industries in East Chicago, a company that specialized in the disposal of hazardous chemicals.
"Her boss told her that in 10 years, she'd be laughing about the money she was making now," Tom Stromek said.
"He told her she was on track for a big career because she was a rare woman certified in her field," said Judie Stromek.
It was perhaps her bright prospects that led Melissa to break up with Escobar, her mother said.
"I would talk to her about him getting an education, maybe going to a trade school or something," said her mother. "I think she just outgrew him."
The two met and began dating while Melissa was in college, and her family said there were never any reports of violence in their relationship. But Judie Stromek said she never trusted Escobar.
"I was very suspicious of him because he would never look into my eyes," she said. "But you know, you love your kids, and you can't pick who they pick. So you just try to love them and support them."
Escobar is scheduled to appear before McSweeney-Moore March 8 for a preliminary hearing.
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mwalberg@tribune.com
Copyright © 2007, Chicago Tribune
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02-16-2007, 02:34 PM #2
Put the man in the worst prision in the US. Maybe he will not last to long.
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02-16-2007, 03:11 PM #3
Give him the 60 years, every stinking day of it. He'll be 91 when he gets out.
<div>Thank you Governor Brewer!</div>
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02-16-2007, 07:19 PM #4
It almost sounded like he was jealous of her education, since she had a degree and he was a janitor.
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02-16-2007, 10:26 PM #5
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Sounds like he didn't want to give up his meal ticket.
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02-17-2007, 10:01 AM #6
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This happens way too often that men from south of our borders don't respect women at all...even less than they respect our country. They bring this culture with them and abuse (sexually or otherwise) or kill our women and girls.
I hope other women out there who are associating with these criminal aliens learn a lesson from this kind of tragedy. I hope they give this "thing" the maximum sentence of 60 years. Maybe this young woman's parents will get lucky and he'll die in prison.
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