Warrant issued in Aug. 18 murder

February 2, 2008
BY KIM JANSSEN Staff writer
A warrant has been issued for a DuPage County man accused of killing a man and then torching his dead body in an unincorporated area near Flossmoor last summer.

Juan Mendoza-Ayvar, 38, of Wood Dale, is charged with first-degree murder in the Aug. 18 death of Rogelio Lopez, who was shot while he sat in a 1994 Jeep Cherokee in a Cook County forest preserve near Flossmoor Road and Central Avenue. The Jeep then was set on fire.

It took authorities several weeks to identify Lopez's charred body. The only recognizable items recovered from the car were his distinctive belt buckle and Kenneth Cole designer wristwatch.

Cook County sheriff's police Det. Chris Cammack told a judge Friday that an accomplice, whom Mendoza-Ayvar had ordered at gunpoint to clean up Lopez's blood, later gave a videotaped statement, identifying Mendoza-Ayvar as the killer.

Mendoza-Ayvar has a series of minor convictions stretching back at least 17 years.

Kim Janssen can be reached at kjanssen@southtownstar.com.