Bodies found in N. Aurora
Authorities believe deaths of woman, man murder, suicide

January 10, 2007
By NATHANIEL ZIMMER and Matt Hanley Staff Writers
NORTH AURORA -- Two people were found dead early Tuesday, in an apparent murder and suicide at a North Aurora apartment.

According to Elgin police, at 12:15 a.m. officers served a search warrant at the apartment in the 100 block of Laurel Drive. They were looking for Maria Del Carmen Pena, a mother of two who had not been seen by friends since she left work Friday.

Officers entered the apartment and found the bodies of Robert Sanchez Zepeda, 29, and Del Carmen Pina, 28.


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The bodies of a woman and a man were found Tuesday morning inside an apartment in the 100 block of Laurel Drive in North Aurora.
Craig Watson / Staff Photographer

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Maria Del Carmen Pina

North Aurora did not release information about the case, but the coroner's office said the deaths are being considered a murder-suicide.
"It's still under investigation, but that's what we think," said Kane County Chief Deputy Coroner Loren Carrera.

Zepeda apparently had cut his own throat. Del Carmen Pina had been stabbed multiple times in the neck, the coroner's office said.

No one else was in Zepeda's apartment when Elgin police entered, the coroner's office said.

Del Carmen Pina's boyfriend had reported her missing Friday night after she failed to return home from work, according to police. She worked at Coca-Cola in St. Charles, according to Cesar Sanchez, 31, who is married to one of Del Carmen Pina's four sisters living in Elgin.

Del Carmen Pina moved to the United States from Mexico about a decade ago. For the last three years, she lived on Slade Avenue in a house owned by her boyfriend of around five years, Mario Vargas, 27.

She leaves behind two sons, ages 7 and 10.

Sanchez spoke to a reporter at Del Carmen Pina's home Tuesday afternoon while Vargas, a construction worker, wept quietly in the background.

Del Carmen Pina was a hardworking, dedicated mother who liked to stay home with her family, Sanchez said.

"It's a big shock to us," he said. "We can't figure it out."

Speaking in Spanish, with Sanchez serving as translator, Vargas described Del Carmen Pina as a happy woman who liked to cook and treated him well.

Family members want to fly her body back to Mexico, where her parents live, for burial, but are struggling to come up with enough money to do so, Sanchez said.

Elgin police had been searching for Del Carmen Pina since Friday. Neighbors near Zepeda's apartment said police had been knocking on doors Monday night, asking if anyone had seen him.

North Aurora police sent out a press release early Tuesday, confirming that two bodies were found in the apartment. The office refused comment the rest of the day.

http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/beac ... S1.article

I put this here because it didn't fully state they were illegal.....anyone from this area knows it's about a 99 9/10ths chance they were.