Sexual Advances Met With Hammer to Head, Deadly Strangulation: Cops

JOLIET TOWNSHIP, IL — A Joliet man faces first-degree murder charges after police say he hit a friend over the head with a hammer, strangled him and left his body in an SUV.

Javier Heredia-Rios, 32, of the 300 block of North Eastern Avenue in Joliet, was arrested Monday in the death of Oscar Garrido-Castro, 36, of Joliet. The arrest comes less than 12 hours after Garrido-Castro's body was found in an abandoned 2004 GMC Envoy in Joliet Township.

Heredia-Rios and Garrido-Castro were longtime acquaintances and were together on Sunday, Oct. 16, around 6:30 p.m., at Mora Builders, 12145 W. 159th St. in Homer Glen, where Heredia-Rios is employed, police said. The business was closed at the time, and the two men allegedly began to argue about sexual advances that Garrido-Castro made to Heredia-Rios. The altercation escalated, and Heredia-Rios struck Garrido-Castro in the head with a hammer and then strangled him, police said. Heredia-Rios then placed Garrido-Castro into Garrido-Castro’s vehicle and drove it to Rosalind Avenue, west of Farrell Road, in Joliet Township, where he abandoned the SUV, police said.

After the discovery of the car and the body, the Sheriff’s Office Investigation Division began making contact with family members of the registered owner (Garrido-Castro) and learned of escalating situations between the two men. Detectives tracked Heredia-Rios to his residence at 11 p.m.

He voluntarily came to the Investigation Division where he cooperated with detectives. By his own admission, Heredia-Rios stated that when he was approached by officers he was on his way to Mexico. Heredia-Rios is an undocumented immigrant and has been issued a temporary visitor’s driver’s license.

Heredia-Rios was charged with four counts of first-degree murder and one count of concealing a homicide. He will be booked into the Will County Sheriff’s Adult Detention Facility later Tuesday. He will appear in court Wednesday at 1 p.m.

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