Unsolved Joliet Double Homicide: Mom Upset With Will County

JOLIET, IL — Eight months after her 20-year-old son Xavier Mendoza and a 29-year-old New Lenox man, Zachary Stohr, were fatally shot at the Ingalls Park Liquor Store, Gina Desmond held a rally near the Joliet liquor store to draw more attention to her son's killing.

"Will County, do your job!" Gina Desmond hollered over her megaphone as she stood across from the east-side liquor store parking lot where her son was slain on Sept. 1, 2020.

The Will County Sheriff's Office has not made any arrests in connection with the double homicide.

Saturday's rally along Washington Street aimed to draw more attention and community awareness to both of the killings. Mendoza's mother said it's time for people around the Joliet area to stop being afraid and intimidated by the Will County Sheriff's Office.

After all, residents pay their public salaries, so they should expect the sheriff's to do their job, including solving homicides, Desmond said.

"These cops need to be more worried about solving murders than pulling people over for a traffic ticket," Desmond said.

Desmond said the Will County Sheriff's Office has had an adversarial relationship with her. She said she has provided them with the name of a Joliet man she believes she was responsible for orchestrating her son's shooting.

Will County detectives believe the parking lot shooting was a targeted killing. However, the detectives overseeing the case have dismissed her information, Desmond said.

"I'm his mother and I deserve to have answers," Desmond said during Saturday's Justice for Xavier rally. Around noon, nearly 20 friends and supporters of Mendoza were on hand.

Afterward, Joliet Patch contacted Will County Sheriff's Chief Deputy of Investigations Dan Jungles for his comments about the weekend rally and whether sheriff's detectives are making any progress toward identifying the killer.

"That homicide investigation remains a top priority for the Will County Sheriff's Office," Jungles told Patch. "Unfortunately, I am not willing to provide any additional information at this time. Doing so could compromise the integrity of the investigation.

"When there is additional information to share in regards to this investigation, it will be provided through an official press release."

The Will County Sheriff’s Office has urged people with leads and information about the Ingalls Park slayings to call Detective Brian O’Leary at 815-727-8574, extension 4957.

On the night of Sept. 1, Desmond went to the scene of the shooting, and she later identified her son as the victim.

Desmond's son was fatally shot inside his car as he went to the next door restaurant known as the Taco Truck to pick up a relative.

"I relive that moment every night of my life," Desmond said. "He and the other boy were murdered over material things."

Stohr, an apparent eyewitness to Mendoza's slaying, was subsequently shot in the back by the same person who wanted Mendoza dead.

Stohr stumbled inside the liquor store, gasping his last breaths. He collapsed on the floor, which is where Will County Sheriff's deputies found him. The shootings happened around 8:40 p.m. on Sept. 1, 2020.

I'm not the only person going through this," Mendoza's mother told Patch.

Incidentally, this month also marks the four-year anniversary since the homicide of little Sema'j Crosby. The 16-month-old girl was found dead underneath a couch inside a rental house in Joliet's Preston Heights area.

The Will County Sheriff's Office has made no arrests in that crime.

June 28 marks the third anniversary since the bodies of two Joliet gunshot victims were discovered inside a car that was set on fire along Rowell Avenue. One of the victims was Xavier Sallie, 19. The second victim was Dontae Ray Morgan, 21. The car belonged to Sallie. That double homicide also remains unsolved for Will County detectives.

On Feb. 23, 2018, a group of kids walking along a lonely stretch of California Avenue on Joliet's far east side made a grim discovery. That Friday afternoon, the kids stumbled across 21-year-old Marissa Koziel's body. The killer may have dumped her there several days earlier. On Feb. 14, 2018, her family had reported her missing to the Manhattan Police Department.

The Will County Coroner's Office ruled her death a homicide. Someone had ended the 21-year-old woman's life with a single bullet to her head.