Dan Rozek, The Chicago Sun-Times
Copyright 2006 Chicago Sun-Times, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
A Marengo woman found slain in her trailer home was strangled, and the man shot to death hours later by police while driving her car was the sole suspect in her killing, authorities said Tuesday.
But officials in McHenry and Kane counties released few other details Tuesday about the tangled events that began about 6:15 p.m. Sunday when 83-year-old Verna Corcoran was found dead on the floor of her ransacked trailer in the small McHenry County town.
Late Sunday, 21-year-old Jose Manuel Aldava-Grijaldo was fatally shot by Marengo police after a 15-mile car chase that ended near the Kane County village of Hampshire.
Aldava-Grijaldo died of a single bullet wound after he left the vehicle and “confronted” the Marengo officer, according to a statement released by police.
Police are holding a news conference today in Marengo where they are expected to release further details about the two deaths. Tuesday, law enforcement sources told the Sun-Times Aldava-Grijaldo did not have a weapon when he was shot in the abdomen by police.
Marengo police wouldn’t comment Tuesday on the investigation. A law enforcement source, however, said Aldava-Grijaldo was the only suspect in Corcoran’s killing.
STATE POLICE INVESTIGATING
Marengo police began pursuing Aldava-Grijaldo on Sunday night after spotting him behind the wheel of Corcoran’s black Crown Victoria, authorities said.
Illinois State Police have joined in the investigation, but state police spokesman Lt. Lincoln Hampton declined Tuesday to comment on the case.
Corcoran moved to Marengo from Park Ridge nearly a decade ago to be closer to her children after the death of her husband, neighbors said.
drozek@suntimes.com
May 17, 2006