Crime & Safety
Arrest Made In Murder Of AHeights Man Found In Burning Car
Vladimir Esquivel's body was found in his burning Jeep Wrangler last week with several gunshots to the head, Mount Prospect police said.
MOUNT PROSPECT, IL — A Mount Prospect man has been charged with murder in connection with an Arlington Heights man who was found shot to death inside a burning vehicle Friday, according to Mount Prospect police. Paul A. Zalewski, 21, of the 0-100 block of East Berkshire Lane, also faces a felony charge of concealment of a homicide in the murder of Vladimir Esquivel, 29, police said Thursday.
Esquivel's body was discovered when officers responded to a call of his Jeep Wrangler engulfed in flames around midnight Friday, Feb. 16, in the 1700 block of West Algonquin Road, police said. An autopsy determined that Esquivel, of the 1700 block of East Northwest Highway, had been shot multiple times in the head, and the Cook County medical examiner's officer ruled his death a homicide.
Zalewski was arrested Tuesday, Feb. 20, by members of the Cook County High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area unit on previous drug charges, police said. At the same time, Mount Prospect detectives — working with the CCHDA unit and the Major Case Assistance Team — executed search warrants on Zalewski’s home, vehicle and a location in the 1000 block of Addison Court in Mount Prospect where investigators believe Esquivel's murder happened, according to police.
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RELATED: Arlington Heights Man In Burning Car Was Shot In Head: Coroner
The evidence gathered from the warrants and a subsequent investigation led to the charges being filed against Zalewski, police said.
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"Cases such as these where the location of the murder and where the body’s location differs and where steps are taken to destroy evidence through means of fire are extremely difficult to solve," Mount Prospect police Chief John Koziol said in a statement. "It was only through the collaborative efforts and tireless work of the detectives and officers involved, this case was able to clear, and a cold-blooded killer was taken off of the streets."
Zalewski was scheduled to appear in court Thursday.
Paul A. Zalewski, 21 (Photo via Mount Prospect Police Department)
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