Overview
- Firefighters responded around 9:15 p.m. on Nov. 3 to reports of an explosion at a three-story building on South 51st Avenue in Cicero and found 29-year-old Jesus Nunez dead on the first floor.
- The medical examiner determined Nunez died from a gunshot wound to the head before the blaze, and fire investigators concluded an accelerant was used to ignite a mattress.
- Police allege roommate Naman Alfredo Vazquez set the fire to conceal the killing, then drove the victim’s vehicle through Texas into New Mexico.
- New Mexico State Police arrested Vazquez during a Nov. 4 traffic stop, and he was extradited to Illinois in early December.
- On Dec. 8, Cook County prosecutors charged Vazquez with aggravated arson and concealment of a homicidal death, and a judge ordered him held in jail pending trial.