ICE handed over custody of a Mexican national to the Lake County Jail after a judge ordered him detained ahead of his trial for dumping the body of missing Antioch woman Megan Bos in Waukegan.
A case management conference was held in the case against Jose Luis Mendoza-Gonzalez, 52, of Waukegan, on Wednesday morning before Lake County Judge Victoria Rossetti.
Mendoza-Gonzalez was not present and was instead in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Lake County Assistant State’s Attorney Jeffrey Facklam said during the hearing.
Facklam requested that the judge set the case over to Thursday afternoon for a detention hearing.
The prosecutor said he had spoken to ICE and they were willing to transport Mendoza-Gonzalez to Lake County for the detention hearing.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) previously said agents arrested Mendoza-Gonzalez, who is in the country illegally from Mexico, in July at a market in Chicago, leading to him being held in ICE custody.
The Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office has been working to have Mendoza-Gonzalez held locally as they believe a criminal trial and sentencing is “more appropriate than deportation procedures.”
Mendoza-Gonzalez is charged with several felonies, which can result in potential consecutive prison sentences upon a conviction.
“As people know, deportation to another country does not lead to prison in that country. If he were to agree to deportation, he could be free in days. We are hopeful that he will be brought to court so that [he] can be held fully accountable for his actions,” the state’s attorney’s office previously said.
When Mendoza-Gonzalez was initially charged, he was released from Lake County custody following a First Appearance Court hearing on April 12, which a judge was required to do because of state law under the SAFE-T Act.
All of the initial charges against Mendoza-Gonzalez were Class 4 felonies but none of them were detainable offenses under the cashless bail law, so prosecutors could not file a petition to have him held pending trial.
A grand jury recently returned an indictment in Lake County Circuit Court charging Luis Mendoza-Gonzalez with one count of concealment of a homicidal death, according to documents obtained by Lake and McHenry County Scanner.
Mendoza-Gonzalez also faces previously filed charges of abuse of a corpse, two counts of concealing the death of a person and obstructing justice.
A grand jury indictment said Mendoza-Gonzalez knowingly concealed the death of Megan Bos, 37, of Antioch, while having knowledge that she had died by homicidal means, when he placed her body in a garbage can and covered the can on or about February 19, 2025.
During the detention hearing on Thursday afternoon, Mendoza-Gonzalez was transported to the Lake County Courthouse in Waukegan by ICE.
Prosecutors argued that there was clear and convincing evidence that Mendoza-Gonzalez poses a willful flight to avoid prosecution.
Prosecutors said that Mendoza-Gonzalez violated his court-ordered curfew while on pre-trial release by traveling without permission to Chicago where he was arrested by ICE over the summer.
Mendoza-Gonzalez has repeatedly informed a federal immigration judge that he would “self-deport” and voluntarily return to Mexico, prosecutors said.
They argued his conduct shows an intentional effort to evade prosecution in his Lake County criminal case as his deportation would prevent him from appearing in court.
Assistant Public Defender Jillian Kassel argued that her client does not pose a flight risk and has previously shown up for his court hearings.
Lake County Judge Daniel Shanes granted the petition to detain Mendoza-Gonzalez pending trial following the hearing.
ICE transferred custody of Mendoza-Gonzalez to the Lake County Jail where he now remains held in custody.
Shanes acknowledged and thanked ICE for transporting Mendoza-Gonzalez to Lake County for the hearing.
Bos was reported missing to the Antioch Police Department on March 9 after she was last heard from on February 17.
Her body was discovered bleached, decomposed, wrapped in a blanket and in a trash can at a home in the 700 block of Yeoman Street in Waukegan on April 10.
Mendoza-Gonzalez told detectives at the time of his April arrest that Bos had come over to his residence on the evening of February 19 and visited with him.
He said that Bos snorted unknown drugs and asked if she could hang out in his basement, which he agreed to let her do.
Mendoza-Gonzalez said he returned and believed the woman had overdosed and was deceased.
He reported that he was scared that he was going to be in trouble so he left her in the basement for a few days before moving her to the garbage can in his yard.
Mendoza-Gonzalez allegedly wrapped Bos’ body, which was bleached, in a blanket before placing it in the garbage can.
She remained there for nearly two months until being located on April 10.
Mendoza-Gonzalez also admitted to breaking Bos’ phone and throwing it into a trash can.
An autopsy on Bos performed by the coroner’s office showed no signs of trauma or a struggle.
Lake County Chief Deputy Coroner Steve Newton told Lake and McHenry County Scanner last week that her cause and manner of death remain undetermined, despite the state’s attorney’s office declaration of it being a homicidal death.
Lake County Assistant State’s Attorney Jeffrey Facklam said last week that the autopsy report from the coroner’s office indicated Bos had a potentially lethal amount of controlled substances in her liver tissue at the time of her death.
The report indicated recent and potentially deadly fentanyl, cocaine and probable heroin use.
A forensic pathologist could not fully rule out a strangulation death due to the decomposition of her body.
“Regardless of the undetermined finding of the cause of death, charges of concealment of a homicidal death are now appropriate. The fact that the coroner labeled Megan’s death as undetermined does not preclude a charge of concealment of a homicidal death,” Facklam said.
“The autopsy report detailing the toxicology results must be read in conjunction with other facts of the case, including defendant’s statements that he observed Megan consume drugs and shortly thereafter, she died, as well as his statement that she was already dead when he placed her in the garbage bin,” the prosecutor said.
The newest charge against Mendoza-Gonzalez is a detainable offense, which allowed prosecutors to file the petition to detain Mendoza-Gonzalez in the Lake County Jail.
Jennifer Bos, Megan Bos’ mother, said on social media, “Yes! […] We can finally start moving forward on this case,” following the Thursday court hearing.
The release of Mendoza-Gonzalez in April prompted local leaders to be outraged at the matter.
Antioch Mayor Scott Gartner spoke out and called for immediate reforms to the Illinois SAFE-T Act to restore judicial discretion and refocus Illinois’ criminal justice system on “public safety and human decency.”
“We have lost all common sense when it comes to enforcing law and order,” Gartner said.
“When the SAFE-T Act was being debated, there were voices sounding the alarm about what could happen if it were to become law,” Gartner said.
Mendoza-Gonzalez is scheduled to appear in court again on November 4 for a case management conference. A jury trial is scheduled for January 26.