Death of man found after Heart of Chicago fire ruled homicide

The death of a man found after a series of arson fires in September in the Heart of Chicago neighborhood has been ruled a homicide.

Venancio Veracruz Benitez, 59, was found unresponsive about 3 a.m. Sept. 16 in a garage that was set on fire in the 2100 block of West 21st Street, according to Fire Media Affairs and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

Benitez, who lived on the same block, was pronounced dead at the scene at 3:34 a.m., according to the medical examiner’s office.

An autopsy at the time did not rule on cause and manner of death, but the medical examiner’s office has since found he died of carbon monoxide toxicity due to inhalation of combustion in the garage fire, and his death was ruled a homicide.

There were “seven total fires, all starting in garbage cans or combustibles near garage walls,” Fire Media Director Larry Langford said at the time.

The other fires were reported in homes in the 2200 block of South Blue Island; and garages in the 1700 block of West 21st Street, the 2100 block of South Wood and the 1800 block of West 21st Street, according to police.

The two-alarm fire at 2272 S. Blue Island spread to the back porch of a home and an adjoining building.

No residents were injured in that blaze or the other garage fires, but one firefighter suffered minor injuries, Langford said.

Paul Foertsch, a Chicago Fire Department District Chief, told reporters the fires were all initially set in alley garbage cans that eventually spread to garages and homes.

The Chicago Police Bomb and Arson Unit was investigating.