$2M bond for Joliet man charged with killing friend in Homer Glen

Bond was set at $2 million Wednesday for a Joliet man charged with the murder of a friend who allegedly made sexual advances towards him in southwest suburban Homer Glen.

Javier Heredia-Rios, 32, and Oscar Garrido-Castro, 36, were long-time acquaintances who were together around 6:30 p.m. Sunday at Mora Builders, where Heredia-Rios is employed, according to the Will County sheriff’s office.

The shop, at 12145 W. 159th S. in Homer Glen, was closed at the time the men began to argue about sexual advances Garrido-Castro allegedly made on Heredia-Rios, police said.

The fight escalated and Heredia-Rios struck Garrido-Castro in the head with a hammer , then strangled him, police said. He then put the body into the victim’s 2004 GMC Envoy and drove to Rosalind Avenue, just west of Farrell Road in Joliet Township, and left the SUV there, police said.

Nearly 11 hours after the fight, the abandoned SUV, with the body inside, was found, police said. The Will County coroner’s office positively identified Garrido-Castro and ruled cause of death to be blunt force trauma and strangulation.

After contacting family members of Garrido-Castro, detectives tracked Heredia-Rios to his home at 11 p.m., police said. He voluntarily met with investigators, but did say that when he was approached by officers, he was on his way to Mexico.

Heredia-Rios is an undocumented immigrant who had been issued a temporary visitor’s driver’s license, police said. He was charged with four counts of first-degree murder and one count of concealing a homicide.

Heredia-Rios, of the 300 block of North Eastern Avenue in Joliet, was ordered held on a $2 million bond at a Wednesday hearing, according to the sheriff’s office. His next court date is Nov. 11.