Man wanted for fatal Aurora crash arrested in Texas

A man wanted for a crash that killed a woman and injured a man in west suburban Aurora in 2013 has been arrested in Texas.

The crash happened about 5:30 p.m. on Jan. 21, 2013, on Church Road just north of Corporate Boulevard, according to a statement from Aurora police. Gustavo Villarreal, now 48, was driving a 1997 Geo Metro south on Church when the car hit 57-year-old Theresa Burns and a 25-year-old man.

Burns and the man were staff members at a nearby academy for people with psychiatric problems, police said. A student, an 18-year-old woman, had run away from the school and sat down in the street, and they were trying to remove her from the street when Villarreal’s car hit them.

After the crash, Villarreal stopped the car, got out and ran away on foot, police said. Burns was dead at the scene, while the man was treated and released at a hospital. The student was not injured.

Villarreal eluded arrest for several years and apparently fled to Mexico at some point, police said. He was arrested Wednesday when U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents found him hiding in the air dam of a semi-trailer at the Falfurrias, Texas, checkpoint, about 70 miles north of the Rio Grande.

He was wanted on an arrest warrant charging him with four felony counts of leaving the scene of an accident causing death or injuries, according to police. The warrant carried a $1 million bond.

Villarreal remained in the custody of the Brooks County, Texas, sheriff’s police and was awaiting extradition to Illinois, police said.