Second suspect in Posen teen’s murder caught after police, FBI chase

A parolee wanted for a south suburban murder was captured earlier this month following a car chase that ended in northwest Indiana.

Carl D. Krentkowski, 24, of Dixmoor, had been charged in a warrant with the murder of 14-year-old Alex Saldana on Aug. 4 in Posen, according to authorities.

On Wednesday, Aug. 9, members of the FBI Violent Crimes Task Force and South Suburban Major Crimes Task Force saw Krentkowski in the 15000 block of Honore in Harvey, according to FBI Special Agent Garrett Croon. He was seen getting into a brown Ford Mustang being driven by 18-year-old Nicholas Demonte of Dixmoor.

The suspects would not pull over and were pursued by authorities across the state line, eventually into Gary, Indiana, Croon said.

They were finally stopped and taken into custody near the intersection of Gary and Cline avenues in Gary. Posen, Gary, and Chicago police took part in the pursuit and arrest, along with the Cook County sheriff’s office.

Demonte was charged with felony counts of aggravated fleeing and eluding, and concealing or aiding a fugitive, according Posen police.

Krentkowski was charged with murder, and was turned over to the Illinois Department of Corrections on a parole violation, authorities said. He was on parole after serving three years of a six-year sentence for attempted armed robbery in Cook County, according to DOC records.

Another suspect in the murder, 21-year-old Miguel A. Flores of Midlothian, was arrested Aug. 9, according to Posen police.

Krentkowski and Flores are charged with the fatal shooting of Saldana, who was found by officers responding to a call of shots fired just after 11 p.m. Aug. 4, according to police.

The boy was found in the 14600 block of South Division Street, lying on the ground with a gunshot wound to the chest, police said. He died minutes later at Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn.

Flores is being held on a $1 million bond in the Cook County Jail, and is next scheduled to appear in court Aug. 28.

Demonte is being held in the Cook County Jail on a $150,000 bond, with his next hearing set for Aug. 31.

Court information for Krentkowski was not immediately available. He is being held at the Stateville Correctional Center.