Man confesses to killing woman, hiding body in concrete at SW Side garage: cops

A man walked into the Wentworth District Chicago Police station Monday and allegedly confessed to killing a woman and trying hiding her body in concrete at his family’s Southwest Side garage.

Cesar Cono-Olvera, 22, appeared for a bail hearing Thursday at the Leighton Criminal Courthouse on a charge of first-degree murder in the death of 30-year-old Joyce Cluchey, whose body was discovered Sunday afternoon in the garage of his family’s home in the 4900 block of South Keeler, according to authorities.

Cluchey had been reported missing to police after last being seen shortly after 11 a.m. May 18 near 47th Street and Cicero Avenue, according to a missing person alert from police.

When he was interviewed Monday, Cono-Olvera told detectives that Cluchey approached him and that he stabbed her and struck her in the head with a metal pipe in self defense, according to his arrest report.

No motive for the killing was offered when Assistant State’s Attorney Jacqueline Marquardt outlined the state’s case against Cono-Olvera.

When Cluchey fell to the ground, he hid her body under a vehicle in the garage “that isn’t driven often,” Marquardt said. He returned five days later, wrapped her body in plastic and placed her in a plastic bin. He put the bin in the back of the vehicle and poured concrete over the body.

Marquardt said that although he tired to cover up the smell of her decomposing body with cologne and perfume, witnesses began to smell “a foul odor” coming from the garage around June 17.

Only Cono-Olvera’s uncle and father have keys to access the garage, Marquardt said. They both went to investigate the smell on Sunday and located the bin. When they moved a plastic bag they saw poking through the cement, they saw Cluchey’s foot.

A subsequent autopsy conducted by the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office found Cluchey suffered a stab wound near her neck and a fracture to her neck cartilage, Marquardt said.

An official cause of death has not been determined, but the manner of Clutchey’s death has been ruled homicide, Marquardt said.

Cono-Olvera turned himself in the next day and made a videotaped confession, police and prosecutors said.

Marquardt said Cono-Olvera’s only prior criminal history was two arrests on traffic charges.

Margaret Domin of the Cook County Public Defender’s Office Homicide Task Force said Cono-Olvera is a citizen of Mexico who has lived in the United States for the last 12 years, previously working as a mechanic and landscaper.

They plan to dispute “the validity of the confession” he allegedly offered, Domin said. Due to his lack of criminal background and because he turned himself in to authorities, she asked that Cono-Olvera be given a bond.

Judge Michael Clancy ordered Cono-Olvera held without bail.

His next court date was set for July 16.