Fugitive Found Hiding In Semi-Trailer After 4 Years On The Run

AURORA, IL — After four years on the run, a fugitive wanted in connection with a crash that killed a caregiver and injured her coworker was apprehended in Texas. Aurora police said Gustavo Villarreal, 48, whose last known address was in the 1600 block of Dearborn Avenue in Aurora, was found hiding in the air dam of a semi-trailer on Wednesday.

Villarreal is charged with several felonies in connection with a Jan. 21, 2013 crash that killed 57-year-old Theresa Burns of Des Plaines and injured her coworker, a 25-year-old man from Plainfield. Burns and her coworker both worked at Northern Illinois Academy and were trying to assist an 18-year-old student who'd run away from the residential facility and was sitting the southbound lanes of Church Street just north of Corporate Boulevard, Aurora police said.

Villarreal allegedly struck Burns and the Plainfield man as they tried to remove the teen from the roadway, according to police. Burns was killed instantly, and her coworker was treated at an Aurora hospital and released. The 18-year-old was not hurt. After the crash, Villarreal got out of his vehicle and fled the scene on foot, police said.

"Villarreal was able to elude police capture and ostensibly fled to Mexico," police said. He was apprehended after U.S. Customs and Border Patrol Agents found him hiding in the tractor-trailer at the Falfurrias, Texas checkpoint located about 70 miles north of the Rio Grande River, according to police.

As of Friday, police said Villarreal was in the custody of the Brooks County Sheriff’s Police in Texas and awaiting extradition to Illinois.

He is charged with leaving the scene of an accident involving death, a Class 1 felony; leaving the scene of an accident involving injury, which is a Class 2 felony; and two counts of leaving the scene of an accident involving death or injury, which are Class 4 felonies. A warrant for his arrest carries a $1 million bond.

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