Barten: Shorewood Built Strong Heroin Homicide Case V. Saul Nunez

SHOREWOOD, IL - Two summers ago, the lifeless body of Christopher Shanine was found near his bicycle around 5 a.m. inside the Kipling Estates subdivision. The 25-year-old Shorewood resident had died from an overdose of heroin. Shanine had spent the previous several hours inside the house of Saul Nunez on Diamond Head Drive West. Two years passed without an arrest.

But Shanine's case was not forgotten or being ignored inside Shorewood's Police Department. It was quite the opposite.

"When incidents like these occur, we do our best to investigate them. We had a big influx of information right at the outset," Jason Barten, Shorewood Police Department Deputy Chief of Investigations, told Patch on Tuesday afternoon at the police station.

Last week's criminal indictment against the Shorewood man marks the first drug-induced homicide filed in 2019 by the Will County State's Attorney's Office, Patch confirmed on Tuesday afternoon.

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On Saturday, Shorewood Police captured Saul Nunez, now 41, charging him with drug-induced homicide, a Class X felony, and unlawful delivery of a controlled substance, Fentanyl.

On June 23, 2017, Nunez "knowingly and unlawfully (delivered) Fentanyl, a controlled substance, to another, Christopher Shanine and said ingestion of that Fentanyl caused the death of Christopher Shanine," documents at the Will County Courthouse show.

Barten told Patch on Tuesday he is confident the Shorewood Police Department's heroin homicide case will result in a conviction.

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Shorewood's last heroin homicide case resulted in a conviction against Shorewood drug dealer Dwight Musson, who received a 24-year prison sentence last July from Will County Judge David Carlson. Musson was responsible for the June 2013 heroin overdose death of Musson's teenage girlfriend, Becky Sova, a recent Joliet West High School graduate.

Barten told Patch the investigation against Saul Nunez came together as a result of physical evidence found at the scene, forensic evidence retrieved from various cell phones as well as evidence seized as a result of multiple police search warrants issued in the case.

"It's been a constant sharing of information, with the State's Attorney's Office, the Shanine family and us. These are difficult cases to put together. A lot of hard work goes into these," Barten told Patch on Tuesday. "The family left the area because of Chris' death, but we've been in constant communication with the family."

Barten stressed that Shanine did not die as a result of attending a house party at the Nunez family's large house on Diamond Head Drive West.

"There was no party, no party at all at that house," Barten explained Tuesday.

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Shorewood Police determined that Shanine and Saul Nunez were the only people involved with heroin at the Nunez house.

There was no evidence suggesting that Nunez found Shanine dead at his property and moved his body out on the parkway, Barten said.

Shanine was found dead approximately 25 yards away from the Nunez property, along the subdivision's parkway.

Police surmised that Shanine was trying to pedal his bicycle home, which was about a mile away, but he collapsed shortly after trying to leave the Nunez house.

As for Nunez, he is no stranger to the Will County criminal justice system.

In 2015, Joliet Police charged him with unlawful possession of a controlled substance, cocaine. Last October, the Will County State's Attorney's staff filed a petition to revoke Nunez's conditional discharge.

"The defendant has willfully violated his sentence in that, as of October 1, 2018, he has not filed with the court proof of compliance with treatment recommendations pursuant to a drug and alcohol violation," court documents state.

Barten acknowledged that heroin is prevalent in all communities across Will County, it's not just in Joliet. In 2017 and 2018, Shorewood had three heroin overdose deaths annually, according to data tracked by Will County Coroner Patrick O'Neil.

"We worked this from Day One until last week," Barten said. "The State's Attorney's Office has been great, the Shanine family was very supportive and there's been constant contact between the three of us that brought this all together."

Nunez remained in custody on Tuesday. His bail is $2.5 million, meaning his family needs to post $250,000 cash to get him out of jail while his criminal case is awaiting trial.