Dead End? Nearly 10 Years Later, Have The Will County Cops Given Up On Melissa Mitchell's Murder?

In July, a young mother from Braidwood will be dead for 10 years. Her name was Melissa Mitchell and she was found stabbed to death in a field across Broadway from the District 5 State Police Headquarters.

Mitchell left behind two daughters, ages 21 and 19, and a 16-year-old son. They all live in Braidwood with their father, Mitchell’s ex-husband, Scott Mitchell, and they don’t understand why so little progress has been made in the investigation of her murder.

“It’s just kind of like there and no one’s doing anything with it,” Scott Mitchell said.

Scott Mitchell’s suspicion was reinforced recently when his daughter Melanie, 21, got a voicemail message from a detective on the case. Melanie had seen a story on Patch about her mother’s old boyfriend, Julio Alex Montenegro, 43, getting arrested for allegedly stealing from the Menards on West Jefferson Street.

Montenegro may have been the last person to see Melanie’s mother alive. Melissa, 31, spent the final night of her life with Montenegro at Zelmo’s Full Moon Saloon on Plainfield Road in July 2005, police said. After leaving the bar, Melissa supposedly jumped from the back of Montenegro’s motorcycle near Ingalls Avenue and ran off.

Two days after Melissa was found dead—and while detectives were trying to obtain a search warrant for Montenegro’s Campbell Street home—his garage burned down with his motorcycle inside it. City police at the time called the blaze suspicious but no criminal charges were ever brought in connection with the fire.

The day after Melissa was killed, Scott Mitchell said, Montenegro went to the Lockport home where his ex-wife was living with a girlfriend. Montenegro pulled photos of himself and Melissa from their frames, Scott Mitchell said, and also took a journal. Scott Mitchell said the journal and photos were never found.

In October 2009, the sheriff department’s spokesman at the time, Pat Barry, said Montenegro was still a suspect in the murder and that no other suspects had been identified.

Scott Mitchell said in the weeks before her death, Melissa told him she was trying to get away from Montenegro but he did not want to let her go.
After reading on Patch about Montenegro’s arrest on the theft charge, Melanie reached out to detectives. She requested a meeting but got a less than encouraging reply.

“I am familiar with the article you’re referring to,” a detective said on a voicemail.

“There have been no updates on the crime that occurred,” the detective said. “I do know that Montenegro is back in town. We have had zero new leads. You’re welcome to come in if you wanted to come in, if you had any additional information. At this we time have received no further information so, from my end it wouldn’t be a very productive meeting. If you have more information though I’d be more than happy to sit with you and jot down whatever you have, but on our end we have nothing, nothing further.”

Montenegro was actually back in town at least a year and a half ago, the Mitchells said. They know this because Melissa’s younger daughter, Amanda, 19, said he came up to her a few days in a row while she was working at the Menards on Jefferson—the same one he allegedly stole from—and questioned her about her family.

“He approached me and was like, ‘How are you doing? How is your family doing?’” Amanda said.

Montenegro came in the following day as well and asked about her aunt, Melissa’s sister, Amanda said, saying, “I haven’t talked to your aunt since it happened.”

Amanda said she went to county detectives about Montenegro badgering her at work but they told her there was nothing they could do beyond suggest she seek a protective court order, which they considered little more than, “Just a piece of paper.”

“So I ended up quitting” the job at Menards, Amanda said.

Montenegro did not answer the door to his house last week or call the number on business cards left at his door. He also did not respond to a Facebook message or a message left with his son.

Since Melissa’s death, the Mitchells said, detectives assured them they would be kept up to speed on developments in the case, but all they know they have learned on their own.

“They said if there was any new information they would tell us,” Melanie said. “Well, he moved to Florida, then he came back” and the family was told nothing about Montenegro’s relocation.

A statement released by the sheriff’s department said “investigators have revisited the case on a number of occasions. As of this date no new leads or information have come forward. We ask the public if they have any information to call our Investigation Division at 815-727-8574.”

The Mitchells were skeptical about the department’s efforts.

“I feel like Will County’s not going to do anything,” Melanie said. “I already know that.”

But the Mitchells don’t know why.

“This guy, the only suspect they ever had—it’s literally beyond me,” Scott Mitchell said. “I just don’t understand.”

Scott Mitchell said detectives had told him over the years to be patient, that “eventually he’ll slip up and talk.” But he wondered what difference that would make “if no one’s listening.”

“I know it’s a pipe dream,” Scott Mitchell said, “but if I ever come into a bunch of money, I’d offer a million dollars” for information on Melissa’s murder.

Scott Mitchell said he’d pay a million, even though he firmly believes he already knows who killed his ex-wife.

“The guy literally got away with murder,” he said.

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