Joliet Man Eyed in Unsolved 2005 Murder Arrested For Stealing From Menards: Cops

A Joliet man named a suspect in a grisly 2005 murder was arrested Thursday for allegedly stealing from Menards.

Julio Alex Montenegro, 43, was arrested on a charge of retail theft about 5:30 p.m. at his Campbell Street home. He was released after posting a $1,000 cash bond, police said.

Montenegro allegedly stole a small socket tool from the West Jefferson Street Menard’s in October. The police obtained a warrant for his arrest.

In July 2005, detectives with the Will County Sheriff’s Department eyed Montenegro in connection with the brutal murder of his girlfriend, 31-year-old Melissa Mitchell.

Mitchell was found butchered in a field across Broadway from the Illinois State Police District 5 Headquarters.

Mitchell and Montenegro were together on the last night of her life at Zelmo’s Full Moon Saloon on Plainfield Road, police said. After leaving the bar, Mitchell supposedly jumped from the back of Montenegro’s motorcycle near Ingalls Avenue and ran off.

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

The sheriff’s department said Friday it would look into the status of the Mitchell murder investigation.

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.

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