Joliet's Triple Arson Homicide Bears Eerie Resemblance To 2005 Tragedy

JOLIET, IL - Arson homicides around this city are rare. In fact, the three co-defendants now being charged in the June 3 triple fatality were only 5 and 6 years old back in 2005. That was the year when Joliet experienced a similar fire tragedy involving multiple victims of arson.

On Thursday, Will County State's Attorney James Glasgow filed murder charges against Andy Cerros, 17, Manuel A. Escamilla, 18, and Eric J. Raya, 18. The three Joliet teenagers each face six charges of murder, three charges of arson and one charge of attempted first-degree murder.

They remain in police custody, each facing a $10 million bond. Shortly before 2 a.m. on June 3, a roaring fire broke out house in the unit block of North Center Street, near Jefferson Street. Last month's blaze took the lives of three females, Jacuetta Rogers, 29, Regina Rogers, 28, and her 11-month-old daughter, Royalty Rogers. The April 9, 2005, fire also claimed the lives of a mother and her child, Maria DeLourdes Nunez, 35, and her 4-year-old daughter, Merary.

In last month's deadly fire on North Center Street, a flare gun was fired into a second-floor window during the overnight hours. In the 2005 arson, Juan Santana lobbed a firebomb through a second-floor house window in the St. Patrick's neighborhood. That crime also took place during the middle of the night. Incidentally, the distance between the two unrelated arson homicides is roughly a half-mile.

Back in 2005, neither the mother nor her small child was the intended target of the deliberately set fire. Santana firebombed the house because he believed that one of Merary's older brothers, who was 14, belonged to a gang.

Will County State's Attorney Jim Glasgow

"Juan Santana crept up on a house under cover of night and lobbed a firebomb through a window," Glasgow said after Santana's murder convictions. "This 28-year-old man planned a gutless act of retribution against a 14-year-old boy. Instead, his vicious act of violence claimed the lives of an innocent young mother and her daughter. The community can rest assured that this coward will spend the most of his life in prison."

In the June 3 fire, none of the three female victims was the apparent target either. Court documents filed Thursday at the Will County Courthouse show that the North Center Street property was the dwelling of Rakeem Venson, the man who narrowly escaped the blaze by jumping from a second-floor window.

In the 2005 deadly arson on Madeline Street, Glasgow sent three co-defendants to prison. Besides Santana, the crime's mastermind, were his two accomplices, Ignacio Jacobo, 19, and Sergio Anguiano, 22. In 2006, a jury from Will County convicted Santana of four counts of first-degree murder and one count of aggravated arson. A judge later sentenced Santana to spend the rest of his life in prison. Jacobo, the primary accomplice, was sentenced to life in prison as well. Anguiano was the only co-defendant to avoid a life prison term. He received a 20-year prison term. He drove the other two to the scene of the crime.

And just like his 2005 case, Glasgow filed charges last week against three male co-defendants. A six-week-long criminal probe by the Joliet Police Department led to murder charges against the teenagers.

It remains to be seen how the cases will unfold at the Will County Courthouse over the next several months. Of the trio, the 18-year-old Escamilla appears to have had the longest criminal rap sheet.

Manuel A. Escamilla

As for the 2005 tragedy, Santana is serving out his life sentence in Menard. Jacobo is serving his life term at Stateville. Anguiano is at the Shawnee prison. He has a projected release date of April 2025.

Juan Santana

Ignacio Jacobo

Mugshots of Santana and Jacobo, via Illinois Department of Corrections