Latin King Murder Defendant At Will County's Jail Dies

JOLIET, IL — The Will County Coroner's Office revealed that a 28-year-old Joliet man who had been staying at the Will County Adult Detention Facility for more than three years was found unresponsive Tuesday morning and later died at the hospital.

Jail inmate Aaron Bowers, formerly of Joliet, was discovered around 5:45 a.m. on Tuesday, April 23. The Joliet Fire Department was summoned to the jail and transported the murder defendant to St. Joe's hospital. He was pronounced dead around 6:25 a.m.

In 2016, ABC-7's Chuck Goudie reported that Bowers was a member of the Latin Kings street gang and was one of 19 people charged in a sophisticated gang sweep called Operation: King Kong.

Bowers, then 25, was arrested for the 2010 murder of Nichole Rodriguez. She was fatally shot as she sat inside of a car.

To read the original Joliet Patch article about Aaron Bowers' murder charges, go here.

An autopsy is scheduled for Wednesday, April 24, the coroner's office revealed.