Two Six Street Gang Killing: How Joliet Police Solved It

JOLIET, IL — On a sunny Tuesday morning in June, Joliet 20-year-old Latrel Smith-Vaden walked with a friend in the 600 block of East Benton Street when two teenagers in a car pulled up next to him and fatally shot him. Over the next several months, Joliet police tracked the two suspected accomplices, first to South Bend, Indiana, and then to Tijuana, Mexico.

Both of the first-degree murder defendants are back in Joliet and efforts by the oldest of the oldest two to regain his freedom have proven unsuccessful.

Will County Judge Amy Bertani-Tomczak recently rejected efforts by 18-year-old Emilio Aldape, also known as Emilio Adalpe, to return to his Joliet home in the 400 block of Ohio Street, not far from where the street murder happened.

"The court finds the defendant poses a danger to the public and shall be held without bond. Defendant's motion is denied," the judge declared.

The Will County State's Attorney's Office of Jim Glasgow had asked the judge to deny pretrial release for Adalpe, who was sentenced in 2019 on juvenile charges of aggravated unlawful use of a weapon in a vehicle. His alleged accomplice in the June 6 street killing, 17-year-old Nathan Melchor, was also arrested on Jan. 8 for the crime of reckless discharge of a gun.

According to the Will County State's Attorneys:

• On the morning of June 6, Smith-Vaden and his friend were walking near 603 East Benton when a black Chevy Cruze pulled up and the passenger asked, "Who you with?" and then declared, "Vice Lord Killer."
• As Smith-Vaden and his friend put their hands up and began running toward a small nearby creek, the passenger, identified by Joliet police as Adalpe, fired several gunshots at the two. Smith-Vaden took a bullet to the head and died.
• Joliet police later tracked down FLOCK camera videos with the license plates of the getaway vehicle, and it registered back to Melchor's mother, Amber Jimenez.
• The vehicle used in the homicide was driven to the east side McDonald's restaurant and abandoned.
• A second vehicle pulled into the McDonald's, a gold Equinox owned by Raquel Adalpe, the sister of Emilio Adalpe, and "that vehicle is seen leaving the McDonald's and the individuals who were in the Cruze had left the area," prosecutors outlined.
• Joliet police interviewed Melchor's mother, and she told them that Nathan told her he was very sorry and that he loved her after the killing happened.
• Detectives obtained cell phone and Snapchat records for Melchor and Emilio Adalpe. and they are known to be 2-6 street gang members.
• "Emilio was also a victim from a previous incident involving Vice Lords in which he admitted he is a 2-6er," Will County prosecutors noted.

• Fingerprints from the Chevy Cruze came back positive for Adalpe on the passenger side door.
• Prior to the murder, the two teenage defendants discussed guns on Snapchat.

"Additional Snapchat data showed that minutes prior to the shooting, defendant Adalpe's phone sent a Snapchat picture of an individual who was seated inside the Cruze, in the front passenger seat, holding two firearms, a rifle and a handgun, one of which matched the caliber of the firearm used in this murder," prosecutors informed Judge Bertani. "This picture also showed the location of that picture to be at Cass and Collins in Joliet, which is just four blocks from the scene of the crime. Again, this picture was taken just minutes before the shooting."

• Ring camera video from the neighborhood of the Benton Street killing "captured the voice of the shooter yelling at the victim and the witness. It also showed a black smaller car, consistent with the Chevy Cruze, parked at the end of the street at the time of the shooting."
• After shooting Smith-Vaden dead on the east side of Joliet, Adalpe fled to Indiana, while Melchor went to Mexico. "Both individuals needed to be extradited back to Illinois," the prosecutors pointed out to the judge.

Because Melchor is not 18 yet, he remains in youth detention at the River Valley Juvenile Center along McDonough street. He has been charged with the adult crime of murder, though.

Related Joliet Patch coverage:

Joliet Teenage Killer Captured In Tijuana Mexico: Police