No Bail For Accused Wife Killer Who Set House On Fire

HICKORY HILLS, IL -- A Hickory Hills man accused of stabbing his wife to death and torching his house is back in Illinois after fighting extradition from Michigan, where he had been arrested the morning after his wife’s alleged murder on June 2. Czeslaw Sipior, 71, appeared before Cook County Judge John Mahoney earlier this week on a felony charge of first-degree murder of his 64-year-old wife Maria Sipior, as well as aggravated arson.

According to a proffer read Tuesday in court, a neighbor saw Sipior the evening of June 2 walking around his yard in the 8900 block of West 84th Avenue in Hickory Hills. A second neighbor called 911 just before 10 p.m. after seeing Sipior’s house on fire.

While the fire was burning, another neighbor saw a white or silver car driving away from the burning house. (SUBSCRIBE: Get Real-Time Alerts and a Daily Newsletter for Oak Lawn.)

While working the fire, firefighters found Maria Sipior deceased in the home’s basement. Authorities said she had apparently been stabbed in the chest multiple times.

Fire marshals said they could smell accelerants and found gas cans inside the house, and Hickory Hills police noted that bloody fingerprints were on the stove burner knobs. The line cap on the furnace had been had also been removed and left open.

Sipior was nowhere to be found and police sent out an alert identifying Sipior as a possible “person of interest.” Also missing was his wife’s Honda Civic.

>>> Hickory Hills Man Held In Michigan For Wife's Murder: Cops

Shortly after midnight, an officer in Watervliet, Mich., pulled Sipior over driving his wife's Honda Civic for a traffic stop, prosecutors said. Sipior’s clothes were reportedly covered in blood and the car smelled like gasoline. The Michigan officer also noted that Sipior had burns on his lower legs. As police attempted to question him, Sipior allegedly told officers in broken English there was a house fire and that his wife had died.

Paramedics brought Sipior to a local hospital for treatment of his burns. While with the paramedics, Sipior admitted that he used the gas can from the lawn mower to start the fire, according to prosecutors. The Cook County Medical Examiner's office determined that Maria had died before the fire started.

Sipior fought extradition to Illinois from Berrien County, Mich., where he was being held on a first-degree murder charge since his arrest there. The Cook County state’s attorney’s office secured a governor’s warrant to bring Sipior back to Illinois.

Mahoney granted prosecutors’ request that Sipior be held without bail in Cook County Jail. Sipior faces life imprisonment if convicted. Sipior’s next court date is Sept. 4 in Bridgeview.