Romeoville Cop Tells of Tracking Down & Capturing Alleged Killer

A Romeoville police officer told of tracking down one man fleeing the cops and then finding another hiding beneath yard waste bags just a few feet away.

One of those two men, 24-year-old Erick Maya of Cicero, was charged with the murder of his teenage ex-girlfriend. The other, Dylan Somma, 20, was only running from the cops because he had warrants out for his arrest, a prosecutor said.

Maya, 24, allegedly murdered his underage ex-girlfriend, Briana Valle, on the morning of Feb. 13. He took a cab from his home in Cicero to Briana’s house and waited for the Romeoville High freshman to leave for school, a prosecutor said. When Briana and her mother, Alicia Guerrero, got in the family’s car, Maya allegedly walked up and opened fire through the passenger-side window.

Briana was hit twice in the head and died soon after. Guerrero took a bullet to the neck and survived.

Romeoville police flooded the area around Briana’s Emery Avenue home in the wake of the shooting to hunt for Maya. Somma complicated matters when he took off running through backyard because he thought all the cops were after him. Just a few days earlier he made a successful break from a detective who tried to take him into custody at a Route 53 gas station.

On the morning of the shooting, Romeoville Police Officer John Allen found Somma first. Allen was working with his police dog, Spike, when he caught sight of the fleeing Somma, the officer testified Thursday during Maya’s murder trial.

After alerting other officers that he had spotted Somma, two other cops took the young Romeoville man into custody, Allen said. Allen then searched through garbage cans for the handgun used to shoot 15-year-old Briana Valle and her mother, Alicia Guerrero, and proceeded to check out blood spatter the injured Somma left on the doors of a house during his flight from the cops.

Allen then returned to the same Hickory Avenue backyard where he found Somma. After he got there, Spike noticed something unusual, Allen testified. Allen then caught sight of Maya’s foot.

“I saw a leg sticking out, it was like (under) a leaf bag,” he said. “There was a foot sticking out from the porch.”

Allen twice ordered the man beneath the bag to show his hands, he said. Maya ignored him but stood when Allen threatened to turn Spike loose. When he rose up, Maya said “Oh s--t,” Allen testified.

Two other officers pulled Maya from under the deck while Allen restrained Spike, he said.

Maya allegedly shot Briana and her mother after the teen ended their love affair. While trying to get her daughter away from Maya, Guerrero obtained two protective orders against him and moved her family from Chicago down to Romeoville.

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