Slain Woman was Strangled to Death: Coroner

A young woman found dead in her Crest Hill home Tuesday night was strangled to death, according to the Will County Coroner’s Office.

Laura Gonzalez, 22, was killed by her husband, 27-year-old Cesar Garcia, police said.

Garcia was booked into the county jail on a charge of murder Wednesday morning. Before he was locked up, he was treated at Presence St. Joseph Medical Center.

Garcia was in the same jail just two months ago after he was arrested for allegedly battering Gonzalez. He was released from custody two days later when his sister, Claudia Tapia of Chicago, posted his bond.

The day after her sister-in-law was slain — and within hours of learning her brother had been charged with the killing — Tapia remembered them as a devoted couple.

“They were husband and wife,” Tapia said. “They were always together.”

Police officers went to check on Gonzalez Tuesday night but no one answered the door of her Marlboro Lane home, a source said. The officers reportedly gained entry after someone with a key let them inside.

The officers found Gonzalez already dead and Garcia in a “drug-induced stupor,” the source said.

After Garcia’s trip to the hospital, he was coherent enough to communicate to officers that there had been a “domestic incident” that ended with him killing Gonzalez, police said.

Garcia was forbidden by court order to come around Gonzalez or her home. As part of the conditions of his bond for the June domestic battery case, he was to stay at least 1,000 feet from her and her residence.