Crime & Safety
Plea Deal Possible in 1997 Downers Grove Murder
Authorities allege that Jose Ruvalcaba-Quezada shot and killed Downers Grove resident Jose J. Ortiz in 1997; the defendant is considering accepting a plea bargain.
A man charged in the 1997 murder of a Downers Grove father of five at his home may be ready to accept a deal in the case in exchange for a guilty plea, the Daily Herald reports.
According to the paper, prosecutors say that Jose Ruvalcaba-Quezada shot 39-year-old Jose J. Ortiz to death outside his Downers Grove home on Dec. 27, 1997, then fled and was later deported to Mexico in 1999; he was arrested in South Carolina in January 2012 and confessed to the killing for money, prosecutors allege.
Ruvalcaba-Quezada's attorney Rick Kayne told a DuPage County judge on Friday that his client will either accept the bargain, or proceed with objections that his rights to have an attorney and interpreter and to contact the Mexican consulate were violated, rendering his confession void, the paper said.
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