Man Facing Deportation Is Back In Jail In Megan Bos Case

LAKE COUNTY, IL — A new charge filed against a man accused of hiding the body of 37-year-old Megan Bos has lead to him being held in the Lake County Jail, according to court records provided to Patch.com.

The new charge of concealing a homicidal death, which is a Class 3 felony, was filed against Jose Mendoza-Gonzalez in June after the Lake County Coroner's Office provided the autopsy report for Bros to the Lake County State's Attorney's Office. Other charges filed against Mendoza-Gonzalez earlier this year include: concealing the death of a person and concealing death/move body are considered Class 4 felonies and not detonable offenses.

During a court hearing on Thursday, Lake County Circuit Judge Daniel Shanes ruled Mendoza-Gonzalez will be detained as court proceedings move forward.

Prosecutors argued Mendoza-Gonzalez is considered to have a high likelihood of willful flight to avoid prosecution. After charges were initially filed against Mendoza-Gonzalez earlier this year, he was released since the charges at the time were not considered detainable offenses.

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In July, Mendoza-Gonzalez went into Chicago "without permission from the pretrial unit and in violation of his curfew," according to documents filed in Lake County Circuit Court. While in Chicago, he was arrested by U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement.

On September 10, he appeared before an immigration judge and indicated his desire to be "voluntarily removed or deported from the United States to his home country of Mexico," according to the Lake County court records.

"If defendant is not detained on this case, and the immigration judge orders the defendant’s deportation or removal, the federal government would have to carry out this voluntary removal and deport the defendant to Mexico. The defendant’s voluntary act of consenting to his removal or deportation to another country is intentional conduct to thwart the judicial process to avoid prosecution in this case," Jeffery Facklam, assistant state's attorney for the Lake County State's Attorney's Office, wrote in a petition to detain filed in the Lake County Circuit Court on Oct. 2. "He is aware that these criminal charges are pending and if he were deported, he would not be present to answer his criminal charges in court. Therefore, there is no condition or combination ofconditions that can be imposed to mitigate the defendant’s willful flight."

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Bos was first reported missing on March 9 after her family had not had any contact with her since mid- to late-February. Police questioned Mendoza-Gonzalez regarding Bos' disappearance after going through Bos' phone records and learning she'd been in contact with Mendoza-Gonzalez on Feb. 19.

Police went to Mendoza-Gonzalez's work and questioned him before bringing him into the Waukegan Police Department for further questioning, according to court records. At that time, he told authorities Bos had been at his house and also let detectives know where they could find Bos' body.

He said she ingested some drugs while at his house. He left the room and when he came back, Bos was no longer breathing, according to court records.

He told police he left her in his house for a couple days before wrapping her in a blanket and moving her to a garbage bin behind his house. The entire bin, which had a strong odor of bleach, was taken to the Lake County Coroner's Office.

An autopsy report found Bos had a lethal amount of controlled substances in her liver tissue at the time of her death, including fentanyl, cocaine, and probable heroin use. The cause of death could not be definitively determined to be from an overdose or drug toxicity, according to court records.

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"This was due to the decomposition of the body from being left in a garbage bin for approximately a month and a half. Although there were no signs of trauma or a struggle, the forensic pathologist
could not fully rule out an asphyxial death due to this decomposition," Facklam wrote in the petition to detain. "Regardless of the undetermined finding of the cause of death, charges of concealment of a
homicidal death are now appropriate. The fact that the coroner labelled Megan’s
death as undetermined does not preclude a charge of concealment of a homicidal death. The autopsy report detailing the toxicology results must be read in conjunction with other facts of the case, including defendant’s statements that he observed Megan consume drugs and shortly thereafter, she died, as well as his statement that she was already dead when he placed her in the garbage bin."

A jury trial has been set in the case for Jan. 26, 2026.

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