'Unconscionable': Man Sentenced To 40 Years In Teen's 'Gruesome' Killing In West Chicago

WEST CHICAGO, IL — Francisco Alvarado — one of four teens who brutally killed 18-year-old Luis Guerrero and set him on fire in 2018 in West Chicago — was sentenced to 40 years in prison, authorities announced Wednesday.

Alvarado, now 25, pleaded guilty in 2022 to first-degree murder and aggravated kidnapping, according to the DuPage County State’s Attorney’s Office. His codefendant, 23-year-old Tia Brewer, formerly of Wheaton, pleaded guilty to the same charges and was also sentenced to 40 years in February, authorities said.

Codefendants Jesus Jurado-Correa, 25, and Saul Ruiz, 24, each pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and were sentenced to 15 and 10 years in prison, respectively, according to authorities.

Guerrerro’s body was discovered by West Chicago fire personnel when they were conducting a training exercise mid-day Aug. 14, 2018, and saw something smoldering in a nearby fire pit in the 1300 block of Joliet Street, authorities said.

The four codefendants had planned the murder for about a month, according to authorities, who said Brewer arranged to meet Guerrero in the early morning hours of Aug. 14 at the West Chicago Public Library. Once there, Alvarado ambushed Guerrero from behind, strangling him with a belt, authorities said, adding Alvarado and Brewer stabbed and punched Guerrero, took him to the Joliet Street location and set him on fire while he was unconscious, using gasoline Correa brought.

While ablaze, Guerrero got up and tried to run away, but Alvarado and Brewer stabbed and beat him, dragged him back to the pit and relit him, according to authorities.

“With thirty-seven years as a prosecutor under my belt, I had always thought I had seen the worst of the worst,” DuPage County State’s Attorney Robert Berlin said Wednesday in a social media post from his office about the sentencing. “On August 18, 2018, however, I was proven wrong.”

Berlin characterized the killing as "unconscionable" and "gruesome."

Patch reported in 2018 that the teens also ran Guerrero over with a car, and that Guerrero had been dating Brewer, who was in a relationship with Alvarado. Brewer told police Guerrero had raped her in the past, according to Patch, but the Chicago Tribune reported at the time that no report of an assault was filed with authorities.

A parent of one of the teens tipped off law enforcement to blood in a vehicle and police found Alvarado and Brewer at a Chicago hotel and discovered a backpack and a knife covered in blood, Patch previously reported.