Man gets 37 years for '81 Addison murder

After killing a man in Addison in 1981, Jesus Villarreal fled to Mexico to work on a ranch and start a family of his own.

Now, nearly three decades later, he's finally going to prison.

DuPage County Judge Daniel Guerin sentenced the longtime fugitive Wednesday to 37 years for the apparent road-rage killing of 23-year-old John Spoors on Aug. 26, 1981.

In handing down the sentence, Guerin noted that Villarreal was a fugitive “longer than John Spoors lived.”

Villarreal was extradited from Mexico in 2008 after an informant tipped police to his whereabouts and his involvement in Spoors' death.

In August, a jury convicted him of gunning down Spoors after Villarreal gave conflicting accounts, first denying being in Illinois at all and later claiming he shot Spoors in self-defense.

“Nobody ever thought this day was going to come,” Spoors' brother Michael said Wednesday. “It is what it is, and we're just happy it's finally over and the family can more or less rest in peace.”

Spoors was shot twice, including once in the back, after meeting with his boss in a parking lot on the 600 block of West Lake Street in Addison.

At trial, the boss testified that Villarreal cut him off in traffic moments earlier and the two exchanged hand gestures. He said Villarreal then pulled into the lot and, without provocation, opened fire.

Afterward, Villarreal fled to Mexico, where he married, raised five children and worked on a ranch for 27 years.

In court Wednesday, he apologized for killing Spoors, but maintained it was in self-defense. He claimed Spoors and another man came after him without provocation, wielding a pipe.

“I feel sorry about the family. I did it to defend my life,” Villarreal said through a Spanish interpreter. “I ask for forgiveness from the family of this person.”

Prosecutor Joseph Ruggiero sought a sentence of 40 years, the maximum under state law in 1981.

But defense attorney Brian Jacobs argued for the minimum 20, saying his client otherwise led a law-abiding life and supported his family.

“Twenty years is a substantial chunk out of my client's life for what happened on one day,” he said.

But Michael Spoors said his family never fully recovered from his brother's death. He said siblings and relatives “drifted apart,” bitter and unable to cope with the senseless tragedy.

“He was the glue that held the family together,” he said. “There will always be a piece of us missing.”

Villarreal must serve at least half of his sentence, or 18½ years, under guidelines from 1981. Prosecutors said he will receive credit toward the sentence since his arrest on Jan. 9, 2008.