Westmont man pleads guilty to wife’s strangulation murder
A Belize native pleaded guilty Thursday to murdering his estranged wife in Westmont last year after visiting her home for a “family movie night” with their children, one of whom was celebrating her 5th birthday.
In return for the plea, Ian Alamilla will be sentenced to no more than 50 years in prison for the April 2010 strangulation of his wife Tara, 34.
“This is the beginning of the end,” the victim’s father, Alan Feldman of Oak Brook, said outside of court. “We’re getting some closure finally.”
Prosecutors said Alamilla walked into a Chicago police station shortly before 5:30 a.m. April 10, 2010, and told officers he’d had a domestic dispute with his wife. Within the hour, police discovered the victim’s body under a cover in a bed her basement. The couple’s children — ages 5, 6 and 11 — were found unharmed and sleeping in their beds.
The night before, prosecutors said, Alamilla had visited the victim’s home on the 300 block of Park Street for a “family movie night,” which coincided with their daughter’s birthday that weekend.
After watching a movie, the children went to bed while Alamilla and the victim stayed up to see a Jay Leno segment featuring an animal from Brookfield Zoo, where the victim worked as a school program coordinator for the Chicago Zoological Society. At some point, prosecutors said, Alamilla got into a dispute with the victim and choked her to death.
After the murder, Alamilla went to a home in Woodridge where he moved in with a couple after his wife filed for divorce a month prior. As he was packing his things, he told a roommate that “she was not going to see him again,” Prosecutor Ann Celine O’Hallaren said.
O’Hallaren said Alamilla also phoned Belize and “admitted to his brother several times that he strangled his wife and wanted to kill himself.” The brother encouraged Alamilla to go to the police. O’Hallaren said Alamilla subsequently made incriminating statements in a police interview, though he denied at the time that he intended to kill.
“What plan did I have? No one planned it,” Alamilla, 35, said, according to O’Hallaren.
Assistant Public Defender Mike Mara said Alamilla was a scuba diving instructor at a resort in his native Belize, where he met the victim several years ago. The couple married Aug. 2, 2002, and Alamilla became a U.S. citizen. He brought with him a child he cared for in Belize who became the couple’s adopted son.
Alamilla had been set for trial in January but decided to plead guilty because “he wanted to take responsibility for what he did,” Mara said. The defendant had no known criminal history.
“This is a tragic situation compounded by the fact that it involves three young children who have lost their mother and will now lose their father to the Illinois Department of Corrections for her murder,” State’s Attorney Robert Berlin said.
Had Alamilla gone to trial, prosecutors said they would have sought an enhanced sentence of up to natural life in prison.
Sentencing is set for Dec. 22 in front of DuPage County Judge Kathryn Creswell.
“We’re very satisfied with his plea of guilty,” Westmont Police Chief Thomas Mulhearn said. “Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family, especially the kids.”