Former Joliet man found guilty in Downers Grove murder
Editor's note: This update correctly attributes statements made in court to Assistant State's Attorney Joseph Lindt.
A former Joliet man has been found guilty of murder in the 1997 slaying of a Downers Grove man.
A DuPage County jury returned the verdict Thursday morning after deliberating for less than an hour.
Jose Ruvalcaba-Quezada, 36, was convicted of first-degree murder in the shooting death of Jose Ortiz on Dec. 27, 1997. Prosecutors said Thursday he was paid $10,000 and given a car to commit the murder.
Ruvalcaba-Quezada dropped his head in his hands when the verdict was read.
"Plain and simple, this was a hit," Assistant State's Attorney Joseph Lindt told the jury during closing arguments. "And (Ruvalcaba-Quezada) was the hitman."
Prosecutors said Ruvalcaba-Quezada hid behind the Ortiz family's garage near Downers Grove, and waited for Jose Ortiz to leave for work around 6 a.m. on Dec. 27, 1997.
As Jose Ortiz, 39, walked toward the garage, Ruvalcaba-Quezada surprised him and fired six shots from a 9 mm handgun, Assistant State's Attorney Joseph Lindt said, with one bullet striking Ortiz in the chest.
Lindt said another man, known only as "Chongo," who Ortiz knew from living in Mexico, wanted Ortiz dead and paid Ruvalcaba-Quezada as much as $3,000 up front to commit the murder. After killing Ortiz, Ruvalcaba-Quezada had to call "Chongo" to collect the rest.
"He called 'Chongo' and said 'OK. That's it. It's over.'" Lindt said. "It's time to tell this defendant it's not OK. That's it. It's over."
Prosecutors said Ruvacaba-Quezada then fled Illinois. He was deported to Mexico in 1999 after becoming the target of an unrelated rape investigation in Utah, but then illegally returned to the U.S. in 2003 and lived under a false identity, Victor Lopez, with his wife in South Carolina.
During the rape investigation, authorities recovered a diary in which he allegedly described receiving "good pay" to shoot a man with a 9 mm firearm as the victim left home for work, prosecutors have said.
When questioned about the diary, prosecutors said Ruvacaba-Quezada shrugged it off and said it was fiction and that he was working on a book.
"The unluckiest man in the world made up facts that just so happen to fit a murder he committed," Assistant State's Attorney Steve Knight said.
Authorities filed charges in 2008 but did not locate Ruvalcaba-Quezada until last year in a South Carolina restaurant.
Ruvalcaba-Quezada's attorneys continued to maintain his innocence.