Prosecutors: Bartlett man strangled wife because she wouldn't stop 'nagging him'
Editor's note: A previous version of this report mistakenly said prosecutors alleged Carlo Madonia killed his wife because she wouldn't stop "nagging him" about returning to work too soon after having a heart attack.
Carlo Madonia killed his wife of more than 30 years because she wouldn't stop "nagging him" about not returning work soon enough after having a heart attack, DuPage County prosecutors say.
The 58-year-old Bartlett man is held on $3 million bond, charged with the May 31 strangulation death of his wife, Nancy Madonia.
Assistant State's Attorney Kristin Johnston said the victim's son called 911 around 10:25 a.m. Wednesday after finding his father bleeding in the kitchen and his mother dead in the upstairs master bathroom.
When police arrived, she said, Carlo Madonia was still in the kitchen with blood on his hands.
Johnston said Madonia's children told authorities their father "had not been himself" since surviving a heart attack just before Easter, and they had been watching to make sure he took his medicine.
Wednesday morning, Johnston said, Carlo Madonia was showering and getting ready for work when his wife began nagging him.
Johnston said Madonia pushed his wife to the floor and then wrapped his hands around her neck as she struggled.
Carlo Madonia had scratch wounds all over his face and body and a bite mark on his pinkie finger, Johnston said.
After killing his wife, Madonia attempted to hang himself with a belt from a bathrobe, but he later told police "he just couldn't do it."
Madonia, who has no criminal history, told Judge Joseph Bugos he would not be able to post bond. His next court date is scheduled for 9 a.m. June 12 in courtroom 4004.
The case stunned neighbors who knew the family.
"A very friendly guy," next-door neighbor Yasir Rizvi said of Madonia. "I'm supershocked that that happened. ... A very good family and good people. I cannot honestly say anything bad about Carlo, Nancy or their children."
Rizvi said he had not known about Madonia's heart attack before reading about it in the newspaper. But before that, Madonia was frequently outside his home attending to the lawn and landscaping when he wasn't at work, Rizvi said.
Nancy was just as friendly a person, he added. When Rizvi asked her about a month ago whether it would be all right to ask the village to cut down the parkway tree that was beginning to overhang both their properties, she told him to go ahead and do so, he said.
Rizvi has owned his house for about a decade, and he moved back in only two years ago after several years of renting it out while employment opportunities took he and his wife elsewhere. The Madonias were good neighbors to have and he often saw Carlo when they left for work in the morning, Rizvi said.
He added he understood the Madonias were one of the first families to buy a house in the subdivision.