'We got him': Former Wheeling resident wanted in teen's 2020 killing captured
A former Wheeling resident suspected of fatally shooting a Mundelein teen has been captured after a 2½-year international manhunt.
Alessis Botello, 20, was arrested on a first-degree murder warrant Tuesday night after flying to Midway International Airport from Mexico, where he'd been living illegally since shortly after the killing, Mundelein Police Chief John Monahan said.
Botello had been arrested in Mexico that morning for the immigration violation and deported, Monahan said. Mundelein police and federal officials were waiting for him at the airport.
He was in custody Wednesday at the Lake County jail after a judge set his bail at $10 million.
Botello is charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the May 28, 2020, slaying of 18-year-old Gavile Jackson. Jackson was fatally shot in the parking lot of the Walgreens at 345 N. Lake St. in Mundelein.
Jackson had moved to Mundelein from Arizona just four days earlier, his mother, Marquita Love, said Wednesday. He had gone out with a twin brother that day to buy marijuana, she said.
Love said she is happy Botello was arrested but feels no relief.
"It just feels like it's happening all over again," she said.
According to police, the shooter arrived as a passenger in an SUV, fired several shots with a pistol and then fled in the vehicle. Jackson was targeted by the killer, police said, and later pronounced dead at Advocate Condell Medical Center in Libertyville.
Authorities found the SUV parked on a residential street in Vernon Hills.
Witness information and surveillance footage led investigators to identify Botello as the person who pulled the trigger, police said. He was charged in a warrant June 1, 2020, and was publicly named that September after he turned 18.
Mundelein police worked with the Lake County Major Crimes Task Force to identify Botello as a suspect and then with the FBI and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to find him, Monahan said. They suspected Botello was in Mexico but weren't sure until getting a call from Mexican authorities Tuesday.
"This happened fast," Monahan said.
Botello was detained by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents at Midway and turned over to Mundelein police.
Monahan called the investigators who worked the case "relentless."
"It required a 'no quit' attitude to take this suspect into custody, and I'm very proud of the collective effort," he said.
After his arrest, Botello was interviewed and made statements that "supported evidence collected during the investigation," Monahan said.
Mundelein Mayor Steve Lentz touted the arrest in a Facebook post Wednesday.
"We got him!" Lentz wrote. "Kudos to all of the law enforcement professionals that made this happen. We're thankful for your diligence."
Botello was represented at his bond hearing Wednesday morning by a public defender. Botello told Judge Theodore S. Potkonjak he hadn't yet spoken with his family about whether they would be able to hire a lawyer.
Botello, who would need to post $1 million cash to go free while his case is pending, is scheduled to return to court Dec. 28.
• Daily Herald staff writer Doug T. Graham contributed to this story.