West Chicago man faces murder charges after victim's death
A West Chicago man accused of a vicious attack on an elderly couple out feeding birds last winter is facing murder charges in light of the wife's death.
David Martinez Villareal, 23, has been in custody on lesser charges since the attack Jan. 9, 2006. A grand jury also indicted him Thursday on first-degree murder.
Mireille Ellberg, 72, died March 1 in the hospital, nearly 14 months after an assailant beat and ran her over while fleeing in the couple's pickup truck.
Authorities said Ellberg never fully regained consciousness and languished in various assisted care facilities ever since after the attack.
Authorities originally charged Martinez Villareal with attempted murder, attempted aggravated vehicular hijacking, vehicular invasion and aggravated battery to a senior citizen.
To sustain a murder charge, state law requires prosecutors prove the elderly woman's death would not have occurred but for the earlier violence. Prosecutors said they awaited autopsy findings before pursuing the murder charge.
Ellberg and her husband, James, often spent Sunday mornings driving around town in search of birds, ducks, stray cats and other critters to feed.
But the West Chicago couple's kind-hearted routine ran into unexpected violence last winter when police said they encountered Villareal, who was smoking a cigarette outside his apartment on the 800 block of Main Street.
After a verbal clash, Villareal is accused of reaching into the couple's pickup truck through an open door and repeatedly pummeling the then 65-year-old man in the face.
Mireille Ellberg stepped out of the truck and shouted at Villareal. He is accused of turning his attention to the wife. Authorities said he punched her in the face and, as she lay on the ground, repeatedly kicked her.
James Ellberg rushed to the front of the truck to intervene. Prosecutors said Villareal punched and kicked him to the ground before driving off in the couple's idling pickup.
Authorities accuse Villareal of running over the unconscious woman's head and torso while fleeing. Police captured him minutes later.
James Ellberg recovered from his injuries. But Mireille Ellberg was never well enough to return home.
Villareal has pleaded innocent. DuPage Circuit Judge George Bakalis found him temporarily unfit to stand trial last June after experts diagnosed him with schizophrenia. Villareal was transferred to a state mental hospital for treatment.
He returned to the DuPage County jail after an Oct. 16, 2006, hearing in which experts agreed his condition had improved. Villareal remains in jail on a $2 million bond and is due back in court Aug. 15.