Elgin men charged in year-old murder

Three Elgin men have been charged in the year-old slaying of a man found shot dead in his car in Streamwood.

Without a gun, shell casings or witnesses, police had few clues in the Sept. 17, 2006, death of Juan Fernandez, who family had said was rebuilding after a life of tragedy and trouble.

On Saturday, after a year of investigating by the Streamwood and Elgin police departments and a major case assistance team, charges were filed against three men who Streamwood police say took part in the 29-year-old Elgin man's killing, or helped try to cover it up.

Adrian Pesina, 23, 418 Center St., is charged with one count each of first-degree murder and concealment of a homicide, police said in a statement.

Edgar Juarez, and Martin Zavala, both 19, are accused of concealment of a homicide, police said.

Pesina was ordered held on $1 million bond.

Juarez, 628 St. John St., had a bond set at $400,000. Bond for Zavala, also of 418 Center St., was set at $10,000.

The three men are due in court again Nov. 30.

Streamwood police officers were patrolling on Route 59 about 2 a.m. Sept. 17, 2006, when they saw Fernandez's new Chevrolet Cobalt parked in the grass just south of Bode Road.

Fernandez was in the passenger's seat, bloodied and, according to a Cook County medical examiner, dead from a gunshot wound in the neck.

At the time, grieving relatives had said the father of three was attempting to put a life of setbacks behind him.

Fernandez's father died a few months earlier, and in 1995, he'd lost a brother in a gang-related killing, relatives said a week after his murder.

A registered sex offender in Illinois, Fernandez had just started a new job at an Elgin concrete firm and bought a new car, signs he was vying for a fresh start, relatives said last year.

Saturday's charges in Fernandez's killing were filed in Kane County.