Carpentersville man, 73, charged with friend's 2011 murder
A 73-year-old Carpentersville man has been arrested and charged in connection with the October 2011 slaying of a close friend after new information, including DNA evidence, linked him to the killing, according to prosecutors and court records.
Dennis M. Kuzara, of the 0-99 block of Oxford Lane, faces two counts of first-degree murder in the death of Isabella Trejo, authorities say. The 57-year-old Carpentersville woman was found stabbed to death in her Oxford Road apartment after failing to appear at a family funeral, prosecutors said.
Trejo's relatives became alarmed when she missed the Oct. 2, 2011, funeral and alerted security at her apartment complex, authorities say. She later was discovered in her bed, dead from multiple stab wounds, authorities said.
Prosecutors said the case remained under investigation and recent evidence came to light that "directly connected" Kuzara to Trejo's murder.
Kuzara was taken into custody Friday after an arrest warrant was issued, Kane County court records show. His appeared in court Saturday and his bail was set at $2 million, meaning he must post $200,000 to be released from the county jail while the case is pending.
He is next due in court Dec. 12. If convicted of first-degree murder, he would face a minimum sentence between 20 and 60 years in prison.
Kuzara does not have any previous felony arrests in Kane, McHenry, DuPage or DeKalb counties, records show. He was charged with misdemeanor battery in April 1989 in Carpentersville but acquitted in September of that year.
Kuzara also sued Pace Suburban Bus in September 2012 seeking $50,000 damages stemming from an accident, but the case later was dismissed and Kuzara was not awarded any money, records show.