Daily Herald opinion: Investigators' determination in murder case reinforces faith in integrity of our institutions

There is always a certain sense of gratitude and respect for life when police solve a years-old crime, even if the ending was tragic, and help a family and our communities feel an element of closure.

The result can have a bitter taste when the case involves a murder and the emotional wounds remain raw, but that doesn't dull our appreciation for law enforcement's determination to seek justice for a heinous crime. Such is the situation involving the 2020 death of Mundelein teenager Gaville Jackson.

Understandably, the young man's family has conflicted feelings about the arrest of the chief suspect in the killing.

"It just feels like it's happening all over again," his mother Marquita Love told our Russell Lissau.

But for her and for our communities, there is also a feeling of relief, and we cannot escape a special sense of respect for the commitment investigators invest to resolve tough cases under difficult conditions.

In Jackson's death, those involved a suspect identified by witnesses and in surveillance footage after a drive-by shooting that targeted him in the parking lot of a Mundelein Walgreens. The suspect, Alessis Botello, then of Wheeling, was believed to have fled to Mexico, though he had no legal immigration status or citizenship there. He was charged in a warrant four days after the killing, and Mundelein Police Chief John Monahan said investigators were "relentless" in their efforts to track him down and bring him back to Lake County for trial.

The work involved cooperation with the Lake County Major Crimes Task Force, the FBI, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, authorities in Mexico and U.S. Border Control.

"It required a 'no quit' attitude to take this suspect into custody, and I'm very proud of the collective effort," Monahan said after Botello was arrested at Midway International Airport following his deportation from Mexico.

We're proud as well. The case is not closed, of course, and won't be until a decision on Botello's guilt or innocence is determined in court.

But it stands as another example of the dedication, professionalism and respect for the victims of crime that law enforcement agents bring to their work, not just in Mundelein but in communities throughout the suburbs, state and nation. In debates at many levels today, the integrity of the men and women serving in various government institutions is often called into question. Outcomes like this reinforce our faith, not only because they contradict popular narratives but because they do so in spite of them.

For all of these officials, we close with the appropriate words of Mundelein Mayor Steve Lentz in a Facebook post following announcement of Botello's arrest:

"Kudos to all of the law enforcement professionals that made this happen. We're thankful for your diligence."