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Woman gets 40 years for murder involving beating, stabbing, strangling and setting victim on fire

A woman who killed a West Chicago man in 2018 -- by stabbing, strangling, and beating him, setting him on fire, then running him over -- has been sentenced to 40 years in prison.

DuPage County Judge Brian Telander on Tuesday sentenced Tia Brewer, 22, of Wheaton, to 34 years for first-degree murder and six years for aggravated kidnapping.

Brewer pleaded guilty in November 2023.

Brewer must serve all of the murder sentence, followed by 85% of the kidnapping sentence, before being eligible for parole. Brewer received credit for the nearly 6½ years she has spent in custody awaiting trial and sentencing.

Prosecutors had asked for a sentence of natural life in prison.

“The unconscionable degree of depravity exhibited by Tia Brewer and her codefendants in this case as they strangled, beat, stabbed and lit on fire Luis Guerrero is beyond comprehension,” State’s Attorney Robert Berlin said in a news release. “In my 37 years as a prosecutor, I would be hard-pressed to recall such a vicious, gruesome murder of an innocent man.”

Officials said that around 11:30 a.m. Aug. 14, 2018, West Chicago firefighters saw a smoldering object in a fire pit in the 1300 block of Joliet Street, and found Guerrero’s body, covered by a wooden picnic table.

Police investigators determined that Brewer; Jesus Jurado-Correa, 25; Saul Ruiz, 24; and Francisco Alvarado, 25, planned the murder for about a month.

Brewer arranged to meet Guerrero, 18, outside the West Chicago Public Library early on the morning of Aug. 14, 2018.

Alvarado attacked him from behind, strangling him with a belt. Alvarado and Brewer then stabbed and punched Guerrero, and stole his backpack, according to authorities.

The two loaded him in to a Jeep Cherokee, drove to a field on Joliet Street across from Alvarado’s house and continued to beat and stab Guerrero as he begged them to take him to a hospital, according to authorities.

The two asked Correa to bring them some gasoline. They then set the unconscious Guerrero on fire. But Guerrero got up and tried to run away, so Brewer and Alvarado stabbed and punched him some more, according to authorities.

They also ran him over with the Jeep. They then dragged him back, continued to stab and beat him, and set him on fire again. Guerrero was stabbed 16 times, and suffered a broken pelvis and shoulder, authorities said.

Authorities said Alvarado and Brewer were linked romantically, and that Brewer told police she attacked Guerrero because he had sexually assaulted her. Police say no assault was reported.

Alvarado said he was meeting with Guerrero to buy a phone, and that Guerrero attacked him. Alvarado’s family contacted police after finding blood inside the Jeep.

Jurado-Correa and Saul Ruiz, both of West Chicago, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, in deals where they agreed to cooperate with prosecutors.

Jurado-Correa was sentenced to 15 years in prison, and Ruiz to 10 years.

Alvarado pleaded guilty to first-degree murder, in exchange for cooperating with prosecutors. He is to be sentenced Feb. 26.

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