Suspect arrested in 2025 Des Plaines slaying

A Des Plaines man faces murder charges after DNA linked him to the fatal shooting of a man found dead last summer in an abandoned SUV, police announced Thursday.

Alexander J. Hoegner, 36, was arrested Wednesday at a gas station in Huntley on two counts of first-degree murder stemming from the killing of 33-year-old Joseph Kalamaris of Rosemont, according to Des Plaines police.

The charges allege Hoegner shot Kalamaris from behind on July 23, 2025, as they and a third person rode together in an SUV through Des Plaines.

Police said officers called that afternoon to the 900 block of North Avenue in Des Plaines found Kalamaris slumped over in the front passenger seat of a Dodge Durango with a gunshot wound through his back.

Des Plaines police said they believe Hoegner was sitting behind Kalamaris, while the third person drove the SUV, when he shot the Rosemont man in the back.

The driver pulled over in the 500 block of South Bender Road and fled, police said, before Hoegner drove to North Avenue and abandoned the vehicle and Kalamaris’ body.

DNA evidence from a Glock 9 mm firearm recovered during the investigation was consistent with Hoegner’s DNA profile, police said. Additional analysis determined that spent cartridge casings recovered from inside the vehicle were discharged from that firearm, according to police.