Men plead not guilty in Mundelein arson killing

Three men accused of starting a fire inside a Mundelein house that killed 12-year-old Jorge Juarez pleaded not guilty Wednesday in Lake County circuit court.

Manuel Flores, 25, and brothers Elver Hernandez, 20, and Edwin Hernandez, 17, each face up to 100 years in prison if convicted of first-degree murder.

Assistant State's Attorney Dan Kleinhubert said the three were part of a gang looking to punish Jorge's 18-year-old brother for an affront to the gang.

During a May 8 meeting near Antioch, Flores, of the 24000 block of Brorson Avenue in Avon Township, ordered the Hernandez brothers, both of the 800 block of Lange Street in Mundelein, to harm the 18-year-old.

Early the next morning, Kleinhubert said, the Hernandez brothers went to the house at 272 N. Prospect and threw a firebomb threw a first-floor window.

Jorge, his mother Virginia Estrada, 44, and his sisters Adriana Juarez, 16, and Virginia Juarez, 11, ran to the second floor to escape the flames, Kleinhubert said.

Estrada and the girls jumped from a bedroom window, Kleinhubert said, but not before both girls were burned by the fire. Estrada suffered a broken back when she hit a window air conditioner and is paralyzed from the waist down, and Jorge died of smoke inhalation after running back into the house in panic.

The 18-year-old target of the attack was not home at the time, Kleinhubert said.

Detectives of the Lake County Major Crimes Task Force rounded up the suspects, and say they found a gas can and 40-ounce bottle similar to the one used to make the bomb in the garage at the Hernandez residence.

All three are held without bond and are scheduled to appear in court June 30.