Wheeling man suspected in homicide to appear in court Monday
A Wheeling man who authorities suspect used his SUV to strike and kill a former friend last month was ordered to appear in a Rolling Meadows courtroom next Monday.
Jose Fermin Zavala-Hernandez, 38, of the 400 block of Pleasant Run Drive, has been sought in the May 20 death of 32-year-old Carlos Maciel Pulido, also of Wheeling. According to police, the friendship between the men soured in the wake of May 17 domestic violence case in which Zavala-Hernandez is accused of assaulting his wife, cutting off a Cook County-issued ankle monitor and fleeing. Authorities did not elaborate on Pulido's involvement in that case.
The domestic violence case was the subject of a hearing Tuesday in Rolling Meadows. Zavala-Hernandez, currently in custody in Indiana on a reported road rage matter, did not appear at the hearing.
On May 20, three days after the domestic incident, police say, Zavala-Hernandez struck Pulido with a Toyota SUV that then crashed through the front of a house on the 700 block of Equestrian Drive in Wheeling, carrying Pulido's body with it.
Zavala-Hernandez subsequently fled, according to witnesses. He was arrested June 17 in LaPorte County, Indiana, after the so-called road rage incident sparked a police chase that ended when officers disabled his vehicle, according to a news release from Wheeling police.
Police say Zavala-Hernandez was driving a vehicle reported stolen in Indiana at the time of his arrest there.
He is set to appear in a Rolling Meadows courtroom at 9 a.m. Monday, June 29.