Westmont man pleads innocent to wife's murder

A Westmont man pleaded not guilty Monday to charges he strangled his estranged wife the morning before their daughter's 5th birthday party.

Ian A. Alamilla entered the plea while arraigned before DuPage Circuit Judge Kathryn Creswell on murder charges. Alamilla, 33, is being held on a $2 million bond.

He is accused of killing his wife, Tara, 34, early April 10 in their home on the 300 block of Park Street, as their three children slept in another part of the home.

Tara Alamilla filed for divorce March 5, but she allowed him to come over to discuss their daughter's party. The former couple was married Aug. 2, 2002, in Oak Brook.

Hours after the murder, a distraught Ian Alamilla walked into a Chicago police station and said he was involved in "a fight with my wife in the suburbs," prosecutors said. "Did you kill her?" a police sergeant asked.

"I don't know," Alamilla replied, according to prosecutors. "Send someone to check."

The three children, ages 11, 6, and 5, were not injured and did not witness the violence.

Tara Alamilla worked as a Brookfield Zoo school program coordinator for the Chicago Zoological Society. She trained teachers how to go beyond the textbook in science and conservation lessons to better engage their students.

Ian Alamilla worked for Parker Hannifin Corp. in Woodridge. The Belize native does not have a known criminal history. He was staying nearby with a friend during the separation.

Prosecutors said he met with his estranged wife late April 9 in their home. A fatal dispute erupted a short time later. By 5:30 a.m. April 10, Alamilla drove to Chicago and turned himself in to police. He did not provide a full confession, other than admitting the two argued earlier that morning.

Prosecutors said officers found the former couple's back door unlocked, as Alamilla said, and his slain wife lying clothed in a basement bedroom. Her body was covered with a blanket. Their children - including the youngest, Maya, who turned 5 the day her mother was killed - still were sleeping. An autopsy later confirmed Tara Alamilla died of strangulation.

She is survived by her Oak Brook parents, Joyci and Alan Feldman, who serves on the village's police pension board, as well as two brothers and a sister. The slain woman's parents are caring for the three children, according to court records.