DuPage Co. State's Attorney vows to fix system after man released on domestic battery charge kills wife, himself
CHICAGO (CBS) — There's new information about the man who police said shot and killed his wife before turning the gun on himself in west suburban Villa Park.
He'd just been released from jail on domestic battery charges and the DuPage County State's Attorney is pledging to fix the system as a result.
Police said Winston Elguezabal's electronic monitoring device told them he was within 1,000 feet of his estranged wife, but by the time they got to her home minutes later, sadly, both of them were dead.
"It worked exactly as it was designed, and it still wasn't enough," said Amanda Pyron of the Network Advocating Against Domestic Violence.
The GPS monitor alarm sent Villa Park Police to a home around midnight on Friday.
Officers pulled two teenagers from the home before discovering Winston and Julie Elguezabal's bodies in a bedroom.
The husband and wife died of an apparent gunshot wound, and the gun was found next to the husband.
Winston Elguezabal had been arrested just 12 days earlier, on April 14, and charged with domestic battery against Julie.
But he was released two days later.
The DuPage County States Attorneys office said that's because he did not meet the criteria for detention under the SAFE-T Act.
"If there were questions about it, there's that 24-hour period that can be requested for an extension."
Pyron, executive director of The Network Advocating Against Domestic Violence, thinks prosecutors could have and should have made a case for detention.
She said court records show "multiple orders of protection" not involving his wife dating back to 2009.
He was required to surrender all firearms and his FOID card to the Villa Park Police Department and stay 1,000 feet away from her on electronic monitoring.
"It begs the question: How did he get a FOID card? How did he obtain firearms to commit this crime with this type of history?" Pyron said.
CBS 2 contacted Illinois State Police with that question, and a spokesperson said they are now looking into the specifics of this FOID card application.
As for what can be learned from this tragedy, Pyron said:
"We have to have prosecutors really examining these cases closely, using the available time and the Pretrial Fairness Act, talking to survivors prior to the hearing so that they understand the risks, and then helping those survivors gets civil orders of protection that could potentially remove firearms when that's necessary," she said.
The DuPage County State's Attorney said less than 40% percent of all domestic battery petitions to detain pre-trial actually result in pre-trial detention.
He wants to meet with stakeholders in light of this case to try to change that.
Illinois State Police said that Elguezabal's FOID card had been reinstated in March of 2023 after a previous order of protection expired. In an email to CBS 2, ISP said it was revoked this month:
"After an Order of Protection expired, Winston Elguezabal's FOID was reinstated on March 18, 2023. His FOID was then revoked on April 15, 2024, for a Clear and Present Danger filed by the Villa Park Police Department and approved by ISP following a domestic battery on April 14, 2024."