Man charged with concealing death of woman whose body was found in suburban Chicago forest preserve
MOUNT PROSPECT, Ill. (CBS) -- A man has been charged in connection with the death of a woman whose body was found in Busse Woods in the northwest suburbs.
Juan Pio Toto, 26, was charged Monday with one felony count of concealment of death. He is accused of dumping the body of his ex-girlfriend—Atalia Pucheta Martinez, 23.
Pucheta Martinez's body was found Saturday in the Busse Woods Forest Preserve—formally known as the Ned Brown Preserve and located near Elk Grove Village, Rolling Meadows, and Schaumburg. Her body was located after she was reported missing from her Mount Prospect home.
A death investigation soon began. Pio Toto told detectives that early that morning, he and Pucheta Martinez had gotten into a fight in the parking lot outside the apartment building where they lived, police said.
Pio Toto told police that during the fight, Pucheta Martinez fell and hit her head. He said he placed her in the back seat of his car, drove her to a wooded area, dumped her body there, and drove away, police said.
Pio Toto appeared for a detention hearing on Tuesday at the Cook County Courthouse in Rolling Meadows. His alleged offense is not detainable by law, so he was released on electronic monitoring, police said.
The cause of Pucheta's Martine'z death is still pending, and Mount Prospect police said they are still investigating.