Death of woman found in suburban Chicago forest preserve ruled a homicide, police say
The death of a woman whose body was concealed and later found in Busse Woods last year has been ruled a homicide, Mount Prospect police announced on Friday.
The body of Atalia Pucheta Martinez, 23, was found on Nov. 9 in the Busse Woods Forest Preserve after she was reported missing from her Mount Prospect home.
Her ex-boyfriend, Juan Pio Toto, 26, was charged in the killing with first-degree murder.
Pio Toto told detectives he and Pucheta Martinez had gotten into a fight in the parking lot outside the apartment building where they lived. During that time, she fell and hit her head.
Police said he placed her in the back seat of his car, drove her to the wooded area, dumped her body there, and drove away.
The Cook County Medical Examiner's Office has since ruled Pucheta Martinez's manner of death as a homicide.
Pio Toto attended a detention hearing on Wednesday, where he was ordered held until his next court date on March 24.
No further information was immediately available.
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