Ill. teen murder victim Danielle Dennis-Towne was "like a daughter," says suspect's dad

(CBS/WBBM/AP) RALEIGH, N.C. - The parents of Enrico Luciano Mascaro, the 19-year-old from North Carolina accused of killing Danielle Dennis-Towne from Illinois and taking her body to Virginia, say they are grieving for the loss of the 18-year-old victim that they considered to be like family.

Pictures: Teen's body found in N.C. man's car

John Mascaro said Thursday that he and his wife, Sylvia, considered the victim "like a daughter."

"We just want the public to know that we absolutely love Danielle," the Mascaros said in a statement released to the Associated Press.

John Mascaro had reported the two young people missing from the Mascaro family's Nags Head home. Police were able to trace Enrico Mascaro's phone to Clifton Forge, Va. where they arrested him after he returned to his parked 1996 Mustang. Dennis-Towne's body was found by police in the trunk of a car.

Dennis-Towne was killed by a gunshot wound to the head, according to the Virginia State Medical Examiner's office, CBS affiliate WBBM reports.

Mascaro is now on his way to North Carolina to face murder charges, according to the station.

Enrico Mascaro had been friends with Dennis-Townes when both families lived in the Chicago area. The Mascaro family moved to Nags Head in 2005.

"We do not know what happened that night, and Syliva and I refuse to speculate and draw our own conclusions until we hear the facts," John Mascaro said.

He added that the couple "hearts and prayers" are with the victim's friends and family members.

Mascaro was being held in the Alleghany County, Va., regional jail on a fugitive-from-justice charge, a jail official said early Monday. Heis expected extradited back to Kitty Hawk, N.C. to answer the murder charges.

More on Crimesider
July 21, 2011 - Ill. teen Danielle Dennis-Towne's alleged killer was childhood friend
July 18, 2011 - N.C. man charged after body of teen Danielle Dennis-Townes found in car trunk