Two men were charged Tuesday with murdering a University of Illinois student missing for a week in downstate Champaign, authorities said.
But Vicente Mundo’s family expressed no joy after learning of the arrests.
“It won’t bring him back,” Mundo’s eldest sister, Julieta LaMalfa, said.
Mundo’s body had been found Saturday along a rural road outside the central Illinois city of Tolono and publicly identified Monday as the U.of I. junior — among two Hispanic men to go missing in Champaign in the last month.
The two 22-year-olds charged — Daniel Gonzalez, described as a friend of Mundo’s, and Reginald Scott, both of Champaign — were arrested Monday night. They appeared in court on Tuesday afternoon, each facing three counts of first-degree murder. A Champaign County judge ordered both held on $2 million bond.
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“The murder occurred as part of a pre-planned armed robbery of Mr. Mundo involving relatively small amounts of marijuana and cash,” Champaign County Sheriff Dan Walsh said at a news conference before the pair’s court appearance.
“It occurred Sunday evening in Mr. Gonzalez’s Neon while it was parked in the parking garage at Mr. Mundo’s apartment building. Shortly after the murder, Gonzalez and Scott then took Mr. Mundo’s body to the rural area and removed his body from the vehicle and left it near a tree line,” Walsh said.
A handgun believed to have been used in the crime was recovered, he said. The sheriff’s office, Champaign Police Department and University of Illinois Police jointly worked on the investigation, assisted by the U.S. Marshals Service.
“We were shocked,” LaMalfa said of her family’s reaction to the news.
“Knowing my brother, and knowing everything that’s been said about him in the last week, I can’t understand how someone that knew him could have done something like this to him,” she said. “We don’t know specifics and details, but this is someone he’d known for quite some time. It’s something we’ll never be able to understand.”
Mundo, a 20-year-old Back of the Yards man majoring in statistics, was last seen about 7:15 p.m. Jan. 25 after leaving a friend’s apartment on the Champaign campus. He had been en route to meet friends at his own apartment for dinner and a movie. They showed up, but he didn’t.
Authorities said they had recovered Mundo’s car, a 2006 Acura TL with a Chicago Bears vanity plate they had been searching for; and seized a 2000 Plymouth Neon belonging to Gonzalez.
The case was solved through “substantial” information authorities developed on Mundo, his friends and acquaintances as part of the missing person investigation, Walsh said.
“After Mr. Mundo’s body was discovered and then identified, last night investigators using the already obtained information re-interviewed Daniel Gonzalez, who made various admissions,” Walsh said. “Various search warrants were then obtained and Reginald Scott, who was also questioned, made various admissions.”
Authorities do not believe the murder related to the second missing case, that of U. of I. graduate Christian Zamora, 23, who was last seen on New Year’s Eve. That investigation is ongoing.
Mundo’s family had offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to his safe return. Family members had contacted churches for prayers, created a dedicated Facebook page and spent the last week in Champaign handing out fliers and holding vigils.
Described by his family as a young man who loved food, loved life and loved people, Mundo was raised by his divorced father and three sisters, the only boy, and the baby. He was the first from his working-class family to go away to college, and had taken out loans and worked to pay his own tuition.
His parents are inconsolable, said LaMalfa, the eldest of his four sisters.
“Whatever happened, our Vicente did not deserve this. My parents are devastated,” she said. “But every time I start to get angry, to feel like, ‘how dare they,’ I ask myself what justice could there be? Justice will be bringing him back to me, and that’s not going to happen.”
Mundo’s family asked friends to continue sharing photos, video and other memories on their “Missing Vicente Mundo” Facebook page that has been of comfort to the family, and to support missing persons organizations that came to the family’s aid.
