A Chicago man accused of killing three laborers in a November 2023 dispute over a concrete job payment is in prison after being extradited to Chicago by Mexican authorities last week, according to officials. Judge Shauna Boliker ordered Vilmer Alcaraz, 32, detained pending trial on three counts of first-degree murder.
On the afternoon of November 10, 2023, Chicago police responded to a ShotSpotter alert and 911 calls to find three men—Fernando Najero-Patino, 28, Carlos Lopez-Orozco, 38, and Juan Marrufo-Romero, 36—dead from multiple gunshot wounds in a Buick Enclave in the 8300 block of South Pulaski.
A proffer from the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office revealed that Alcaraz’s sister’s and neighbor’s homes contracted the victims to perform concrete work. The crew leader’s notebook contained Alcaraz’s sister’s address as well as a value of around $2,300, according to the proffer.
Three hours before the shooting, surveillance video showed Alcaraz arriving at his sister’s house in a van from his employment at a senior care center. One of the workers then sent two text messages to a phone registered to Alcaraz and exchanged phone calls with it.
“Good afternoon, can you pay the rest of the money?” one text asked, according to the proffer. Another read, “Do you answer, or are you going to pay the money or not?”
Alcaraz allegedly left his sister’s house approximately ten minutes before the murders, pulling up his jacket hood and strolling into an alley. Additional video evidence showed him strolling through the neighborhood to the victims’ car; when he approached the driver’s side, he spoke briefly with the driver, then took a revolver from his right pocket and fired into the vehicle, prosecutors claimed.
Additional video showed Alcaraz, dressed in the same clothing as the gunman, returning to his sister’s house at 4:34 p.m., about a minute after the shooting. He left five minutes later in an SUV “believed to be driven by his neighbor,” according to the proffer.
Prosecutors said that during the incident, Alcaraz was at both his employment and the murder site using a second phone registered to him.
The day following the shooting, Alcaraz, who had a valid Firearm Owners Identification (FOID) card and had three firearms, took a pre-planned flight to Mexico. According to the proffer, neither his firearms nor those owned by his neighbor, who had a FOID card and a concealed carry license, matched the caliber of the murder weapon.
According to court records, a judge issued an arrest warrant for Alcaraz on January 30, 2024, and US Border Patrol officials alerted Chicago police the same day that Alcaraz had previously re-entered the United States through a Texas border crossing. It’s unclear exactly when Alcaraz returned to Mexico.
Alcaraz waived his Miranda rights and admitted to the murders after being extradited from Mexico last week, though the specifics of his confessions were not divulged, according to the proffer.
According to the proffer, the neighbor, who has not been charged with any crime, was unhelpful with the investigation, refused to speak with CPD detectives, and hired counsel.
