An illegal immigrant from Mexico who allegedly hid a missing woman’s body in a bleach-filled trash can for two months has been arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
ICE arrested Luis Mendoza-Gonzalez, a 52-year-old Mexican national living unlawfully in the U.S., on Saturday at a Chicago market. He was arrested in April but released under Illinois’s SAFE-T Act, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) confirmed in a press release.
The victim, Megan Bos, 37, of Antioch, was reported missing to the Antioch Police Department on March 9. Mendoza-Gonzalez was charged in April with abuse of a corpse, two counts of concealing the death of a person and obstructing justice.
Police believe Bos died of a drug overdose, and Mendoza-Gonzalez stored her body in a garbage can on his Waukegan, Illinois, property for two months. All of the charges against Mendoza-Gonzalez are Class 4 felonies, but none are detainable offenses under Illinois’ SAFE-T Act, which ended cash bail in the state.
DHS also announced the arrest on X:
ICE arrested Luis Mendoza-Gonzalez, a criminal illegal alien from Mexico, who was charged with concealing the body of 37-year-old victim Megan Bos in a storage container for months and abusing her corpse.
A sanctuary city judge freed this monster and allowed him to walk free on… pic.twitter.com/wOWgGMuP4d
— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) July 20, 2025
“A sanctuary city judge freed this monster and allowed him to walk free on Illinois’s streets AFTER allegedly committing such a heinous crime. Under President Trump and @Sec_Noem, Megan Bos and her family will have justice.”
Bos’ mother, Jennifer Bos, has slammed Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker for signing the 2021 SAFE-T Act into law. Jennifer Bos appeared on FOX News and also spoke to President Donald Trump last week about her daughter’s case.
Bos’ mother said Mendoza-Gonzalez would still be free and out on the streets if Trump hadn’t listened to her story at a White House ceremony. He told her to “watch what happens,” and three days later ICE agents took him into custody.
She has joined Illinois lawmakers in demanding changes to the law eliminating cash bail, which allowed Mendoza-Gonzalez to walk free just hours after being charged.
“A lot of people don’t really understand the seriousness of what these laws mean until it happened to me,” an emotional Jennifer Bos told Fox News. “I blame J.B. Pritzker… this is what he wanted.”
According to a Facebook post by the Antioch Police Department, local officials launched a search for Bos after her family reported her missing. Bos was last heard from by family members on Feb. 17.
The Waukegan Police Department got involved due to Bos frequenting the Waukegan area. Detectives and officers discovered Bos’ partially decomposed body, which was wrapped in a blanket, in a garbage can in the rear of the residence, the Lake & McHenry County Scanner reported.
The Daily Caller reported that local law enforcement interviewed and arrested Mendoza-Gonzalez, who admitted to keeping her body after she died inside his home. She reportedly died from a drug overdose.
Mendoza-Gonzalez told police that Bos snorted an unknown drug and asked to hang out in his basement on Feb. 19, which he agreed to let her do, according to the Lake & McHenry County Scanner. He then claims he went upstairs to fix a leak in his house, and upon returning to the basement, he found her dead from an apparent overdose.
The illegal immigrant told police he was scared of getting into trouble. Instead of calling for help, he hid her in the basement for days, broke her phone, then moved her body outside, prosecutors claim.
Bos’ body remained there for roughly two months before police discovered it and arrested Mendoza-Gonzalez. Initial reports by DHS said Bos had been decapitated, but the Lake County Coroner’s Office and her family members refute those claims, Fox News Digital reported.
“At no point was Megan decapitated before or after her death,” the office said, adding that no signs of trauma or struggle were found in the April 11 autopsy.
Bos’ cause of death remains undetermined, with toxicology showing fentanyl, cocaine and morphine in her system, the coroner’s office said.
Lake County Judge Randie Bruno, who was the judge to authorize the search warrant, called the offense “very serious.” But Bruno released Mendoza-Gonzalez from custody at the conclusion of his court appearance, where he was immediately allowed to freely roam the Chicago streets.
“We have lost all common sense when it comes to enforcing law and order,” Antioch Mayor Scott Gartner said after Mendoza-Gonzalez was released in April as reported by CWB Chicago. “When the SAFE-T Act was being debated, there were voices sounding the alarm about what could happen if it were to become law.”
Mendoza-Gonzalez is currently being held at Lake County Jail in Waukegan, Illinois.
“Every day ICE is arresting sickos like criminal illegal alien, Luis Mendoza-Gonzalez, and stopping them from terrorizing Americans,” said Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin in a statement. “It is absolutely repulsive that a judge freed this monster and allowed him to walk free on Illinois’s streets after allegedly committing such a heinous crime.
