A 22-year-old Wheaton woman has been sentenced to 40 years in prison for her role in the savage murder of an 18-year-old West Chicago man in 2018.
Following a four-day sentencing hearing, DuPage County State’s Attorney Robert Berlin announced Tuesday that Judge Brian Telander sentenced Tia Brewer, formerly of Wheaton, to forty years in the Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC) for her role in the 2018 murder of Luis Guerrero, 18, of West Chicago. Brewer had previously entered a plea of guilty to one count of First-Degree Murder and one count of Aggravated Kidnapping (Class X Felony).
The State had asked for a sentence of natural life in the IDOC.
Brewer, who was sixteen-years-old at the time of the murder, is the third of four individuals charged in the murder to be sentenced. She was prosecuted as an adult pursuant to Illinois law. Co-defendants Jesus Jurado-Correa, 25 and Saul Ruiz, 24, both formerly of West Chicago, each entered a plea of guilty to one count of Conspiracy to Commit First-Degree Murder, a Class1 Felony, and in exchange for their cooperation, were sentenced to fifteen years in the IDOC and ten years in the IDOC respectively. On November 9, 2022, co-defendant Francisco Alvarado, 25, formerly of West Chicago, in exchange for his cooperation, entered a plea of guilty to one count of First-Degree Murder and one count of Aggravated Kidnapping (Class X Felony). His next court appearance is scheduled for February 26, 2025.
According to police, on August 14, 2018, at approximately 11:30am, while conducting a nearby training exercise personnel with the West Chicago Fire Department observed a smoldering object in a fire pit located at 1325 Joliet Street in West Chicago. Upon further examination, they discovered the object to be a human body, later identified as Guerrero.
An investigation quickly led authorities to Alvarado, Brewer, Correa, and Ruiz. The investigation found that all four defendants had planned the murder of Guerrero for approximately one month and that in the early morning hours of August 14, Brewer arranged to meet Guerrero at the West Chicago Public Library. At the library, Alvarado ambushed Guerrero from behind and strangled him with a belt around his neck. Alvarado and Brewer then began stabbing and punching Guerrero. After stealing Guerrero’s backpack, Alvarado and Brewer loaded him into their Jeep Cherokee, traveled to the location on Joliet Street and removed Guerrero from the Jeep. They stabbed and beat Guerrero as he begged to be taken to a hospital. The investigation further found that Correa arrived at the fire pit with a container of gasoline after Guerrero was unconscious. Correa gave the container of gasoline to Alvarado and Brewer who then poured the gasoline onto Guerrero and then lit him on fire. While on fire, Guerrero got up and began to run away at which time Alvarado and Brewer stabbed and beat him. Alvarado and Brewer dragged Guerrero back to the fire pit, threw Guerrero into the pit and lit him on fire again.
“The unconscionable degree of depravity exhibited by Tia Brewer and her co-defendants in this case as they strangled, beat, stabbed and lit on fire Luis Guerrero is beyond comprehension,” Berlin said. “In my thirty-seven years as a prosecutor, I would be hard-pressed to recall such a vicious, gruesome murder of an innocent man. Guilty verdicts and lengthy prison sentences however, cannot erase the pain and heartbreak caused by Ms. Brewer and her co-defendants. I wish Luis Guerrero’s family and friends strength as they continue their lives with just his memory to see them through.
Judge Telander sentenced Brewer to thirty-four years in the IDOC on the murder charge to be served at 100% and six years in the IDOC on Aggravated Kidnapping charge to be served at 85%. The sentences will be served consecutively.
