A Chicago teen was denied bond Saturday after he was charged with fatally stabbing the mother of his child and dumping her remains in a forest preserve, police said.
The remains were found Thursday in the 8100 block of West Chicago Avenue in River Forest, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office.
A Friday autopsy determined the victim, identified as Jasmin Salas, died of multiple stab wounds.
A police investigation revealed that Justino Correa, of the 1000 block of North Richmond Street, was involved in a verbal altercation with 20-year-old Salas when the argument turned physical.
Prosecutors alleged Correa grabbed a knife from the kitchen and stabbed her, dragged her body to the basement and placed a plastic bag over her head.
He then left her body in the basement while he watched TV with his daughter and drove her to school before dumping the mother's remains in a forest preserve, prosecutors said.
Correa later went to Norwegian American Hospital with cuts to his hands and told the nurse that he had killed someone, officials said.
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Correa admitted to police that he killed the mother of his child and gave them directions to where he dumped the body, according to authorities.
He was charged with first-degree murder and concealing a homicidal death after he admitted to his role in the incident.
Salas was pregnant at the time of her murder, authorities said, but the father was her current boyfriend, not Correa.
Family of Salas said she ended her relationship with Correa two years ago when he became abusive.
Judge Maria Kuriakos Ciesil said she took the pregnancy and the fact that her child was in the home at the time of the murder into account when she ordered Correa held without bail.
Richard Blass, Correa's attorney, said the "details are very sparse right now," and could not provide much information on the incident, but noted that Correa has "no criminal background."
Family of Salas said she was a dedicated mother and student, working to get a degree in social work.
"She had a lot going for her," said her boyfriend Julio Lopez. "She was all focused on school and work. It's just hard to see her go."
Lopez was the father of Salas' unborn child. He said the two were supposed to have twins but one of the babies died in the womb and the other was a "miracle baby."
"I was looking forward to having the baby with her. It was a miracle baby," he said. "To lose her and something I created, it just hurts."
Family members said they are shocked by Salas' death.
"What he did was really sick," said her sister Bianca Salad. "It didn’t have to be like that at all. The baby did not deserve this."
“To go upstairs and watch movies like nothing ever happened is just, it’s really sick," Lopez said.
