A man has been charged with hiding his friend’s body after he found him dead the morning after they used drugs inside a garage in the Lawndale neighborhood.
Erik Tolayo-Flores, 21, is charged with a felony count of concealing a death, according to Chicago police.
The body of a 19-year-old man was found about 9 a.m. Saturday inside a garage in the 2200 block of South Kenneth, according to police and the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office. His identity has not been released and a ruling on the cause and manner of death was pending further investigation.
At a bail hearing Thursday, prosecutors with the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office said that Tolayo-Flores found his friend dead when he woke up July 13 inside his mother’s garage, where he had been living.
Tolayo-Flores and his friend had used drugs in the garage the night before, prosecutors said. At first, he thought his friend was only sleeping and went back to sleep. But when he woke up again and saw his friend in the same position, he discovered he was dead.
Tolayo-Flores wrapped the body in two plastic bags and hid it in the garage under a mattress and insulation, prosecutors said. Authorities found the body when someone reported a smell coming from the garage.
An attorney for Tolayo-Flores said he worked construction and had left high school after his sophomore year.
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Judge Mary Marubio gave him a $100,000 I-bond, which requires only a signature to be released, and put him on electronic monitoring. His next court date was scheduled for Aug. 17.
