After Benjamin Esquivel had sex with Burnadine Kinsey, he allegedly stabbed her to death, covered her body in a sheet and blanket and threw her into a closet where she was discovered by Esquivel’s mother in their West Garfield Park apartment.
And in that closet, the corpse remained from Friday to Monday, Cook County prosecutors said.
During that time, Esquivel told his friend — a married father of three — how he killed Kinsey after a fight and sought his advice on how to dispose of the body, Assistant State’s Attorney Amanda Pillsbury said.
Esquivel, 20, and Juan Ramos went to an area Home Depot where they allegedly purchased two tarps, duct tape, a bag of rubber gloves and a Sprite.
The pair placed Kinsey’s body in the tarp and duct taped her head, torso and feet before putting her back in the closet, Pillsbury said.
Esquivel and Ramos, who also goes by the name Omar Reyes, then went to look for places to dump the body, Pillsbury said.
But while they were gone, Esquivel’s mother stumbled upon the body again in the residence in the 4400 block of West Wilcox, Pillsbury said.
This time her daughter was with her. And this time, she called police.
Pillsbury said Kinsey — a grandmother and mother — was a prostitute but her family insisted she spent her days taking care of her diabetic amputee younger brother.
Kinsey, 49, was arrested for prostitution in July and was supposed to appear in court for the case on Friday, according to court records.
Her family didn’t notice her missing until Saturday when they gathered at her house for a party — not knowing that she was dead just a few blocks away.
“It’s just crazy,” Kinsey’s brother David, 42, said Wednesday after Judge Israel Desierto ordered Esquivel held on $1 million for murder and Ramos held on $250,000 bail for concealment of a homicide.
Kinsey’s daughter Tierra Kinsey, 26, said she was “devastated” to learn details of her mother’s death.
“How could someone do that to my mom? To leave her in a f––closet? I feel that charges should be filed against [Esquivel’s] mother,” she said.
Esquivel and Ramos were both caught Home Depot surveillance cameras making the purchase and Esquivel told another person what he had done, Pillsbury said.
Ramos, 37, also allegedly admitted that he sought a secluded area where the body could be dumped with the goal of it not being traced.
Esquivel has a previous possession of stolen motor vehicle conviction and had been found delinquent as a juvenile for arson. He was on parole for an aggravated battery conviction as a juvenile, Pillsbury said.
Ramos, of the 2000 block of North Lamon, has five previous convictions for drugs and possession of a stolen motor vehicle.