The car with the two bodies inside was still on fire when investigators arrived at the Palos Township forest preserve late Saturday night — and the vehicle’s license plate immediately offered a clue to the car’s owner, the Chicago Sun-Times is reporting.
Both circumstances helped Cook County sheriff’s investigators quickly locate Robert Danno, 50, and Jose Fernando Martinez-Hernandez, 24, — two men charged late Monday with strangling Danno’s wife and mother-in-law at their house in the 5600 block of South Neenah. Judge Kerry Kennedy ordered both men held without bond Tuesday in Bridgeview.
“This was one of those ones where we found ourselves questioning the planning and thought behind some of this,” Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart told reporters Tuesday.
Danno also had burn marks on his arms when he was arrested at his home, Dart said.
Investigators say Danno, with Martinez-Hernandez’ help, strangled Danno’s wife, Mary Ann Urban-Danno, 51, and then Danno alone strangled his mother-in-law, Theresa Urban, Saturday morning inside the family home. Martinez-Hernandez is a friend of Danno’s who lived in the basement, Dart said.
Dart said it appears money is a possible motive in the case. Theresa Urban, who was 79, owned two properties in Lake Geneva and had more than $500, 000 in her bank accounts, Dart said. Investigators said it appears Urban-Danno was planning to divorce her husband of 11 years after the relationship had soured in recent years.
It wasn’t clear how long the alleged plan had been in place, but Dart said that after the two women had been strangled — and after dark Saturday — Urban-Danno’s body was put in a big black garbage can and her body was then placed in the back of her PT Cruiser. Danno and Martinez-Hernandez then allegedly covered the mother-in-law’s body with a blanket and also put it in the PT Cruiser, Dart said.
Danno then drove the PT Cruiser out to the forest preserve with Martinez-Hernandez following in Danno’s car, Dart said. The pair used gasoline they’d bought earlier to set the PT Cruiser on fire, Dart said.
Dart said both men have given statements to investigators.
Palos Fire Protection District firefighters found the bodies after extinguishing the flames, said Cook County Sheriff’s police spokesman Benjamin Breit.
An autopsy on Sunday determined both women died from strangulation and their deaths were ruled homicides, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office.