Years after teen death, man to face charges he hid homicide

Nine years after he was charged with concealing a homicide in the death of a Northlake teenager, Arturo Daza, now 32, is back in Illinois to face the charges.

Law enforcement authorities said they believed Daza, who had been a Northlake resident, had fled the area to avoid prosecution for his alleged role in concealing the beating death of 17-year-old Eric Navarro, which police said took place on July 7, 2009.

Northlake police said Daza’s next court date is set for Oct. 18.

According to court documents, Daza and another man accused in the case, Oscar Ocampo, were believed to have left the area shortly after the death, and a warrant was issued for their arrests. Northlake police said earlier this year, they received a tip about Daza’s whereabouts, and in early September he was arrested in Pontiac, Mich., by the FBI and the Oakland County Gang and Violent Crime Task Force, according to an FBI spokesman.

Daza had been charged with concealing a homicide — a felony. He appeared for a hearing on Sept. 20 at the criminal courts building in Chicago, according to a spokesman for the Cook County state’s attorney’s office. His bail was set at $50,000, and he was able to meet the conditions for his release, which includes him wearing an electronic monitoring device, according to the state’s attorney’s office spokesman.

According to court documents, police said Ocampo was involved in the beating death of Navarro, and Daza is accused of helping Ocampo clean up the crime scene, and then taking the body to Chicago, where it was dumped in a trash bin

on the West Side and set on fire. The body was recovered on July 10, according to the documents.

Shortly after, law enforcement authorities learned that Daza and Ocampo were believed to have fled to Mexico, and a warrant was issued for their arrests, an FBI spokesman said. On or about Sept. 6, the FBI and the Oakland County Gang and Violent Crime Task Force arrested him in Pontiac, Mich., the FBI spokesman said. Ocampo remains a target of a nationwide search, Northlake police said.

Another man accused in the case, Mariusz Nowak, was convicted in 2010 of murder and sentenced to 45 years in prison.