By Chicago Times Magazine –
February 04, 2025
DuPage County State’s Attorney Robert Berlin announced today that following a four-day sentencing hearing, Judge Brian Telander sentenced Tia Brewer, 22, formerly of Wheaton, to forty years in the Illinois Department of Corrections for her role in the 2018 murder of Luis Guerrero, 18, of West Chicago.
On November 1, 2023, Brewer pleaded guilty to one count of First-Degree Murder and one felony count of Aggravated Kidnapping. Brewer, who was 16 years old at the time of the murder, was prosecuted as an adult pursuant to Illinois law. She is the third of four individuals charged in the murder to be sentenced.
Co-defendants Jesus Jurado-Correa, 25, and Saul Ruiz, 24, both formerly of West Chicago, each pleaded guilty to one felony count of Conspiracy to Commit First-Degree Murder. In exchange for their cooperation, they were sentenced to fifteen years and ten years in the IDOC, respectively. Co-defendant Francisco Alvarado, 25, formerly of West Chicago, pleaded guilty to one count of First-Degree Murder and one felony count of Aggravated Kidnapping on November 9, 2022, also in exchange for his cooperation.
On August 14, 2018, at approximately 11:30 a.m., West Chicago Fire Department personnel, while conducting a nearby training exercise, discovered a smoldering human body in a fire pit at 1325 Joliet Street. The victim was later identified as Luis Guerrero. Fire personnel immediately contacted the West Chicago Police Department, who initiated an investigation with the assistance of the Major Crimes Task Force. The investigation quickly identified Alvarado, Brewer, Correa, and Ruiz as suspects.
The investigation revealed that the four defendants had planned Guerrero’s murder for approximately one month. In the early morning hours of August 14, Brewer arranged to meet Guerrero at the West Chicago Public Library. There, Alvarado ambushed Guerrero, strangling him with a belt. Alvarado and Brewer then stabbed and punched Guerrero. After stealing Guerrero’s backpack, they loaded him into their Jeep Cherokee and drove to the location on Joliet Street. They removed Guerrero from the Jeep and continued to stab and beat him as he pleaded for medical attention. Correa then arrived at the fire pit with a container of gasoline, which he gave to Alvarado and Brewer. They poured the gasoline on Guerrero and set him on fire. When Guerrero, still on fire, attempted to flee, Alvarado and Brewer continued to stab and beat him. They then dragged him back to the fire pit, threw him in, and set him on fire again.
