COOK COUNTY CRIMINAL COURTHOUSE — A West Side man is facing murder charges after he stabbed a prostitute to death and left her in a closet at his mother's house for days, prosecutors said.
Police came for Benjamin Esquivel, 20, after his mother found the body and called the police — but that was several days after she discovered the dead woman, prosecutors said.
Family members of the slain woman said they were devastated — and angry it took the alleged killer's mother days to call police.
"For a parent to sit back and [leave] my momma in a closet is just f------ horrible," said Tierra Kinsey, 26, one of victim Burnadine Kinsey's five children.
The 49-year-old dead woman was identified by prosecutors as a prostitute, even though her family denies that. She was with Esquivel at his mother's house, where he also lives in the 4400 block of West Wilcox, on Friday.
After the two had sex, Esquivel and the victim got into fight. Esquivel then stabbed her in the face, head and body, killing her, prosecutors said.
He wrapped her in sheets and blankets to stop the bleeding, and put her body in a closet, prosecutors said. Esquivel's mother then came home, spotted the body and confronted her son before leaving, prosecutors said.
Esquivel allegedly then called Omar Ramos, also known as Omar Reyes, told him what happened and asked him what he should do with the body, prosecutors said.
They went to a local Home Depot, and bought two tarps, duct tape, a bag of rubber gloves and a Sprite. Home Depot surveillance video recorded the men at the store, prosecutors said.
They returned to Esquivel's home, where they wrapped the woman's body in a tarp and duct-taped her before returning her to the closet, prosecutors said.
The men then left to scout out a place to dump the body, talking to several witnesses along the way about possibly burning her, prosecutors said.
Esquivel's mother and sister came back to the home "a few days" after the murder, found the body still in the closet and called police, prosecutors said.
The arriving officers found the body in the closet. Esquivel was charged with murder and ordered held on $1 million bond. Reyes was charged with concealment of a homicide and ordered held on $250,000 bond.
More than a dozen of Kinsey's relatives packed the courtroom Wednesday walked into the lobby of the Cook County Criminal Courthouse half dazed upon learning the details surrounding her death.
"This is crazy," said the victim's brother, David Kinsey, 42. "The police didn't tell us nothing."
Relatives said they expected to see Kinsey Saturday night at a family party. When she didn't show up, they started looking.
"I'm hurting that they said my momma is a prostitute," said Tierra Kinsey.
