A Waukegan man, abducted Saturday evening as he returned home from an errand, was found early Sunday by the side of the road on Chicago’s Northwest Side, with a bullet wound to the head and a set of circumstances the police are trying to unravel.
Jesus Ortiz Jr., 20, of 116 N. Chapel St., was abducted as he returned from dropping his parents off at a wedding reception in Waukegan and pulled his Oldsmobile Cutlass into his driveway at about 7:30 p.m. Saturday, according to Chicago police Sgt. Bob Biebel.
Less than six hours later, according to Biebel, Ortiz was found by a passerby lying at the edge of the La Bagh Woods forest preserve, at Cicero and Foster Avenues.
“All Jesse was going to do was drop them off and come back,” a sister, Olga, said of her brother. “But he never came home. The next thing we knew he had been shot.”
Ortiz was listed in critical condition late Sunday in an intensive-care unit at Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, according to the nursing supervisor.
Olga Ortiz said she was certain her brother was not involved with gangs or drugs, saying he spent his time working, with a girlfriend or tinkering with cars. She said she knew of no grudges or disputes that would explain the abduction.
Her brother, she said, attended Waukegan East High School and worked packing fruit for a warehouse in Lake Bluff. She described him as easygoing and likable.
Police said Sunday that they had no suspects or motive for the abduction and shooting. Biebel said Waukegan detectives report that they have had no contacts with Ortiz.
“We’re not sure what happened yet,” Biebel said.
At around 7 p.m. Saturday, Ortiz drove his parents to the Fiesta Palace, near downtown Waukegan, where they attended a wedding reception, according to Ortiz’s sister. After dropping them off, Ortiz returned home, with plans to shower and dress before he went out for the night.
He was abducted by two men in the driveway, police said.
“We had the (front) door opened and we didn’t hear anything,” said Olga Ortiz, 24. “Usually, if something like this happens, you hear someone scream. But us, nothing.”
Jesus Ortiz Jr. was found about 1 a.m. by a motorist. The motorist, whom police did not identity, spotted Ortiz by the side of Cicero Avenue and noticed he was bleeding. The motorist then called police, Biebel said.
Ortiz was shot in the back of the head. The weapon was a handgun, according to Biebel, although the caliber was not known. Ortiz’s assailants also took his car, police said. His sister said officers also told the family that his wallet was stolen.
