A 25-year-old man wanted for questioning in the killing of his wife and stepson in Louisiana is expected to be extradited soon following his arrest in Schiller Park.
Eric Matthews, of Hammond, La., was arrested by Schiller Park police after a routine check of license plates at a local motel. Matthews was being sought in connection with the slayings of his wife, Lashan Matthews, 24, on May 18, and the alleged kidnapping of his stepson and stepdaughter.
After his arrest, he at first said he had taken the 18-month-old boy to a hospital because he couldn’t care for it, but Louisiana police on Wednesday discovered the body of the suffocated infant in a New Orleans trash bin.
The 4-year-old girl was recovered at the motel and is in the care of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Service. She is expected to be returned soon to her mother’s family in Louisiana.
Schiller Park Police Chief Peter Puleo said Matthews told police he strangled his wife and smothered the boy with a pillowcase during a family quarrel.
Matthews also was being questioned about a sexual assault of a woman who worked for an Indianapolis escort service and also about several slayings in Indiana.
Matthews was being held in the Schiller Park jail and was to be picked up by federal marshals.
