For years, Darnell Washington’s father believed he knew who shot his son 11 times, dumped his body on the side of a road and set his sport-utility vehicle on fire.
So he had great praise Thursday for Will County State’s Atty. James Glasgow, who announced charges in the case against a man who already was behind bars for another slaying that involved multiple gunshots.
“I want to thank [Glasgow] for keeping his word” to reinvestigate the case, Charles Washington said. “I’ve been waiting a long time for this.”
Glasgow announced the grand jury returned a two-count murder indictment against Paul Quintero in the Nov. 2, 2001, slaying of Darnell Washington, 24, of Joliet, who worked on the truck dock of an electrical company.
“Darnell Washington was brutally murdered, and his body was callously dumped in the road,” Glasgow said. “His grieving family contacted me shortly after I took office in late 2004 and asked me to review the case.”
Quintero, 29, formerly of Joliet, is serving a 38-year sentence at Pontiac Correctional Center for the 2000 murder of Michael Ceja, who was shot more than a dozen times in his hometown of Joliet. Quintero had not yet been arrested in the Ceja case when he is alleged to have killed Washington.
Charles Washington said his son knew Quintero in high school, but was not his friend and tried to avoid him. “This guy, he never should see daylight,” Washington said. He already had accused Quintero of his son’s murder in a civil lawsuit.
Motorists found Darnell Washington’s body on the side of Farrell Road near U.S. Highway 6 in Lockport Township, and the sport-utility vehicle he drove that evening was found torched on Joliet’s west side, not far from a sports bar where Washington had been that night.
Pat Barry, spokesman for Sheriff Paul Kaupas, said detectives re-interviewed a witness who shed new light on the case, allowing Glasgow’s office to secure the indictment. He said Quintero had long been a suspect.
The indictment is the second breakthrough in Washington’s slaying. Joseph Gonzalez, 26, formerly of Joliet, is serving a 15-year sentence at Shawnee Correctional Center after pleading guilty in April to reckless discharge of a firearm in connection with the case.
When Gonzalez’s plea was entered in court, prosecutors said he was present when Darnell Washington was shot and helped take his SUV to where it was found burned. Charles Washington said he agreed to the plea deal with Gonzalez in the expectation that he will testify against Quintero.
Quintero is eligible for the death penalty because of the Ceja case. Glasgow said he has yet to decide whether to seek that penalty.
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hdardick@tribune.com
