President Donald Trump is in an ongoing struggle with Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, with Pritzker seeking to slander or stymie every effort Trump makes to restore law and order in the streets of Chicago and in Illinois more broadly. That struggle for law and order is personal for me. My daughter died after allegedly being left unresponsive in the home of an illegal alien from Mexico, and Illinois’ politicians put him right back on the streets.
On Feb. 19, 2025, my daughter Megan, a vibrant 37-year-old and mother of two, went missing in Waukegan, Illinois, a few weeks after her release from jail on an old warrant related to her battle with addiction. To our horror, she was located, deceased, on April 10, 2025.
For nearly two months, her body lay hidden in a bleach-filled trash can in the yard of Jose Luis Mendoza-Gonzalez, an illegal immigrant, just 100 feet from where I and volunteers had searched — from where we had hung missing persons posters in the weeks prior. We had even knocked on his door, just 10 days after I reported her missing … a mere tenth of a mile from where she had last been seen.
Mendoza-Gonzalez is not charged with causing Megan’s death; this is still currently under investigation. Instead, he faces charges for what he allegedly did after she died: concealing her death (not reporting her death), two counts of abusing her corpse (moving her body twice), and obstructing justice (breaking her phone) — all Class 4 and “non-detainable” felonies under Illinois law. He has now also been charged with concealing a homicidal death and could still be eligible for release.
Prosecutors told me, “We lack corresponding laws and charges for what he did,” and the lack of evidence, due to deterioration caused by Jose Luis Mendoza-Gonzalez allegedly wrapping Megan’s body in a blanket and leaving her upside down in a bleach-filled trash can for 51 days, as well as breaking and disposing of her phone and other potential evidence, prohibited further case movement.
“These circumstances raise the suspicion of a homicidal death or possibly a drug-related death,” the coroner’s office said. “Asphyxial homicides may include no external or internal evidence of injury. Furthermore, the decomposition of the body at the time of discovery complicates interpretation of sometimes minute physical findings suggestive of asphyxia.” The coroner’s report confirmed what I already knew: Illinois failed Megan long before her death, actively undermining meaningful support to empower her recovery, and the activist laws let her perpetrator walk free.
The Pretrial Fairness Act, part of Illinois’s 2021 Safety, Accountability, Fairness and Equity-Today legislation, promised reform by eliminating cash bail and prioritizing pretrial release. In Megan’s case, it delivered neither safety nor fairness. The law, touted by Gov. Pritzker as “historic reform to ensure pre‑trial detainment is determined by the danger an individual poses to the community instead of by their ability to pay their way out of jail,” allowed the man who allegedly concealed and abused my daughter’s body to be released in less than 24 hours. He was released unmonitored, to his home, which is also the crime scene.
While many would love nothing more than to blame another “activist judge,” that wasn’t the case. Lake County Judge Randie Bruno’s hands were tied by a law that prioritizes criminals over public safety, even in heinous crimes. Because the Pretrial Fairness Act eliminated all cash bail, and because Illinois law classifies low-level offenses and Class 4 felonies like abuse of a corpse and obstruction of justice as non-detainable offenses, the court was legally barred from holding Mendoza-Gonzalez in custody. No extenuating circumstances could be considered.
When I learned of the undocumented suspect’s release, I was consumed by grief and outrage. My feelings were echoed by statements from state leaders and local politicians, equally as dumbfounded and enraged as I was. Mendoza-Gonzalez, who confessed to authorities that he hid my daughter’s body, bathing in bleach for months, was free because of Illinois’ sanctuary policies and the SAFE-T Act’s leniency. Desperate, I did everything I could to elevate Megan’s story and demand justice. I flew to D.C. for the signing of the HALT Fentanyl Act, and I had the chance to share my story with President Trump, who responded, “Watch what happens.”
The next day, I continued to advocate for Megan on Capitol Hill, sharing her story with U.S. Representative Mary Miller, both the House and Senate Judiciary Committees, and anyone else who would listen. We contacted U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), an act no mother should be forced to undertake. On July 19, 2025, ICE arrested Mendoza-Gonzalez in Chicago, notably at least 50 miles from his home, where he was ordered to be under a “24-hour curfew” as conditions of his pre-trial release.
But instead of addressing the SAFE-T Act’s flaws or the state’s failure to protect vulnerable people like Megan, Illinois politicians dodged accountability, refusing to admit the law failed here. Pritzker, Attorney General Kwame Raoul, and Lake County Attorney Eric Rinehart, who have already faced political fallout over the SAFE-T Act, allowed Judge Bruno to take the blame for a decision she couldn’t control. In addition, some have claimed ICE’s involvement threatened the possibility of obtaining justice for Megan — framing my desperate call for help as divisive rather than examining the laws they defend.
This deflection turned Megan’s story into one about immigration, not the state’s failure to deliver justice or take addiction seriously. Illinois has been clear; they would rather protect a flawed law than admit it needs reform, leaving families like mine feeling guilty for seeking federal help and overwhelmed in our grief.
To this day, Gov. Pritzker has never reached out to me — not to offer condolences, not to acknowledge Megan’s death, and certainly not to take responsibility for the policies that failed her. Illinois’s sanctuary policies restrict local law enforcement from cooperating with ICE, even for violent criminals. These laws, paired with the SAFE-T Act and Pretrial Fairness Act, create a system where individuals like the man who allegedly concealed my daughter’s death and hid her corpse slip through — endangering communities and eroding trust.
Megan’s story should have sparked a reckoning about supporting addiction recovery and ensuring justice for victims. Instead, Illinois politicians hid behind sanctuary rhetoric, deflecting blame and protecting a broken system. For Megan and others failed by sanctuary policies and soft-on-crime reforms, we must demand a system where justice comes before politics. Watch what happens when we put victims first.
Jennifer Bos is the mother of Megan Bos, whose body was allegedly hidden by an illegal immigrant and kept in a bleach-filled trash can for 51 days before she was discovered. The cause of death is undetermined, and the death investigation is still ongoing. Megan’s parents, Eric and Jennifer Bos, are residents of Antioch, Illinois, and are the legal guardians of Megan’s school-age daughter because of her passing.
