The ex-boyfriend of a Mount Prospect woman who was found dead in Busse Woods Forest Preserve in November 2024 is charged with one count of felony first-degree murder in her death.
Juan Pio Toto, 26, was originally charged with concealing the death of Atalia Pucheta Martinez. Pucheta Martinez, 23, was reported missing Nov. 9. Soon after, the Cook County sheriff’s office and the Cook County Forest Preserve police conducted a death investigation at Busse Woods Forest Preserve, where her body was later discovered.
The Cook County medical examiner’s office now has ruled Pucheta Martinez’s death a homicide.
When Mount Prospect police initially interviewed Pio Toto, he told them the two had a fight in the parking lot outside their apartment when Pucheta Martinez hit her head the morning she was reported missing. Pio Toto told detectives he placed her body in the backseat of his vehicle, drove her to a wooded area and left her body.
Additional evidence recovered by police detectives during the investigation led to the latest felony charge against Pio Toto. Following a detention hearing Wednesday, Pio Toto is being held until his next court hearing at 9:30 a.m. March 24 at the Cook County courthouse in Rolling Meadows.