Man convicted in 2018 murder of Chicago area man dumped in garbage can

CHICAGO (CBS) — A Rockford man has been convicted of murder and armed robbery in the execution-style slaying of a Naperville man in 2018.

A DuPage County jury convicted 27-year-old Ernest Collins on Friday in the murder of Michael Armendariz.

Armendariz was reported missing in January of 2018. His body was discovered six months later in an abandoned house in Chicago’s Englewood neighborhood.

DuPage County prosecutors have said 26-year-old Cassandra Green, a childhood friend of Armendariz, had seen social media posts of him with money and drugs. She showed them to Collins, her boyfriend, and his mother, 43-year-old Candice Jones.

Jones sent the couple to burglarize Armendariz’s Naperville apartment, but they failed four times, according to prosecutors. Then an angry Jones gave her son a gun and a new plan to try to rob Armendariz again, and shoot him when he got in their car.

Prosecutors said Collins and Green they lured Armendariz into their car, and Collins shot him twice in the back of the head, execution-style. The two drove the body back to Englewood, where Jones hid it in a garbage can in her garage, and later moved it to a vacant house next door. Police later found the body several months later, after investigating reports of a foul smell in the vacant home.

“This senseless murder left Michael’s family and friends with just his memory as they continued their lives without him. While nothing can be done to bring Michael back to those who loved him, perhaps today’s guilty verdicts will bring some measure of solace knowing the man responsible for his murder will be held accountable,” DuPage County State’s Attorney Robert Berlin said in a statement.

Collins is due back in court in November for a pre-sentencing hearing. He faces up to life in prison.

Green and Jones both also have been charged with murder in Armendariz’s death, and were set to be in court later this month.