Speaking on the House floor today, State Representative Tom Weber (R-Lake Villa) called for reform to Illinois’ broken public safety laws that allowed a non-citizen accused of concealing the death of Megan Bos and putting her body in a trash can in 2025 to walk free.
“It has been a little over a year since I shared a post trying to help a family in my district,” said Weber. “I can remember the plea of a mother desperately trying to find her missing daughter. Megan Bos.
“Despite the horrors of this crime, the legislature has still failed to advance my legislation that would ensure that someone accused of hiding a body and pouring chemicals over it must be detained.
“We need to fix this failure in our laws, and the many other failings of the so-called ‘SAFE-T’ Act. We need to make the changes that are necessary to honor Megan’s life and ensure that people who should be behind bars are behind bars.”
Megan Bos, a 37-year-old woman from Antioch, Illinois, was reported missing in February 2025, leaving her family desperate for answers. Her mother, Jennifer Bos, spent weeks searching for her, distributing flyers, and pleading for any information. Heartbreakingly, Megan’s body was discovered in April 2025, concealed in a trash bin behind a home in Waukegan.
Jose Luis Mendoza-Gonzalez, the suspect in Megan’s case, admitted to police that she died in his residence. Instead of alerting authorities, he broke her phone, kept her body in his basement for two days, and then hid it outside for over 50 days. Despite these disturbing admissions, Mendoza-Gonzalez was released from custody one day after his arrest under the SAFE-T Act, which classifies the charges against him as non-detainable offenses. Mendoza-Gonzalez was eventually detained by Federal ICE agents in July 2025, only because he was a Mexican national living in the U.S. illegally.
Weber filed HB 4104 in order to give courts broader discretion to deny pretrial release for felony defendants, even in cases where current law’s thresholds are not met, keeping more criminals off the streets and easing the burden on law enforcement. The legislation has not even been assigned to a standing committee for a hearing, as Democrats who favor the SAFE-T Act continue to stifle public safety reform legislation.