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player ready...Four days after the owner of a Schiller Park tavern was found beaten to death inside his burned-out business, authorities Monday found the body of a woman there and also ruled her death a homicide, officials said.
Schiller Park police identified the woman as Wendy Bonder, 61, of Schiller Park. According to Mike Marrazzo of the Schiller Park Police Department, Bonder was a regular patron of the Horseshoe Inn, 9639 Irving Park Road, and may have been a part-time bartender.
Investigators discovered Bonder’s body inside the charred shell of the tavern after removing three feet of ceiling debris that had fallen while the fire was being put out, according to a news release.
An autopsy performed Tuesday revealed Bonder died of head injuries and blunt force trauma, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.
The discovery of the body was a strange development in a case that shocked many in the suburb. The tavern’s owner, George Markopoulos, 67, was found shortly after a fire broke out early Thursday morning. An autopsy determined that he died of blunt head trauma.
The fire was ruled arson, said Schiller Park police Officer Jeff Snarski.
Markopoulos was found on a cot in a first-floor back office where he would occasionally sleep, Snarski said. There were no signs of fire in the office, and the autopsy did not find any indication that Markopoulos had inhaled smoke or that he had been burned, Snarski said.
The West Suburban Major Crimes Task Force and Schiller Park police are continuing their investigation.
Tribune reporter Matthew Walberg contributed to this report.