Inset (left): Christian Flores (Kane County State's Attorney's Office). Inset (right): Charity Geisel (Legacy.com). Background: The neighborhood in Elgin, Ill., where Charity Geisel was found dead (Google Maps).
An Illinois man has been arrested in another state after police say he murdered his ex-girlfriend then went on the run.
Christian Flores, 54, is now in custody at the Kane County Adult Justice Center after being charged with first-degree murder. According to court documents obtained by local Fox affiliate WFLD, police responded to the Elgin, Illinois, home of 52-year-old Charity Geisel at 10:43 a.m. on Aug. 30 and found the mother of three dead. Flores was eventually located in Indiana and arrested. Geisel was Flores' ex-girlfriend.
Police said that according to the Kane County coroner, Geisel died of blunt and sharp force injuries that were the result of a heinous assault.
According to court documents, Flores allegedly struck Geisel several times with a 20-pound dumbbell, but his assault did not end there. Police said he also choked Geisel and stabbed her several times in the throat with a large butcher knife.
Authorities believe the assault took place on Aug. 29.
Online jail records showed that Flores was extradited to Illinois after he was arrested in Indiana on Sunday. He is currently being held without bond after being formally charged with first-degree murder. According to reporting by WFLD, prosecutors will push to keep Flores behind bars until he goes to trial. A pretrial release hearing was scheduled for Sept. 11.
WFLD spoke with Geisel's family members, including one of her sons, Matthew Geisel, and a stepdaughter, Michelle Rice. Rice told WFLD that she was the "luckiest person" to have Geisel as a stepmother that she considered a "mom," saying, "I didn't see her as anything else."
Authorities did not provide a possible motive for the alleged murder.