Man suspected in deadly DuPage Co. fire found dead in Dolton
BY KIM JANSSEN Staff Reporter January 17, 2012 4:31PM
Four people were killed in a blaze in unincorporated Villa Park Tuesday morning. The fire in a home near Summit and Roosevelt roads began about 7:25 a.m. Gurneys were brought in to remove the bodies of the victims. | Rich Hein~Sun-Times
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Updated: January 18, 2012 3:00PM
A man suspected of killing a woman and her three teenage relatives, then setting their west suburban home on fire, was later found dead of an apparent suicide in the south suburbs, sources said.
The four people killed were found in a home near Summit and Roosevelt in unincorporated Villa Park after a fire Tuesday morning that authorities labeled “suspicious.” The man was later found in Dolton, the sources said.
The dead were identified by friends and relatives as Ursula Nailor, 37; her sons, Darnell Holt, 16, and Dan Nailor, 13; and her niece, Dominique Robinson, 19.
The man’s identity or relationship to the victims was not immediately known.
Officially, authorities released little information on the situation as of late Tuesday afternoon.
The DuPage County Sheriff’s office said in a written statement that it was “investigating a suspicious fire.”
Investigators from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms brought in trained dogs to sniff for accelerants at the Villa Park home.
Authorities believe the four people were murdered before the house was set on fire, sources said.
Several relatives overcome with grief had to be held up by other family members as they arrived at the home Tuesday.
“They moved out here to get away from the crime on the West Side,” friend Tamiko Keller said.
Darnell’s pal, B.J. Cotten, said Darnell was a student at Willowbrook high school who loved sports and played wide receiver. Friends said Dan went to Albright Middle School in Villa Park.
Ursula Nailor had a boyfriend who lived at the home on and off, family friend Randy McGaha said.
Nailor’s boss, Ed Peterson, said he became concerned when she didn’t show up for her job as a school bus driver this morning.
She’d worked for his company, Falcon Transportation, driving Chicago schoolkids from Newberry and Brown schools since 2006 and was an exemplary worker and mom, he said.
“She talked about her teenage boys all the time,” he said. “It’s a tragedy.”
Nailor’s mom was boarding a plane to Chicago from Selma, Ala. Tuesday afternoon.
She said her daughter was planning to move the family to Alabama when she died.
“I have no idea what happened,” she said, “We’re trying to find out.”
The sheriff’s office said the fire began around 7:16 a.m. Tuesday many windows in the brick home were smashed and there was a hole in the roof visible from the front of the house. An attached garage did not appear to have any damage.
Ann Bendera, a neighbor, said the mother had lived there with her children for about three years.
“The house was enveloped in smoke,” Bendera said. “It’s horrible, horrible that people were still in there.”
Contributing: Frank Main, Dan Rozek and Tina Sfondeles
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