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Des Plaines Police Make Arrest In Case Of Woman Found Strangled On New Year's Eve

DES PLAINES (CBS) -- A man has been arrested and faces first degree murder charges in the strangulation death of a woman found near a dumpster on New Year's Eve.

31-year-old Gerard Merced Delgado Calderon, who resides in the 9400 block of Maple Avenue in Rosemont, has been charged with the murder of 24-year-old Myra Rivera of Rockford, police said.

Gerard
Gerard Merced Delgado Calderon

Upon interviewing Calderon, it was learned that he had contacted Rivera through an escort service website, and eventually met up with her at his apartment in the early morning hours of Dec. 28. While at the apartment Calderon got into a verbal altercation with Myra that turned physical, which resulted in her death by strangulation.

Rivera had been reported as a missing person to the Rockford Police Department several days prior to her being found in Des Plaines.

Des Plaines police said on New Year's Eve around 1:26 in the afternoon, authorities responded to a suspicious incident near Maple Street and Oakton Avenue.

An area resident was picking up garbage nearby when he saw the woman. Officers who later arrived determined foul play was suspected in her death.

"Information will show that this incident was an isolated incident and that the community faced no threat of danger in relation to these events," Des Plaines police said.

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