After nearly eight years of eluding capture, a suspect in the 2016 murder of a Chicago-area attorney has been arrested in Mexico. The U.S. Marshals announced that John Panaligan, 57, was taken into custody on Monday in the city of Tepic, about 125 miles northwest of Guadalajara. Panaligan was on the U.S. Marshals' 15 most wanted fugitives list since 2020 and is accused of the strangling death of attorney Victor Jigar Patel, according to CBS News Chicago.
Patel, who was found dead in his Northbrook office on December 7, 2016, was representing plaintiffs in a lawsuit against Panaligan at the time of his death. The dispute involved a $20,000 lawsuit against Vital Home Healthcare, a company owned by Panaligan, which police believe provided a motive for the alleged murder. Panaligan was deported to the U.S. this Tuesday and appeared for a detention hearing the following afternoon at the Skokie Courthouse, CBS News Chicago reported.
As detailed by ABC7 Chicago, Panaligan lured Patel to his office by scheduling an appointment under an alias and disguising himself. Surveillance video showed Panaligan leaving Patel's office the day he was murdered. A previous arrest for allegedly smuggling a firearm on the Canadian border two days after the murder raised suspicions, but Panaligan was later allowed to return to the U.S. where he was questioned in Patel's death.
An initial warrant for Panaligan's arrest for first-degree murder was issued in February 2017. By November 2020, Panaligan was added to the U.S. Marshals' 15 most wanted list. The efforts to locate him were complicated by his dual citizenship in the U.S. and the Philippines, with authorities at one point believing he might have fled to the latter to evade capture. "Mr. Patel was the attorney on record," then-Northbrook Police Chief Charles Wernick said in March 2017, "Suing the Panaligans and their business, Vital Home Healthcare," CBS News Chicago noted. "A reward of up to $25,000 was being offered for information leading to his arrest."
