2nd fatality in Schiller Park tavern fire identified

By Will Lee and Art Barnum

Tribune reporters

11:34 AM CST, February 1, 2011


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, 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 Monday inside the charred shell of the tavern "after meticulously removing ceiling debris measuring three feet in thickness that fell during the extinguishing of the fire," according to a news release.

Police believe Bonder died of blunt force trauma.

Bonder was found inside the charred shell of the tavern. She was pronounced dead at 6:15 p.m., according to the Cook County Medical Examiner's office.

An autopsy is scheduled for Tuesday.

The discovery was a strange new development in a case that shocked many in the quiet suburb. The tavern's owner George Markopoulos, 67, was found shortly after a fire broke out in the early morning of Jan. 27. An autopsy determined that he died from head blunt trauma in an apparent homicide.

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, said Snarski. There were no signs of fire in the office and the autopsy did not find any indication that Markopoulos had inhaled any smoke or that he had been burned, he said.

The West Suburban Major Crimes Task Force and Schiller Park Police are continuing their investigation.