By Jim Hagerty
Contributor

ROCKFORD — Destiny Tolodxi, the 24-year-old woman found dead in her home last week, suffered blows to her head, face and torso, Winnebago County officials announced Thursday.

Sheriff Gary Caruana said there is a suspect in the killing, 30-year-old Elmer Aguilar, the man Tolodxi had been dating. Officials believe Tolodxi was killed early Friday, April 20, and that Aguilar is believed to be the man killed in a fiery crash that same day when Tolodxi’s car slammed into heavy construction equipment in Wisconsin.

According to information released Thursday, Tolodxi drove Aguilar to a class in Belvidere on April 18. On their way back to Rockford at around 8 p.m., she ended their relationship. The next day, Tolodxi reunited with a man she previously dated and left his home the morning of April 20.

Caruana said records show that Tolodxi used her phone Friday morning, and that at 7:15 a.m., Aguilar’s vehicle was parked in her driveway. Investigators are now trying to piece together what happened after the calls were made and he arrived at Tolodxi’s Atwood Avenue house she shared with her sister.

Detectives say after Tolodxi was killed, Aguilar drove away in her car. The vehicle was recorded by Illinois Tollway Authority security cameras between 7:42 a.m. and 8:56 a.m. At 9:20 a.m., the Pontiac G6 crashed into an excavator and burst into flames on I-94 near Racine. The driver has not been positively identified because his body was badly burned.

“We will never know because the suspect is dead,”Winnebago County Deputy Chief Mike Schultz said.

Schultz said there were no reports of domestic violence involving Aguilar and Tolodxi, but there is evidence of stalking. Her official cause of death is blunt force trauma. R.