Man, woman arraigned on charges in connection with Joliet Easter slaying

A grand jury returned an indictment against a man and woman charged in the Easter Sunday slaying of an 18-year-old in Joliet.

Abraham Bibian, 19, and Paola Diaz, 26, both of Joliet, were indicted together on a charge of first-degree murder in connection with the April 4 fatal shooting of Jwaun Jones.

Bibian also was indicted on a charge of knowingly carrying a Palmetto State Armory rifle on the day of the incident without a firearm owner’s identification card.

Both defendants pleaded not guilty to the charges. Judge Dave Carlson assigned their cases to Judge Sarah Jones and scheduled a pretrial hearing for May 27.

Diaz initially was represented by attorney Alex Beck, who filed a motion to withdraw that said “circumstances have occurred between the defendant and attorney causing a breakdown of the attorney-client relationship.”

Attorneys Paul Napolski and Garth Yore filed their appearance to represent Diaz on Thursday.

At the April 7 bond hearing, Will County Assistant State’s Attorney Peter Wilkes said Jones was killed after he was shot twice in the head while in an SUV with three other occupants. The occupants took Jones to the emergency room at AMITA Health Saint Joseph Medical Center in Joliet, where he died.

An investigation led to police arresting Diaz, who admitted that she was at the scene of incident with her boyfriend and Bibian, Wilkes said. Diaz identified Bibian as the shooter, he said.

Diaz told police that they traveled to Chicago earlier on Sunday to buy a rifle for $1,000 that allegedly was used in the shooting, Wilkes said. Police later recovered the rifle from Diaz’s home, he said.

Bibian later was arrested and gave several accounts of what happened before he admitted he was at the scene and that he saw an SUV – which Wilkes said was carrying Jones – cross the Cass Street bridge “playing loud music” and “disrespecting the memorial of his friend,” Wilkes said.

Wilkes said there was a makeshift memorial for a traffic fatality victim at the intersection of Western Avenue and Bluff Street. He did not identify the memorial other than by its location, which is where there is a roadside memorial for Juan Pablo Salazar, 19, who died March 28 after he was involved in a fiery single-vehicle crash.

According to Wilkes, Bibian said the driver of the SUV in which Jones was a passenger pulled out a handgun. Bibian said he feared his life when he retrieved a rifle and fired several shots, Wilkes said. Diaz told police she did not see anyone in the SUV display a gun, he said.

Patel argued at the hearing that there were no independent eyewitnesses putting Bibian at the scene except for Diaz, who was in possession of the rifle and implicated two men, including her boyfriend.

“She has a clear motive to pin this on somebody else,” Patel said.