May 6, 1944

An old trunk wrapped with wire and tied with rope arrives at Union Station, where people noticed that it was leaking — and smelled. Sent to the repair department for inspection, the trunk was opened by Eugene Biledeau, who discovered a woman’s body wrapped in a sheet.

The victim had been dead about six days and was described as a young, 5-3 brunette, weighing 130 pounds. She was wearing a girdle, bra, slip and white bobby socks, with fingernails painted a “brilliant red,” The Times said. She had curlers in her hair.

Soloyo/Soylo/Soyolo Villegas, left, and his wife, Louise.

The trunk had been sent from Chicago’s Dearborn station by a “swarthy, middle-aged man” who identified himself as John Lopez and was accompanied by a boy about 13 years old.

Detectives suspected the victim might be Toni Lopez, 3815 Maple Ave., who vanished Aug. 28, 1943.

Using fingerprints, the FBI eventually identified the body as Louise C. Myers of Myrtle Miss., and police began searching for a man identified as Soloyo/Soylo/Soyolo Villegas, 26, of Chicago.

On May 9, 1944, Villegas was arrested in Crystal City, Texas, at the home of his mother and admitted killing his wife during an argument. Both had been drinking heavily. At one point, she went to a dance by herself and returned to their apartment and asked Villegas for a divorce, he said.

“I tried to talk her into staying with me, but she picked up a pair of scissors and said she would kill me if I didn’t sign the paper. I took the scissors away from her and she began to hit me,” Villegas said.

He said they began fighting and he knocked her out. When he was unable to awaken her, he decided she was dead.

He said he got into bed with her but woke up several hours later and put the body in the trunk.

A search of the Chicago Tribune shows that Villegas was sentenced Aug. 31, 1944, but without access to the archives, I’m unable to say what the sentence was.