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July 30, 2010 Beginning to Close Book on Aunt's Murder On July 2, 2010, Smailj Tulja was convicted in Montenegro for the 1990 murder of Figueroa's aunt, Mary Beal, whose body was found dismembered and left in bags near the Brooklyn Bridge in New York City. "It still hurts a lot when you talk about it, but at least that part of it's over," said Figueroa, Teamsters Local 700 Chief Steward for the Cook County Court Service Deputies. "She was a loving humanitarian and to have her taken away from everyone – not just her family, but her entire community – in such a heinous way, it's just unfathomable." Beal was a 61-year-old Yugoslav immigrant who spoke five languages, worked as a court translator and operated a real estate office. Friends became concerned about her whereabouts when she left her dogs alone for several days, so they contacted her family in Chicago. Figueroa, who was 30 at the time, and his mother, Magdalena, immediately drove from Chicago to New York City to look for Beal. Four days after she was reported missing, police officers found her remains in two garbage bags. The lead suspect in the case, Tulja, had fled New York the day Beal was reported missing, and a strange sequence of events led to his capture nearly 17 years later. Detective James Osorio of the New York Police Department's cold case squad was in Quantico, Va., and encountered FBI agents who were working on a case involving dismembered women in Albania. When Osorio noticed the similarities between that case and Beal's murder, a new investigation was under way, leading to Tulja's arrest in Montenegro in February 2007. Because the European nation does not have an extradition treaty with the United States, he was tried in the city of Podgorica with the help of prosecutors in New York. The maximum penalty for first-degree murder in Montenegro is 25 years in prison. Tulja, 69, was only sentenced to 12 years for Beal's murder. "I don't think 12 years is good enough; we want to appeal the sentencing," Figueroa said. "The verdict was bittersweet. It's horrible to hear your family member died, but then to learn exactly what happened, it just puts even more mental anguish and anger on your family." "How could somebody be this heinous and cruel? Where does that come from?" International authorities also suspect Tulja in the murders of several other women across Europe. Tragically, Figueroa's mother died two months before her older sister's killer was arrested. "I'm thankful for everyone who helped to finally solve this case," Figueroa said. "Even after all these years, we didn't give up. I'm very, very happy that there was a disposition to this tragedy and that justice was served." |
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