Suspect in 2017 Wheaton crash that killed 23-year-old NIU student found dead

WARRENVILLE – The Warrenville Police Department on Friday identified the man and woman found dead Thursday in a condominium in Warrenville as Brian Thunderkick, 62, and his ex-wife, Laura Arns, also 62.

Thunderkick, of the 2S600 block of Pierre Curie Lane, Warrenville, had been charged in a high-speed crash that killed Erika Villagomez, a 23-year-old Northern Illinois University student from Elgin, in September on Butterfield Road in Wheaton.

Autopsies of both Thunderkick and Arns were conducted by the DuPage County Coroner’s Office, according to a news release from the Warrenville police. The official cause of death is pending the return of toxicology results, the release stated.

On Thursday, Warrenville police found the bodies of Thunderkick and Arns while assisting Wheaton detectives in serving Thunderkick with an arrest warrant after he missed a court appearance Thursday. He shared the condominium with Arns.

Thunderkick had been charged with reckless homicide, attempting to leave the scene of an accident resulting in personal injury or death, and aggravated battery in a public place after he allegedly crashed his vehicle into the back of Villagomez’s car while traveling at 135 mph, authorities said. He pleaded not guilty Nov. 6.

Wheaton police said about 11 a.m. Sept. 30 they responded to the fatal crash just east of Naperville Road, finding the victim’s Honda Accord engulfed in flames.

An off-duty River Grove police officer who witnessed the crash said Thunderkick traveled at an extremely high rate of speed on the shoulder, crossed into the left lane of westbound Butterfield Road and rear-ended the victim’s car, court records show.

After the crash, Thunderkick was taken to Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital in Downers Grove, where his urine tested positive for barbiturates, according to the records.

Thunderkick was being held in the DuPage County Jail until he was released in October after posting $15,000 bail.