Accused Killer of Highwood Restaurant Owner Nabbed by Immigration

A woman who was acquitted of stabbing her husband to death at his Highwood restaurant Mexico Lindo 18 years ago is now in the custody of the Lake County Sheriff's Office for an outstanding felony warrant stemming from her 1999 arrest for a Park City robbery and home invasion.

Sandra Lopez, 43, of Bloomington, was taken into sheriff's custody at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) office in Chicago on March 8, reported the sheriff's department.

Her bond was set at $1 million and she was scheduled to appear in court Thursday morning for a prelimary hearing.

In Sept. 1995, Lopez, who was 25 at the time, was charged with the stabbing death of her 44-year-old husband, Isaac Lopez, who owned the restaurant Mexico Lindo, formerly located at 830 N. Sheridan Rd., in Highwood, according to a 1995 article by the Chicago Tribune.

Lopez claimed self-defense and beat the charges, reported the Lake County-News Sun.

In April 1999, Lopez, who was living in Gurnee at the time, was charged with felony robbery and home invasion in Park City along with another woman, who had her day in court and was sentenced. Lopez, however, skipped out on her bail, according to the News-Sun, and went into hiding until she was caught by immigration and turned over to the Lake County Sheriff's Office.