Crime & Safety

Murder-Suicide Case Closed in North Aurora

Police name a 58-year-old resident as the suspect.

The investigation into an Oct. 29 murder-suicide that ended in the death of a man and woman on Route 31 is now closed, police said.

Jon S. Neel was the suspect in the case, said Scott Buziecki, North Aurora deputy police chief.

North Aurora police had no interaction with Neel prior to this incident. But on Oct. 29, officers were dispatched at 8:51 p.m. to Eden Supportive Living, 311 S. Lincolnway, for a suicidal resident who was threatening to jump from his third-floor apartment window.

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On-site security at the building identified the resident as Neel, 58.

A 50-year-old woman who also had an apartment in the building was found that night stabbed, unresponsive and cold to the touch in Neel's apartment. Tomi Vandiver was pronounced dead at the scene, according to North Aurora police.

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Neel was considered the suspect in Vandiver's death, but Buziecki said police never had a chance to speak with him after the incident. He jumped out of his window as police arrived and was injured from falling on pavement. He died after being sent to two different hospitals.

Vandiver had a romantic relationship with Neel, according to an initial investigation. She went to his apartment to gather some of her things early in the evening on Oct. 29 before she planned to meet a different man, who lived in the same building.

The building is Eden Supportive Living, which houses people with physical disabilities who want to live independently. Neel and Vandiver's deaths shook the residents and staff of the building.

Building director Barbara Lawrence said Neel passed a background check prior to his move there earlier this year. Both he and Vandiver were well-liked in the building, she said.

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