A 52-year-old truck driver from Illinois has been accused of murdering his employer and setting the company’s building on fire in an attempt to conceal his crime. Josif Suclea is facing first-degree murder charges for the death of Dane Koletski, 46, who was the president and CEO of ATG Truckload, a trucking company located in the Chicago area. The Crestwood police department made the announcement on Sunday.
The investigation was initiated on March 5, shortly after 4 p.m., when the police and fire departments were called to a fire at 13835 S. Kostner Avenue, approximately 20 miles southwest of Chicago. The fire was swiftly put out by the responding crews. Amid the dense smoke, firefighters discovered Koletski’s body on the second floor of the building.
The Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office conducted an autopsy and ruled the death a homicide, citing injuries to the victim’s neck caused by a sharp or pointed object. The fire was determined to have been intentionally set, and investigators identified Suclea as the prime suspect following numerous leads.
The following day, at around 5:15 a.m., police located Suclea at a truck stop in Holland, Michigan, roughly 145 miles north along the coast of Lake Michigan. Local law enforcement apprehended him and he was subsequently extradited back to Illinois. Suclea appeared before a judge for a bond hearing on Sunday and is currently being held in the Cook County Jail.
The motive behind the alleged crime has not yet been disclosed to the public. Koletski, a native of Macedonia, was a father to a 13-year-old son. According to a GoFundMe page set up in his memory, Koletski and his family founded ATG in 2010, a company that specializes in transporting refrigerated goods. The page describes Koletski as a “wonderful father and friend” whose memory will always be cherished.