Eliza Morales made a simple mistake that cost her everything.
She and her husband left their license plates on a used pickup truck they sold on Facebook Marketplace.
The 19-year-old buyer came back Monday to return those plates – and stabbed the five-months-pregnant mother 70 times before setting her Downers Grove apartment on fire with her still inside.
Downers Grove Suspect Nedas Revuckas Confessed To Stabbing Pregnant Eliza Morales
Nedas Revuckas showed up at Eliza Morales' apartment building around 5:30 p.m. Monday for what should have been a two-minute transaction.
Surveillance video captured him entering the building with a screwdriver in his hand behind his back.
At 5:47 p.m., the apartment door opened and closed – what investigators say appeared to be a struggle.
The door handle turned from the inside, suggesting someone trying to escape.
Smoke started pouring from beneath the door minutes later.
Firefighters found Morales near the apartment door and pronounced her dead in the ambulance.
The coroner counted roughly 70 stab wounds on her body – most to her head and neck.
She had defensive injuries showing she fought for her life.
Soot in her airway means she was still breathing when Revuckas set the fire.
Revuckas told police he was upset about the truck's condition – the engine wasn't working right and he felt deceived.
He said Morales' husband messed him over, so he went inside the apartment and just snapped.
Prosecutors said he told detectives he blacked out during the attack – though he gave them detailed directions to where he stashed bloody clothes and the murder weapon.
The autopsy proved he lied about the severity – he initially claimed he stabbed her 10 times, not 70.
Morales' husband Gabriel was at work during the attack.
Their 2-year-old daughter wasn't home.
But the couple's elderly dog was inside and Revuckas stabbed it between the eyes and kicked it before it escaped through a sliding door.
Facebook Marketplace Murders Show Deadly Pattern Across America
Revuckas' rampage isn't an isolated incident – it's part of a horrifying trend.
Since the pandemic started, ProPublica identified at least 13 murders linked to Facebook Marketplace transactions.
In November 2023, Marques Harris lured Lancaster high school student Carlos Carrazana Ricardo to Baltimore for a vehicle sale and shot him in the head – Harris got life in prison plus 10 years.
Last July, Mar'Shawn Gardner showed up to buy a car in Kansas City, drove off without paying, and shot the seller's neighbor Anthony Brown when he gave chase.
Just weeks ago in Fort Pierce, Florida, an iPhone transaction turned into an ambush-style shooting with four people shot and 30 shell casings recovered.
Facebook Marketplace has over 1 billion users worldwide – bigger than Craigslist ever was.
That massive scale creates hunting grounds for predators who exploit the platform's weak screening.
Facebook claims its automated systems and human reviews protect users, but internal documents obtained by ProPublica show those safeguards are a joke.
Scam listings stay active, fake accounts run wild, and violent criminals' profiles remain online with active listings even after they murder someone.
The company told investors last year that Marketplace is one of its most promising new revenue sources – translation: they're prioritizing growth over safety.
Psychology Behind Displaced Rage Violence In Facebook Marketplace Attacks
What drives someone to stab a pregnant woman 70 times over a used truck with engine problems?
Research on violent offenders reveals a specific psychological mechanism called displaced aggression.
When someone can't aggress toward the actual source of their anger, they redirect that rage onto a substitute target who had nothing to do with the original problem.
Revuckas was angry at Morales' husband about the truck – but the husband wasn't home, so he took it out on the pregnant wife instead.
Neuroscience studies show violent offenders have fundamentally different anger regulation in their brains compared to normal people.
When provoked, their emotional control systems shut down and they enter what researchers call emotion dysregulation – they literally lose the ability to pause before acting.
One VCU researcher studying aggression psychology explained that violence can become transformative for certain individuals – they experience rage as the only way to feel powerful and in control.
That matches Revuckas' confession perfectly – he felt powerless after getting ripped off on the truck, needed to feel strong again, and murder became his reset button.
The most chilling part: experts found that for some violent offenders, aggression functions like an addiction.
They get a psychological reward from harming others that makes violence their go-to response whenever they feel vulnerable or angry.
Revuckas is being held in DuPage County Jail awaiting trial.
He faces first-degree murder, intentional homicide of an unborn child, armed robbery, aggravated arson, and animal cruelty charges.
Judge Joshua Dieden called him a danger to the community who showed complete disregard for human life.
"I'm gonna spend the rest of my life missing her," Gabriel Morales told reporters.
A GoFundMe for the family raised over $30,000 to help care for their surviving 2-year-old daughter.
Sources:
- Landon Mion, "Illinois teen stabs pregnant woman 70 times, knifes dog, sets home ablaze during Facebook Marketplace meetup," Fox News, January 29, 2026.
- CBS Chicago, "Nedas Revuckas, accused of killing pregnant woman in Downers Grove, stabbed her 70 times," January 28, 2026.
- Shaw Local, "Prosecutors to seek life sentence in pregnant Downers Grove woman's killing," January 29, 2026.
- Screenshot Media, "13 murders and counting: criminals are now using Facebook Marketplace to lure victims," May 31, 2023.
- Joshua Feldstein and Keith Schweigert, "Maryland man faces life for Facebook Marketplace murder," FOX43, March 20, 2025.
- Nature Scientific Reports, "Anger provocation in violent offenders leads to emotion dysregulation," June 15, 2017.
- VCU News, "What is the psychology behind violence and aggression? A new VCU lab aims to find out," 2024.