Three men have been charged in the slaying of an 18-year-old Aurora woman whose body was found beaten and burned Saturday in a wooded area, police said Sunday.

Aurora residents Juan Garnica Jr., 18, of the 400 block of East Ashland Avenue, and Enrique Prado, 19, of the 400 block of Jefferson Street, and Jose Becerra, 20, of the first block of Seton Creek Drive in Oswego, have been charged in the death of Abigail Villalpando, 18, an Aurora police statement said.

Garnica was charged with two counts of first-degree murder and one count of arson, Prado with arson and concealment of a homicide, and Becerra with concealment of a homicide, according to the statement.

They are scheduled for a hearing Monday in front of a Kane County judge.

A Kane County Sheriff's Office K-9 unit discovered Villalpando's body, which was burned beyond recognition, about 9 a.m. Saturday in a wooded area just inside the village of Montgomery near Fifth Street and Wabonsia Avenue, the statement said.

The Kane County coroner's office conducted an autopsy Sunday, and officials confirmed Villalpando's identity through dental records.

The preliminary cause of death was determined to be blunt force trauma to the head, the statement said.

A family member who had last seen Villalpando about 1 p.m. Thursday reported her missing about 2:30 a.m. Friday after she failed to show up for work Thursday afternoon at Denny's restaurant in Aurora.

Her car, a 2003 Nissan Altima, was found engulfed in flames about 10:40 a.m. Friday underneath the High Street Bridge over the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway tracks on the city's near east side, the statement said.

The last homicide in Aurora occurred in 2011, police spokesman Dan Ferrelli said.

rsobol@tribune.com