The police were called to a home in the 2800 block of South Avars Ave on the West Side of Chicago IL at about 9:30 am March 9 2015. They found seven month old Rose Herrera dead and her 52 year old grandmother seriously injured. Both of them had been savagely slashed in the throat.
Rose and her grandmother were not victims of a random home invasion or common street crime. The police are stating that the home was the scene of a murder-attempted suicide. It has been reported that the grandmother stuffed a sock in Rose's mouth, hit her over the head with a pipe wrench and then sliced her throat and shoulder with a circular saw. They added that the grandmother then cut her own neck with the same saw.
The two were found by another family member and the grandmother was rushed to Mount Sinai Hospital were she is listed in stable condition and under police arrest. The apartment is apparently home to a couple, two children and possibly other family members. There were no other children home when the incident happened and neighbors describe the family as nice as well as quiet. It has been stated that the grandmother may have been taking antidepressant medication and she was caring for the child that morning.
Rose's 23 year old father was described by a close friend as devastated by the loss and had initially been contacted by police at the grain elevator in Beecher IL where he works. Friends stated that he had been reluctant about having a baby at first but was thrilled when she was born. Neighbors state that the couple moved into the second floor apartment about a year ago and lived there with her parents. The owners of the property live on the first floor and there were no reports with the police or DCF involving the couple.
Neighbors described both Rose, who would have turned 8 months old on March 16 and the grandmother as very nice and sweet. Rose had been seen very recently at a clinic for a bit of the flu and the grandmother was well liked by many in the neighborhood. Many expressed both shock and disbelief at the gruesomeness of the crime and are at a loss as to why it would even had happened. It has been reported that the family had been in the Chicago Il area for at least 20 years and Rose's father had grown up in Beecher.
It may be some time before we know the answers as to why Rose was killed so brutally. The police have stated that their first belief is that she was killed because she would not stop crying. That does not explain why a circular saw was used though.
http://chicago.suntimes.com/crime/7/71/425762/police-investigating-death-baby-little-village
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/woman-cut-baby-throat-attempted-suicide-cops-article-1.2143546
http://ktla.com/2015/03/09/babys-throat-cut-with-power-saw-grandmother-in-custody/
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-baby-killed-in-little-village-neighborhood-20150309-story.html
Update March 11 2015:
Manuela Rodriguez, 52, has been charged with killing her granddaughter on Monday. An autopsy performed on March 10 showed that Rose died from multiple blunt force trauma to the head and listed a secondary cause of death as possible suffocation. The police have stated that they believe that Rodriguez first attempted to quiet rose by stuffing a sock in her mouth and when that did not work, hit her multiple times on the head with a pipe wrench. They did not state that they believe she used the saw while Rose was still alive.
She is expected to appear in court for a bond hearing sometime today.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/chicago-grandmother-charged-brutal-murder-infant-article-1.2145076
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-grandmother-charged-in-gruesome-killing-of-7monthold-20150310-story.html
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