A Chicago woman used a circular saw to kill a 7-month-old baby girl because she wouldn’t stop crying, authorities said.
The child, identified as Rose Herrera, was found dead Monday in the Windy City’s Little Village neighborhood around 9:40 am, the Chicago Tribune reports.
A 52-year-old woman, who was relative of the infant, used a circular saw to cut the infant’s throat because she was crying hysterically — she then tried to take her own life, authorities said.
Before killing Herrera, the woman, whose identity has not been released, had first tried to shove something into the baby’s mouth to keep her quiet, possibly cloth, according to a source.
The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services is also investigating the woman, but says there has been no prior contact with the family or her in the past, according to the Chicago Tribune. No other children were in the home at the time of Herrera’s death, officials said.
The girl’s 23-year-old father was given the tragic news while at work Monday morning.
“He was upset,” said friend and co-worker, Ben Llamas. “He adored her.”
Shortly after being notified about his daughter, Llamas said he drove the distraught dad to the house on South Avers Avenue on the West Side, where the murder took place.
“We just drove in silence,” he said. “He was in shock.”
A relative who asked not to be named told the Chicago Tribune that Herrera’s family had not been told the gruesome details of the murder. She would have turned 8-months-old on March 16, he said.
“We have no idea,” the relative explained to the newspaper. “We just got the news that she passed away and that’s all we know. She had no health problems, she was a good baby.”
“We don’t know yet, they haven’t said anything,” he added.
Neighbors were shaken up and said they couldn’t believe that something so horrific could have happened to such “really good people.”
“She was a nice person, she came to my house,” said Brenda Saucedo, describing the 52-year-old woman. “I’m shocked; she would never do this. It had to be somebody else.”
Speaking in Spanish, Francisco Arreola told the Chicago Tribune that he would always see Herrera’s family around the neighborhood, but there were never any problems or incidents that raised alarms.
“They were really good people,” he explained. “I would always see them and they were very happy. I never heard them fight or anything. They were very good people. It’s very difficult, very sad.”
Police say charges are pending against the woman accused of killing Herrera.