Two women were recently found dead in Little Village alleys; community wants answers
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Two women recently suffered mysterious deaths in the Little Village community – one was found dumped in an alley, while another was shot and killed.
As CBS 2's Jermont Terry reported Friday night, the victims' families and Little Village community members are questioning whether there is a link.
"Amazing Grace" echoed as 21-year-old Rosa Chacon's family stood in the same alley in which someone found her body.
The week before what would have been Chacon's 22nd birthday, police sources told CBS 2 someone found her body, covered in a sheet in a shopping cart – in an alley off West 24th Place and Western Avenue.
"I'm never going to see my daughter again," said Chacon's mother.
Chacon's family is determined to find out how she ended up dead – and possibly dumped in the alley.
Video shows the last moments Rosa Chacon was caught on camera on Jan. 18. She was getting into an Uber at the time.
For weeks, the family posted flyers – claiming Chicago Police did little in the search.
"We had been calling and calling them, and the detective is like, 'Oh no, she's fine,'" said Chacon's brother, Gregory Chacon. "Okay, if she's fine, why can't you as a cop pull out your phone and tell her, 'Here, call your mom?"
"All I'm looking for is justice, because if you guys let it keep going on and the police don't help us, it's going to happen to the next girl," said Chacon's mother, also named Rosa Chacon.
It was just three weeks ago in Little Village when the body of another woman was discovered near 24th Street and Drake Avenue – about a mile and a half west of where Chacon's body was found.
Chicago Police insist the two cases are not connected. But Chacon's family and those in the community argue differently.
"It's within a mile and a half, and I think that they're two females - both found both in alleys," said community activist Raul Montes.
No one was in custody in either case late Friday. The body found in the alley behind Drake Avenue was a 20-year-old woman from Guatemala identified by the Legal Help Firm as Reina Cristina Ical Seb. She was found shot in the head.
In Chacon's case, police have not said how she died – only calling it a death investigation.
Chacon's family believes she was murdered – and they are hoping a $15,000 reward will help solve the case.
"How are you going to put a human being in an alley?" Chacon's mother said. "That's not right. It's still God's – regardless. I just want justice for my daughter. That's all I want."