Woman charged with murder of 1-year-old daughter on Chicago's West Side
CHICAGO (CBS) — A woman was charged in the killing of her 1-year-old daughter last month in the Humboldt Park neighborhood.
Marisol Vazquez, 37, was arrested on Thursday, charged with one felony count of first-degree murder in the death of 1-year-old Lucia Arevala.
According to a Chicago police report, detectives responded to Vazquez's home in the 500 block of North Springfield Avenue on Dec. 20, 2024, for a death investigation, after learning Lucia might have been drowned in a bathtub.
When officers arrived on the scene, they found Vazquez sitting on her bed naked, with Lucia behind her. The baby was cold to the touch and not breathing.
While paramedics were trying to revive Lucia, water began coming out of her mouth. The bathtub was full of water and clogged with clothing.
When detectives questioned Vazquez, she made "incoherent statements about being trapped by electronics and that everyone has been raped," according to the arrest report. Vazquez also allegedly told detectives "We had to go in the water. We had to be with nature."
She was taken to Ascension St. Mary Hospital for a mental health evaluation.
Vazquez's husband later told detectives she had said she was sorry for suffocating Lucia. Officers arrested Vazquez at the hospital on Thursday, and when she was questioned, she confessed to suffocating Lucia with a white bedsheet, and told detectives "that the voices were in her head and that the voices told her that she needs to kill herself with her daughter in order for the devil not to eat her daughter."
She also told police she tried to drown herself, but couldn't, so began to cut herself.
At her first court appearance on Saturday, a judge ordered Vazquez detained at Cook County Jail while she awaits trial. She also will undergo a mental health evaluation while in custody.
She is due back in court on Tuesday.
