Woman Slashes 7-Month-Old's Throat With Circular Saw
By Chuck Sudo in News on Mar 10, 2015 4:00PM
A 52-year-old woman is in custody and authorities are investigating the circumstances behind the grisly death of a 7-month-old girl in Little Village Monday.
Authorities responded to a 911 call on the 2800 block of South Avers around 9:30 a.m., where they found Rose Herrera dead. Her neck was slashed with a circular saw. The woman, Rose’s grandmother, allegedly slashed her throat with the saw to stop her from crying. The woman also allegedly stuffed a sock in the baby’s mouth and hit her in the head with a pipe wrench before using the circular saw; she then slashed her own throat with it. The two were found by another relative.
The woman, identified as Rose’s grandmother, is in stable condition at Mount Sinai Hospital. She was taking antidepressant medication at the time of the incident. Rose’s immediate family hasn’t spoken with media yet and DCFS has no records of previous contact with the family.
Family friend Ben Llamas works with Rose’s father at a grain elevator in Beecher and said his friend was distraught when he received the news.
"He adored her," Llamas said of the father, who is 23. Llamas said he drove him to the house on Avers. "He was upset," Llamas said, but didn't talk about what happened. "There's nothing better than kind of minding your own business," Llamas said. "We just drove in silence. He was in shock."
Neighbors described the woman as nice and shocked such an incident could happen to the family.