Theresa Bunn

Theresa Bunn, R.I.P.

Cops Identify Burned Body Of Pregnant Woman

Police Flock In After 2 Strangled, Charred Bodies Found Near Each Other On South Side

CHICAGO (CBS) ― Police late Thursday afternoon identified one of the two women found strangled and burned on the South Side. The family was holding out hope it was not their loved one. As CBS 2's Rafael Romo reports, 21-year-old Theresa Bunn had been missing since Monday, when she told her mother she was meeting a friend at the mall. "She never did make it," Bunn's mother, Rosemary Williams said Wednesday night. "She said she was going to call us about eight o'clock. She never did call. So I haven't heard nothing from her or seen her." Chicago police confirmed Thursday afternoon Bunn's body is the one found in a dumpster in a vacant lot near 61st Street and Prairie Avenue on Monday, just before midnight.

"Theresa Bunn's family was contacted by detectives from our special victim's unit yesterday," said Deputy Chief Michael Shields of the Detective Division. Police say the body was burned beyond recognition. Detectives had to use dental records to positively identify the victim, who was eight months pregnant. "She was just staying here [at home], living with me and trying to go through her pregnancy," Williams said of her daughter. Williams said her daughter was expecting a boy, whom she planned to name Michael after her younger brother.

The body of a second woman found about 1 a.m. Tuesday in a dumpster behind Reavis Elementary, 834 E. 60th St., remains unidentified. "There are common denominators in both of the homicides in that both of the victims were found strangled and both of the victims were found burnt beyond recognition," Shields said.

A roll call for officers of the Third and 21st Districts was conducted Thursday morning at 61st Street and Prairie Avenue, where Bunn's body was found. As police conducted roll call near the Prairie Avenue location, a commanding officer instructed his subordinates to go door to door and ask if anyone had seen anything, and show them a flier they are distributing about the cases. They hope to solve the macabre double mystery. Police have yet to link the two cases due to lack of forensic evidence. "It's a concern for every woman that something like this happened in the area," said area resident Henrietta Limehouse. "You know, you're very concerned, very worried, because I have to walk the streets myself." Police say they have been talking to other people who have missing relatives in an effort to identify the second body.

Detectives collected several items as evidence at the site where the body was found, but so far they have no suspects. There is no description of a suspect. Anyone with information on either of the cases is urged to call police.