Downers Grove police investigating death of pregnant woman after apartment fire as homicide

A 30-year-old pregnant woman has died after being found with apparent sharp force trauma in an apartment fire in the west suburbs Monday night, Downers Grove police said.

Downers Grove police and fire crews responded to a fire at an apartment building just before 6:10 p.m. in the 2300-block of Ogden Avenue, police said.

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The woman was taken out of the building and pronounced dead on the scene.

A second person was taken to Good Samaritan Hospital for smoke inhalation.

Police are treating the incident as a homicide investigation.

The DuPage County Arson Task Force and the Office of the Illinois State Fire Marshal are also involved in the investigation.

The woman’s cause of death will be determined by the DuPage County Coroner’s Office.

A person of interest is in custody, police said, but no charges have been filed.

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Some other residents have been displaced by the fire.

Relatives identified the woman as Eliza Morales.

“She was just very sweet, a very kind person,” one relative said.

She leaves behind a toddler daughter and husband, family said.

“She was just a loving person, kind person. She would take her shirt off her back for anyone,” mother-in-law Angelica Silva said. “We’re in shock that type of evil exists like that.”

She worked in the payroll department of a children’s hospital.

Family members say they believe Morales was home alone and cooking dinner when her attacker knocked on the door. They say food left on the stove after the attack was what started the fire.

Relatives say the young mother was stabbed to death.

“Eliza was six months pregnant, visibly pregnant. Whoever did this knew she was pregnant and didn’t care,” a relative said.

“I can’t imagine type of monster bandit, when he was thinking. She was over five months pregnant, and you do this to a pregnant woman?” niece Diana Varela said.

Relatives are remembering Morales.

“I’m gonna spend the rest of my life missing her. I can get every second back with her and just continue try to live through her for my daughter,” husband Gabriel Morales said.

The incident has left the neighborhood in shock.

“It’s been a lot uproar, and people are take it out as you can see. The building is boarded up pretty good,” Deb Culbertson said.

Anyone with information regarding the incident is asked to call the Downers Grove Police Department at 630-434-5600.