Apr 7, 2009 10:47 pm US/Central
Tragedy Strikes Same Family Twice
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
A Chicago family is shouldering a double dose of grief. A hit-and-run driver has taken the life of a teenager just months after the brutal murder of his cousin. CBS 2's Pamela Jones reports the family is trying to cope with support from friends in their south side neighborhood.
Hundreds packed a south side funeral home to say good-bye to 13-year-old Martin Urbina. Jr. Police say
Urbina was walking across the street near 60th and south California Avenue Friday night when a driver slammed into him and kept going.
"Anger, frustration. This guy, he knows he needs to turn himself in," said relative Marisa Mendia.
And for the family, the mourners bringing flowers for Urbina stir up images from another unsolved murder his relatives are dealing with.
Urbina's cousin, 27-year-old
Christina Fernandez, was beaten to death back in October. Police say the woman's husband found her body found the garage behind their home in Alsip.
Speaking only in Spanish, the victim's mother says it was as if she could hear her daughter screaming, 'Mama, they're killing me' on the day she died. She says someone knows who brutally beat her daughter in the head and why.
"It seems like no one knows and no one has any information," said victim's sister-in-law Maricela Fernandez. "No one sees anything, and it's unbelievable."
Fernandez' mother keeps her remains at home as a comfort, and she's raising Fernandez' 1-year-old daughter, too - a bright-eyed child who is now forced to grow up missing her mother's touch and guidance.
"She was so adorable, and a loving mother to her," said Maricela Fernandez. "And now she's left without a mother."
Fernandez had earned a master's degree in business administration and was about to start a nursing job when she died. Her family has increased a reward for information in her case from $10,000 to $15,000.
As for the hit-and-run, the family is hoping it doesn't take cash to push someone to do the right thing, and tell police what they know.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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