Abandoned Baby from Chicago Ridge Recycling Center to Receive Christian Burial

Preliminary findings from an autopsy on a baby boy found dead at a recycling center show the infant was less than seven days old and born premature. Police are continuing to investigate where the child came from.

A baby boy found dead inside a cooler at a Chicago Ridge recycling center will be laid to rest next week. The Cook County medical examiner’s office is expected to release the body of the baby, who is being called Jeremiah Michael, to Glueckert Funeral Home in Arlington Heights on Monday. The funeral Mass is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. Thursday at Our Lady of the Ridge Catholic Church, 10820 S. Oxford Ave., Chicago Ridge. Father Wayne Svida, pastor, and Father George Omwando, of St. Catherine of Siena in Oak Park, will be officiating. Burial is expected to follow the Mass at Holy Sepulchre Catholic Cemetery, 6001 W. 111th St. Preliminary finding from an autopsy conducted on May 2 showed the baby had been born sometime during the last seven …

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Injured Man's Death Ruled 'Accidental'

The Cook County Medical Examiner's Office reports on the autopsy of an Oak Lawn man who was found gravely injured on his front doorstep on Jan. 30.

The death of an Oak Lawn man found gravely injured on his front doorstep in the early morning hours of Jan. 30 has been ruled accidental, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office. Sign up for Oak Lawn Patch breaking news alerts. Terrence R. Reichert, 51, was found by his fiancé unconscious and lying near his front door after he had been out the evening before at a Hometown tavern and was dropped off at his home near 109th Street and Komensky Avenue. He died Monday morning at Advocate Christ Medical Center. There was some question by the man’s family whether he had been beaten. Reichert’s body was autopsied by the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office on Tuesday morning. The medical examiner’s office attributed the cause of …

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Editor's Notebook

Even in Death, Friends Remembered Lorraine Savage

Recalling Oak Lawn's most shocking crime of 2011, the murder-suicide of an elderly woman and her son.

To her neighbors, Lorraine Savage was the nice lady who lived down the 4600 block of West 99th Place with the somewhat odd son. Although the 73-year-old was a private person, she always had a wave and a smile for her neighbors. Savage was also a creature of habit, retrieving her garbage can from the curb almost immediately after Veolia Environmental Services collected the trash. So when a neighbor noticed her garbage can still sitting curbside days after the scheduled weekly trash pickup, he brought the can up to her house, thinking Savage was “under the weather.” It never occurred to him to knock on her door, a decision the neighbor later said he deeply regretted. READ '2011's Most Memorable Stories.' Almost a week after he still hadn’t …

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Update: Homicide Victim Reportedly Identified

Chicago Heights Police are investigating a fatal shooting that occurred Friday afternoon

This article was updated at 10:15 a.m. on Feb. 27 The Cook County Medical Examiner's office confirmed Sunday morning that the victim in Friday's shooting death, ruled a homicide, was Derrick Bell, 19, however gave a different address than was previously reported by the Southtown Star. The office said Bell's mother identified him early Saturday afternoon as a resident of the 14900 block of Evers St. in Dolton, IL. Chicago Heights police Sgt. Tom Rogers told the Southtown the victim and a person of interest, who is now in custody, had a disagreement about the alleged theft of a television. Authorities were initially concerned that there might be a hostage situation after responding to a report of shots fired and discovering a dead victim in …

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