A woman faces felony charges after her 96-year-old mother was found dead inside a freezer at a home on the city’s Northwest Side.
69-year-old Eva Bratcher is charged with concealing a death and possessing a fraudulent ID card.
Family members identified the 96-year-old woman as Regina Michalski, a migrant from Poland after World War II. Bratcher is Michalski’s daughter.
“She was always very sweet to me. I remember growing up, she would visit me in Indiana sometimes,” said Sabrina Watson, the granddaughter of Michalski.
Watson, who lives in Kentucky, says she is the one who called the police to a residence in the 5500 block of West Melrose Monday afternoon. Most recently, Michalski was living in the first-floor unit of an apartment building on the block with Watson’s mother, who owned the property, and to whom Watson is estranged.
Watson said she believed her grandmother had passed away several years ago, but on Monday, she had a gut feeling and decided to check the internet for her obituary.
“I couldn’t find her,” she said. “No record of her being buried or a memorial online or anything like that, so I knew her body was somewhere, it was somewhere, and it wasn’t in the ground.”
The woman’s body was removed from the home, along with a freezer. Chicago police spokesperson Tom Ahern confirmed the woman’s body was found inside the freezer.
People who live in the building said the owner is the only one with access to the garage. Police classified the case as a death investigation.
Watson says once the autopsy and investigation are finished, she will come to the city and give her grandmother the burial she deserves.
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