PILSEN — Employees of a Pilsen laundromat arrived Thursday morning to find their co-worker stabbed to death in a cleaning closet, according to acquaintances.
Around 8:30 a.m., police arrived at Spin Cycle, 1707 W. Cermak Rd., to find the 31-year-old woman had been stabbed in her head, according to Officer Janel Sedevic, a Chicago Police spokeswoman. She was pronounced dead on scene.
Co-workers identified the woman as Soledad Ramos, a Pilsen resident. Cook County Medical Examiner's records listed her name as Maria Soledad, of the 2000 block of West Cullerton Avenue.
"This is so tremendously sad...we don't understand why anyone would do this," said Rosa S., a Spin Cycle employee who declined to say her full last name. "She was bright, curious, and always so friendly. She never bothered anyone, or gave anyone a single reason to do anything to her."
Soledad had been working at the laundromat for about eight years, Rosa said.
Though Rosa didn't see the body herself, she said, a co-worker noticed a pool of blood coming from a cleaning closet near the back of the store. Inside lay Ramos, she said, with a knife planted in her head.
"We think this was someone who knew her," said Rosa, adding that Soledad and her husband had recently separated. "This was definitely not a robber, or someone who broke in during the night."
Police said the murder appeared to be a "domestic-related incident."
No one is in custody and detectives are investigating, Sedevic said.
