14-year-old suburban girl found stabbed to death in home
SUN-TIMES MEDIA WIRE October 27, 2011 11:46PM
Indian Head Park police blocked entry Friday to the wooded neighborhood leading to the 6300 block of Keokuk Road, where a 14-year-old girl was stabbed to death in her home Thursday. Evidence technicians were at the crime scene, police said.
Updated: November 29, 2011 8:32AM
Police were investigating the death of a 14-year-old high school freshman in her southwest suburban Indian Head Park home Thursday. The case was being considered a homicide.
The girl, identified as 14-year-old Kelli O’Laughlin, suffered multiple traumatic injuries in her home in the 6300 block of Keokuk Road in Indian Head Park, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office.
She was pronounced dead at Adventist La Grange Memorial Hospital in La Grange at 5:39 p.m., according to the medical examiner’s office.
The South Suburban Major Crimes Task Force, which was heading up the investigation, could not be reached for comment and Indian Head Park police were not releasing details late Thursday.
However a source told the Sun-Times she was apparently stabbed to death. The medical examiner’s office could not confirm the nature of her injuries.
Another source said the girl was home alone at the time of the apparent attack and that the girl’s mother came home and found her injured.
Nearly 200 Facebook users, including many Lyons Township High School students, posted their reactions to her death under two memorial pages and an event page created on the social networking site late Thursday.
Users on both on Facebook and on a Twitter account associated with LTHS sports said O’Laughlin was a freshman at the school.
Lyons Township High School put links on its website for parents on “how to help your grieving teen” and “talking to children about violence” under the heading “tragic loss of LTHS student.”
Superintendent Timothy Kilrea sent an email to parents Thursday evening.
“Due to a previously scheduled non-attendance day, school will not be in session tomorrow — Friday,” he wrote. “However, LTHS will have social workers on hand at South Campus from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. to provide support to students and faculty. Support will also be available throughout the coming weeks for students in need of grief counseling.”
