The body was discovered Monday morning at the Whitehall Hotel on E. Delaware. Early in the day, police were calling the incident a death investigation, but around 4:30 p.m. Monday they had reclassified it as a murder.
There is a tentative identification on the victim. The identification is not being released because next of kin have not yet been notified, but the Medical Examiner's office is saying she is 22 and from Dallas, Texas. She suffered a gunshot wound to the head and was found dead in her 7th floor hotel room.
It is not yet clear who discovered the body, whether hotel staff or someone else, but the 911 caller at 10:00 a.m. said the woman was not conscious and non-responsive.
Crime scene investigators spent several hours processing the hotel room. They left Monday afternoon with what appeared to be a piece of luggage and other crime scene evidence that had been bagged up for further study.
Police Monday afternoon were saying very little and the hotel is not commenting at all, so it is unknown when the young woman from Dallas checked in or what the purpose in coming to Chicago might have been.
Hotel guests ABC7 spoke with Monday did not know much of anything; no one heard anything suspicious until we told them, but police continue to investigate after having canvassed the neighborhood.
