So far, police have had little to say about their ongoing investigation as neighbors remember Alicia Coronel as kind and gentle.
Two homemade crosses have been placed outside the Bolingbrook home where a woman and her adult son were found shot to death in what appears to be a murder-suicide.
"It's hard to explain that in your own neighborhood and then happening around thanksgiving and then your own family, it's terrible," said neighborhood resident Carmen Calez.
Police found the 69-year-old Coronel and her son 37-year-old Anthony Rataiczyk dead from gunshot wounds.
Authorities were called to the home in the 100 block of Lake Shore Drive in the southwest suburb late Friday afternoon.
Coronel's neighbor called 911 for a well-being check after she says the victim 's ex-husband told her he'd come to check on her after she failed to show up for a gathering with close friends.
He'd been calling and texting Coronel but had gotten no response.
"He said something was wrong. If she goes out she takes her car," said neighbor Alicia Morales.
Alicia Morales says Coronel's ex-husband even called a family friend looking for Coronel.
"About 5 minutes later those people from Joliet called him and told him that the son had called them and told them that he killed his mother," she said.
Saturday afternoon, police have not detailed a motive for the crime as they continue their investigation but say they believe Rataiczyk shot his mother, and then killed himself.
"The neighbors say he had problems and he had a key to her place but I really don't know what happened," said neighborhood resident Bertha Hampton.
The attack has left some in the usually quiet McKenzie Falls Senior Living Community on edge and many more asking why a son would commit such violence against his mother the day after Thanksgiving.
"But this is really a tragedy and I'm very sorry to hear about that especially during the holiday season," said Loni Forester.
The neighborhood is still reeling from the attack and act of violence allegedly from a son toward his mother. Police are not clear whether the son and the mother lived in the home together. The autopsies are scheduled for a later date.
