Young mom found shot to death in car, 2-year-old daughter left unharmed in backseat: Joliet police

JOLIET, Ill. (WLS) -- Police in southwest suburban Joliet are conducting a homicide investigation after a young mom was found shot to death in her car with her daughter in the backseat, unharmed.

Maya Smith, 24, was pronounced dead early Sunday morning. Police said she was found in her vehicle shot multiple times a little after midnight in an alley near the 1200-block of Clement Street in Joliet.

Smith's friends and family described her as a vibrant person, kind and generous and a loving mother who was a rock to the people in her life.

"She always came through for me all the time... For me, I lost a sister. Maya was more like a sister to me than anything," close friend Tasia Waters said.

Smith's 2-year-old daughter was found in the backseat unharmed. ABC7 was told that child is being cared for by family.

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"She was very, very picky with who can take care of her daughter. I loved, I loved that about her. It was like she always wanted her safe all the time," Waters said. "She was a genuine person. She was very sweet. So sweet."

Waters said Smith had a job at a bank, but was going back to school and was taking business courses, with a goal of perhaps starting a business one day.

"She wanted to own her own business," Waters said. "She was going to be successful any kind of way she could."

Waters said she was planning to work food delivery that night, so that could explain why she was in her car.

Joliet police had scheduled a news conference for Monday afternoon but then canceled it, citing the fluid nature of the investigation and some new information they're working with.

They did say that no one is in custody in connection with this shooting.