A pregnant mum has been stabbed to death at home in a horror slaying the authorities believe was carried out at random.
Eliza Morales, 30, was found with 70 wounds, apparently inflicted by a teenage attacker.
Firefighters responding to a blaze at Eliza’s home first found her after the bloody slaying.
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Police have since arrested 19-year-old Nedas Revuckas.
He has been charged with first-degree murder, robbery, arson, homicide of an unborn child and cruelty to animals.
Eliza was reportedly at home cooking dinner when she responded to a knock at her door.
Police said she suffered sharp force trauma, was treated by paramedics, but pronounced dead at the scene.
Eliza, a mother to a two-year-old girl, was five months pregnant with her second daughter at the time of her alleged murder, as reported by Need To Know.
It happened in Downers Grove, Illinois, US.
“The loss of a beloved wife, daughter, and mother – along with her unborn child – has left pain that words cannot fully express,” Morales’s family wrote in a GoFundMe set up to assist with funeral expenses.
“Eliza leaves behind a devoted husband and a precious, beautiful two-year-old daughter,” the victim’s in-laws wrote.
“She came into our lives with a kindness that felt effortless.
“She was the type of person who would give the shirt off her back to a stranger.
“Her generosity wasn’t an act – it was her nature.
“Eliza was a devoted mother, gentle, patient, and fiercely committed to her family.
“She worked hard, not for recognition, but because she believed in building a strong, loving foundation for her family.
“Everything she did was rooted in love.”
Her family said they didn’t know Revuckas.
They said that he had responded to an advert for a truck posted by the victim’s husband.
But he was angry about the condition of the truck and “took out his frustration on her.”
An autopsy found approximately 70 stab wounds and soot in Eliza’s airway.
Her husband, Gabriel Morales, said that he was at work when he received a call saying his wife, and expected baby girl, had been killed.
“I’m going to spend the rest of my life missing her,” the grieving husband said.
“I can get every second back with her and just continue try to live through her for my daughter, and continue to be strong for my family.”
