Scene where Ania Kosinska and Victoria Kotlinski were stabbed to death / Photo by Al Podgorski
BY BRIAN SLODYSKO
Chicago Sun-Times
A 35-year-old man has been charged in the Sunday murders of his live in girlfriend and their 7-year-old daughter, authorities said.
Maciej Kotlinski, of the 3400 block of North Odell Avenue, faces two counts of first-degree in the Northwest Side slaying, Chicago Police announced Monday night.
It all began in north suburban Waukegan on Sunday morning, when a suicidal man confessed to police that he’d “harmed his family.”
Soon police cars raced through Chicago’s Dunning neighborhood until they reached the home Odell Avenue home. Inside, they found the bodies of 34-year-old Ania Kosinska and 7-year-old Victoria Kotlinski about 9 a.m. Sunday, authorities said.
A Monday autopsy determined both died from multiple stab and incise wounds, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office, which ruled the deaths homicides.
A police source said the family’s dog and two cats were also fatally stabbed in the home.
Neighbor Maggie Witucki said her friend used to babysit the couple’s two girls. She said the couple would bicker often, and neighbors sometimes had to call police when things got loud, but the squabbling never turned violent.
Another neighbor, Patti Schoessow, said she saw the family out for a stroll Saturday night. Their sheepdog, who the neighbor said is named Lyla, ran across the street into the neighbor’s yard.
The wife chased the dog and promised the neighbor it wouldn’t bite. The husband followed. Then they walked back across the street and began to walk around the block with their two young girls in a motorized toy car.
— Contributing: Sun-Times Media Wire, Frank Main