A week after Angelica Arreola and her infant brother Cecilio Montes drowned in Lake Michigan, two small white caskets were lowered into the ground at Queen of Heaven Cemetery in Hillside.
The family members of Angelica, 8, and her 7-month-old brother looked on in stunned disbelief.
Their distraught mother, Roselia Jimenez, had to be guided away from the single grave site where her only children were laid to rest.
The children died after falling into the water at Monroe Harbor as Jimenez, 36, took them for an evening stroll on Aug. 9. Angelica allegedly tumbled into the water after losing her footing as she pitched rocks into the lake.
Police suspect Jimenez toppled the boy’s stroller with him inside as she dove in to save her daughter.
“They were children who didn’t have the opportunity to continue their lives; they are going to be missed,” said Jesus Jimenez, the children’s uncle. “There are no words to express this tragedy. We have to work hard, to get together as a family.”
The Cook County medical examiner’s office ruled last week that the two children drowned and had lingered in the water less than five minutes. They have not ruled the deaths accidental, awaiting the conclusion of a police investigation.
“It’s an ongoing investigation, but it appears to be accidental,” said JoAnn Taylor, a Chicago Police spokeswoman.
Since the children died, family members of the Pilsen woman have been waiting for the boy’s father to return from Mexico where he had gone weeks earlier. He is undocumented and has been stuck at the border, the family said.
The Mexican Consulate in Chicago has been in contact with the family and is attempting to get a humanitarian visa that would allow the boy’s father to return, said Cesar Romero, a consulate spokesman.
“The mother needs a lot of support,” he said.
About 50 family members and supporters looked on at the funeral mass at Our Lady of Tepeyac church in Little Village.
The infant’s small casket was left open in hopes that the boy’s father would make it back in time for the ceremony.
But the father did not. The girl’s father, also in Mexico, has long been separated from and out of contact with Jimenez, her family members said.
Wesley Rodriguez made a special trip to support the family he would occasionally see in the neighborhood. Rodriguez said he was brought to tears.
“It’s heartbreaking. I have a little son about this little guy’s age and a daughter 14 years old,” Rodriguez said. “It brings me an overwhelming sadness. I’m a big dude, but I cry too.”
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Edited by Patrick Olsen (polsen@tribune.com) and Drew Sottardi (dsottardi@tribune.com)
