An 84-year-old woman found dead inside her Morgan Park neighborhood home in what was thought to be a non-criminal death actually died of a violent assault that was ruled a homicide, according to an autopsy performed on Saturday.
The woman was found inside the residence in the 11000 block of South Washtenaw Avenue around 8:45 a.m. Thursday, according to Chicago police.
Authorities said the woman had no visible injuries and tentatively classified her as a non-criminal death pending an autopsy, police said.
But an autopsy performed instead found that the woman, Benilda Ruiz, died of multiple injuries during an assault and that the death was ruled a homicide, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.
Police have yet to reclassify the death.
