Kelli O'Laughlin, 14, Found Fatally Stabbed In Southwest Suburban Home

Girl, 14, Found Fatally Stabbed In Suburban Home

Updated story

Police are speaking to a "person of interest" in the stabbing death of a 14-year-old girl found in her Indian Head Park home Thursday.

Kelli O'Laughlin, a freshman at Lyons Township High School, was discovered by her mother at their home in the 6300 block of Keokuk Road in the southwest suburb about 5:30 p.m., NBC Chicago reports. She was pronounced dead at a local hospital shortly thereafter.

While few details have been released by the South Suburban Major Crimes Task Force, a source told the Chicago Sun-Times that the teen had been home alone at the time she was attacked. The crime is being investigated as a homicide.

Police told reporters Friday afternoon that Kelli may have been confronted by a burglar when she walked in from school Thursday, the Chicago Tribune reports. Police took a man into custody in Chicago late Thursday, and were still questioning him Friday.

According to Western Springs Patch, the suspect was described as a black male with a dark complexion, 30-35 years old, between 5-foot-8 and 5-foot-9 with a medium build. He was reportedly seen in the Indian Head Park area wearing a dark hoodie and carrying a patterned backpack.

Thomas Kilrea, Lyons Township High School District 204 Superintendent, sent an e-mail to the district's parents reporting that a freshman student had died, though he did not provide details or identify the victim. Though the school was previously scheduled to not hold classes Friday, counselors will be made available for mourning students.

"It is with deep regret that I must inform you of the tragic loss of an LTHS freshman student," Kilrea said in the email, as reported by the Chicago Tribune. "The matter is under investigation and the police will share details as they become available. We are not at liberty to disclose the name of the student at this time."

Even before police discussed the incident as a possible burglary gone wrong, area residents suspected that burglary may have played a role in the teen's death. Earlier in the year, the area played host to a spate of burglaries where a man reportedly used Google Maps' "street view" to identify upscale suburban homes and survey their properties in order to plan his break-ins.

Hundreds of friends of the teen were mourning her death on a Facebook page.

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