Police: Woman found dead in apparent domestic-related homicide on Southwest Side

Police are questioning two people after a woman was found killed Wednesday night in the Archer Heights neighborhood on the Southwest Side.

Maria Sadelski, 54, was found at 8:10 p.m. in the basement of a home in the 4800 block of South Karlov, the same block she lived in, according to police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office. She had “blunt trauma to the head” and was dead at the scene, authorities said.

Detectives are investigating Sadelski’s death as a homicide, which may be domestic-related, police said. They are also looking into a vehicle that crashed into a garage after the incident. It wasn’t known where the crash happened or if anyone was injured.

Esmeralda Flores, who said she lives next door to the victim and her two sons, was coming home from work when she saw one of the sons running.

“We heard a really loud noise, so we came outside and we saw that he was screaming, ‘Help,’ and he was on the floor,” Flores told a reporter at the scene.

She saw someone sitting on top of him swinging, Flores said. Arriving officers then asked Flores and her family to go back home.

Flores said the neighbors are always cordial with her and her family.

“They’re really nice to us. Whenever we’re outside they say, ‘Hi, how are you guys doing?’”

Two people were being questioned as of Thursday morning, police said.