Pregnant DV/Murder Victim had RO System Used Against Her

CHICAGO, IL - It was clear from the detectives' faces that they had come to Theresa Bunn's home with bad news.

Bunn, 21, had been missing since Monday evening, and the pregnant woman's family had hoped hers was not the body found strangled and set ablaze in a garbage bin Monday night, the first of two women found murdered in similarly grisly fashion this week.

Chicago police said detectives had no suspects in Bunn's murder but were talking to people who had "personal relationships" with Bunn.

Police are investigating whether Bunn's murder could be tied to the killing of a second woman, found strangled and set on fire in another dumpster a little more than 24 hours later, 2 miles away, in the 800 block of East 50th Street. That woman, described by sources as black, has not been identified, although police say they have received a number of tips about her possible identity.

Bunn had at least one stormy relationship in her past. She was the target of an order of protection filed in August by a man who accused her of making threatening phone calls to him and his family, saying he was the father of her unborn child and threatening to have him beaten, according to court documents. The man wrote that they had been involved, but that they had not had sexual intercourse. On Sept. 12, Bunn was arrested on charges that she violated the order by allegedly going to the man's home.

Twelve days later, Bunn responded to the man's complaint with a letter, saying the man and his mother were "stalking and harassing" her because she was pregnant with his child.

"I want them to leave me along (sic) they are stressing me out," she wrote. "They are trying to make me lose this baby."

Commentary - More and more frequently, abusers, especially those who have been through the civil restrain system before, are preemptively obtaining R.O.s on thin, contrived, or non-existent evidence to isolate and limit legal options for victims.

1st murder victim identified: City cops canvass worried neighbors
More details from the Chicago Tribune