Carolyn Jones, a 41-year-old woman was found dead inside her apartment on November 26, 2025, the day before Thanksgiving. Chicago Police are investigating the death as a homicide after an autopsy confirmed Carolyn died from strangulation. Her estranged husband, whom she had recently asked to move out, has been taken into custody and charged with first-degree murder.
Surveillance cameras from the building in the 6900 block of South Indiana Avenue captured the estranged husband entering and leaving the apartment multiple times in the early morning hours. At one point he is seen carrying bags to his vehicle.
Around 5:45 a.m., Carolyn’s son came home and smelled natural gas. He found a candle burning and a towel stuffed under a rear door. The estranged husband then told the boy his mother was unresponsive in her bedroom. Together with Carolyn’s two sons, he carried her to his car and drove her to the University of Chicago Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead.
Detectives quickly focused on the estranged husband after reviewing the video and noting the suspicious circumstances inside the apartment. He was arrested the following day and remains held without bond.
Carolyn Jones grew up on Chicago’s South Side and was known for her warm smile and fierce love for her two boys. She worked hard to provide for them, balancing jobs in customer service while making sure her sons never missed a game, a parent-teacher conference, or a home-cooked meal. Friends say she was the mom who danced in the kitchen while cooking and who always had an extra plate ready for anyone who stopped by.
She loved simple things: Sunday church services, decorating for the holidays, and planning family gatherings where her laugh filled the room. Carolyn was in the middle of rebuilding her life after asking her estranged husband to leave, focusing on creating a safe and happy home for her children.
Greater Grand Crossing has lost a devoted mother far too soon. Carolyn Jones’s light was taken in the very place she should have been safest, leaving her sons and loved ones to face a future without her. The community is rallying with meals, support, and a GoFundMe to help with funeral costs and the boys’ care.
Funeral arrangements will be announced by the family. Until then, Chicago holds Carolyn’s sons close and remembers a woman whose love was bigger than any darkness that tried to take it away.
