April 16, 2010 12:34 PM | 14 Comments | UPDATED STORY
An 85-year-old man is suspected of using a rope to strangle his ailing wife before killing himself in their Andersonville home, officials and family said.
Celestino Suarez and his 78-year-old wife, Thais Suarez, were found dead in their home on the 1600 block of West Balmoral Avenue after a caregiver for the couple was unable to get inside at about 8:30 a.m., according to police and family.
Celestino Suarez was pronounced dead at 11:05 a.m. and his wife was pronounced dead at 11 a.m. at the Cook County medical examiner's office, a spokesman said.
A family member said the couple had been married more than 50 years. For the last three years or so, Thais Suarez had been ill and bedridden, suffering from severe Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease.
"She couldn't do anything; she was like a baby,'' the family member said.
He said Celestino Suarez would open the door for the caregiver every day but failed to do so today.
Police believe Celestino Suarez strangled Thais Suarez with a rope and hanged himself in a bathroom, according to the family member.
Charles Wolberg, a neighbor who lived in the neighborhood for 14 years said he was surprised to hear about what happened.
He described the man as "mild mannered and very friendly" and said he would always exchange greetings and small talk with the man who sat on his front steps. He said he had never met the man's wife.
"He's a little old guy completely incapable of something like this,'' Wolberg said.
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