Facebook Postings Prompted Stabbing, Accused's Sister Says
CHICAGO (STMW) -- Disparaging comments made in person and on Facebook may have led a woman to stab her brother's teenage girlfriend eight times on Valentine's Day at her Southwest Side home, a family member said.
Erika Bedolla, 26, is charged with attempted murder in the stabbing of the 17-year-old, a Kelly High School student.
Before being ordered held on $900,000 bail, Bedolla hung her head as Cook County prosecutors offered details in court Saturday of the violent argument they say led the petite woman to stab the teenager at the Bedolla's home in the 4200 block of South Fairfield.
Bedolla's brother saw it happen and called the police, who got there in time to see her still holding a "lethal cutting instrument," according to her arrest warrant.
Bedolla didn't get along with the teenager, her sister, Marlene Bedolla, said Saturday.
The animosity had been building, she said, but she added, "I would have never known that she was going to do this, ever. I just know that she was a little bit different. But I never thought I was going to be in danger being with her. Never."
Marlene Bedolla, 20, said her parents let the teenage girl move in last year because of family problems she was experiencing.
But soon after, the teen, originally from Guatemala, began putting up Facebook wall posts targeting the family and Erika Bedolla specifically, Marlene Bedolla said.
"She was saying things like, 'These people have nothing on me,' " she said. "We all just thought: We're letting you live with us, and you shouldn't be saying that."
After being confronted about the Facebook postings, the teen deleted them but soon put up similar posts, Marlene Bedolla said — about Erika Bedolla's appearance, poking fun of her nose after surgery. A day later at a family dinner, the teen again criticized Erika Bedolla's appearance.
"She was bullied on Facebook," Marlene Bedolla said of her sister. "And she wasn't one to not confront someone."
The wounded girl was in critical condition Saturday at Mount Sinai Hospital with six stab wounds to the abdomen and two to the upper back, prosecutors said.
(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2013. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
