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Family Of Missing Woman Fear The Worst As A Burned Body Is Found In Riverdale

CHICAGO (CBS) -- A woman's burned body is left near a dumpster in an alley in the south suburbs.

A village inspector made the grizzly discovery.

CBS 2's Vi Nguyen has the story from the Riverdale Police Department, where the family of a missing woman is waiting to see if it's their loved one.

Family reported her missing when she didn't show up to orientation for a new job.

They spent most of Friday afternoon at the police department, working with detectives to see if their loved one is the same person who was found dead on Thursday.

Family and friends of Rachel Catledge waited outside the Riverdale Police Department, fearing the worst. Her cousin went to the crime scene behind an apartment building in Riverdale, praying it wasn't her.

"Don't have a clue. All she did was take care of her son," said Catledge's cousin Harlen Hudson.

Catledge was reported missing this week in Burnham when her mother couldn't get a hold of her. The family put together a flyer to try to find her.

Thursday afternoon, a village employee found a burned body near a dumpster on South Atlantic Avenue while on a routine inspection.

The crime scene is right across the street from where family said Catledge used to live in Riverdale.

"You see it happening to people all the time, but you never think it could be, not someone close to you like this," Hudson said.

The medical examiner said the woman found was strangled and now Catledge's family wants to know if it's really her.

"Beautiful young lady. I wouldn't hope this is anybody's daughter, or anybody's child. I just hate to think what her son has to go through," Hudson added.

The family said Catledge has a four-year-old son and she several tattoos.

It's something the medical examiner is looking at to help positively identify the victim.

 

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