South Side Alderwoman, State Rep Demand Full Investigation After Woman Found Dead in Back of the Yards Garbage Can

A woman found dead inside a garbage can in a Back of the Yards alley over the weekend has been identified by local officials as Zenobia Weatherspoon, a lifelong resident known to neighbors as a caretaker for her grandmother and, to at least one elected official, as the babysitter for her kids.

Chicago police said officers found the woman's body around 6:25 p.m. Saturday inside a garbage can in an alley in the 700 block of West 54th Street. Detectives opened a death investigation, and the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office had not released an official identification or cause of death as of Monday afternoon. Ald. Stephanie Coleman (16th) and State Rep. Lakesia Collins named the woman as Weatherspoon, who went by "Zee."

Coleman called Weatherspoon a "beautiful individual" who cared for her grandmother and said her death has cast "a dark cloud over the community and her family."

"It's a huge loss that a young Black woman's life has been taken," Coleman said Tuesday.

Collins, who represents the district and grew up watching Weatherspoon in the same Back of the Yards blocks, called the death "profoundly personal." She said Weatherspoon had babysat her own sons.

"Zenobia was a beloved member of our community who even babysat my boys," Collins said in a statement posted online. "We demand a full, thorough investigation, and we pray that the perpetrators of this heinous act are swiftly brought to justice."

Neither official's statement specified what led investigators to treat the death as suspicious, and police have not released details about how Weatherspoon died or when she was last seen alive. The medical examiner's office is expected to determine the cause and manner of death following an autopsy, though no timeline has been given for when that finding will be made public.

The alley where Weatherspoon was found sits in a stretch of West 54th Street lined with garages and back lots typical of the working-class blocks that make up Back of the Yards, a neighborhood on Chicago's South Side long shaped by the stockyards that once dominated its economy and gave the area its name. Coleman and Collins said Weatherspoon spent her whole life in the neighborhood and was known well beyond her immediate family.

Coworkers, family members and community figures had not issued a joint statement as of Tuesday. Coleman and Collins both called on police and the medical examiner's office to give a swift and complete accounting of what happened, citing Weatherspoon's ties to multiple generations of families in the neighborhood.

Chicago police have not announced an arrest or named a suspect. Detectives assigned to the case have not said whether they are looking for a specific person or persons in connection with Weatherspoon's death, and no additional details about the circumstances of her death, including any injuries found on her body, have been released publicly.

Coleman's office said it would keep pressing police for updates as the investigation continues. Collins said she plans to stay in contact with Weatherspoon's family.

Anyone with information about Weatherspoon's death is asked to contact Chicago police detectives. The medical examiner's office is expected to release the results of the autopsy, which will determine the official cause and manner of death.