The family of a church worker found stabbed to death in a North Side funeral home last month filed a wrongful death lawsuit Thursday against her former co-worker.
The family of Mary Stachowicz is calling for unspecified damages, saying it wants to make sure Nicholas Gutierrez does not profit from the case with books or movies.
“This has been a difficult and painful time for our family,” said Peter Stachowicz, one of the 51-year-old woman’s four adult children.
Gutierrez, 19, is accused of killing the St. Hyacinth Church volunteer after an argument in which she questioned him about his sexual orientation. The two had worked together at the Sikorski Funeral Home, and Gutierrez lived above the business.
The confrontation reminded him of his mother and he became angry, Gutierrez said in a statement to police. Stachowicz’s stabbed and strangled body was discovered Nov. 15 in the crawl space of his apartment.
“The family considers this a very hateful act,” said Timothy Cavanagh, who filed the civil suit on behalf of Stachowicz’s husband, Jerry.
In questioning Gutierrez about his lifestyle, Stachowicz “was trying to help this man,” Cavanagh said.
A grand jury has charged Gutierrez with first-degree murder, burglary and concealment of a homicide. The charges do not address the state’s hate crimes statute, but that issue could come up during sentencing, according to the Cook County state’s attorney’s office. From the criminal defense aspects, firms like dodlaw.com know the nuances.
A pre-arraignment hearing in the criminal case is set for Friday and a preliminary hearing is set for Dec. 31.
No court date has been set for the civil lawsuit.
The case has renewed the debate about hate crimes. Some have said Stachowicz was killed because of her religious beliefs against homosexuality.
They point to the 1998 beating death of gay college student Matthew Shepard.
“These cases have been treated differently,” said John Dickey, executive director for the Illinois Christian Coalition, pointing to the thousands of articles published on Shepard and the few on Stachowicz. “Christians are killed as martyrs all over the world and very little is said about that.”