Mary Stachowicz (; 1951 – November 13, 2002) was a Polish American woman and mother of four, who on November 13, 2002 was murdered by Nicholas Gutierrez in Chicago, Illinois.
Murder
On November 13, 2002, Stachowicz attended Mass at the Basilica of St. Hyacinth in the Chicago neighborhood of Avondale before beginning a favor as a Polish–English translator at the Sikorski Funeral Home, where Gutierrez worked as a janitor. Nineteen-year-old Gutierrez tipped police off when he speculated that he thought someone had killed her and stuffed her body in the building's crawlspace. He was working at the funeral parlor and had recently been laid off and was being evicted. In a confession videotaped by the Chicago Police, Gutierrez said he panicked because Stachowicz's trying to get him to change his sexuality reminded him of his mother. "She had this sneer, which reminded me of my mother when she used to beat me...I saw nothing but red," Gutierrez was reported saying in the Chicago Sun-Times. Later his defense attorney, Crystal Marchigiani, said that it was Gutierrez who had been physically attacked by Stachowicz, and that, "She could not leave him alone." His defense attorney asked the judge to account for his childhood history of physical abuse, but Stachowicz' son was 100% convinced that Gutierrez should receive the death penalty. Groups such as Concerned Women for America have complained about the comparative lack of media attention given to the case which they believe meets the definition of a hate crime against Christians and heterosexuals.
Writer Rod Dreher has written about her death, arguing that it should receive the same level of media attention as the death of Matthew Shepard.
Catholic Bishop Thomas J. Paprocki, an auxiliary bishop of Chicago who knew Stachowicz personally, called her a "martyr for the faith". On the fifth anniversary of her death, Catholic journalist Phil Lawler called for the opening of a formal beatification process.
See also
- List of homicides in Illinois