A "person of interest" was being questioned Friday evening in connection with the death of a mother and her adult son who were found a day earlier inside their Southwest Side home, police said.
The investigation into what happened inside the home on the 3600 block of West 55th Street was ongoing, police said. Officials responding to the home near Midway International Airport on Thursday afternoon found the bodies of Carlos Herrera, 22, and his 48-year-old mother, Maria Concepcion.
A Friday autopsy determined the man died as a result of a stabbing. The cause of death for his mother was not immediately clear, officials said.
Relatives said Concepcion was a dedicated, stay-at-home mother and said there was never any violence in the home in the 20 years the family had lived there.
Up until March, Herrera was a student at Southside Occupational Academy. He was described as "bright" and a "shining star of the South Side," and while he lived with autism, teachers said he never let it hold him back.
"When you work with kids like that and you think you have problems and they come to school every day, they help you and you don't even know it," said teacher Marisa Manker.
Police said they believe whoever killed Herrera and his mother may have tried to set the home on fire before fleeing the scene.
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Concepcion and her husband have an 8-year-old son who was not injured.
