The wait is excruciating for the family of a missing woman Thursday night as a body discovered just blocks from her home awaits identification--and they're praying it’s not her.
The Chicago Fire Department sawed into the garage where a body was discovered just 2 blocks from where 26-year-old Shantieya Smith was last seen on May 26 near West 16th Street and Central Park Avenue.
"I don’t sleep I don’t eat I just want her to come home," Smith's godmother Tiffany Scott told NBC 5.
Huge crowds gathered near the police and fire response to the garage, waiting for word as relatives held on to hope.
"I’m hurt--she’s a good girl," friend Edward Owens said. "We just pray it ain’t her in there."
Earlier Thursday Smith's mother questioned police about the status of the investigation into her missing daughter.
“I don’t want to think the worst, that somebody did something to my daughter," Latonya Moore said. "I'm trying to think positive things.”
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Moore and other members of the Lawndale community are worried the disappearance is linked to others.
“Our biggest fear in the community is there's some type of predator loose," said community activist Rev. Robin Hood. "Whether its kidnapping or murder we need answers."
Amy Stanislawczyk, 18, was last seen in the 3600 block of West Filmore on March 16. Sadaria Davis, 15, went missing April 27 from the 4200 block of West Adams Street. Her body was found in an abandoned building.
Smith's family, like cousin Christine Hopkins, is frightened at the thought of her 7-year-old daughter never seeing her mom again.
"What can we say to her when she wants her mom," Hopkins asked. "How could we tell her?"
