Acid Attack Suspect Dies in Jail

A 59-year-old female inmate awaiting trial on charges related to a 2008 disfiguring acid attack on a Logan Square woman died Wednesday.

Linda Dirzo had allegedly helped Ofelia Garcia, of Cicero, in a July, 2008 plot to throw acid on another woman’s face because she was seeing Garcia’s ex-husband.

Dirzo, who was being held at Cook County Jail, was pronounced dead at John H. Stroger, Jr. Hospital of Cook County Wednesday afternoon.

Officials said she had a history of liver cirrhosis and believe her death was natural.

She had been waiting for a kidney transplant and didn’t have much time to live, a Cook County State’s Attorney’s office spokeswoman said several weeks ago.

Surveillance video reported Dirzo driving two females and a male, all juveniles, to the 2900 block of West Altgeld Street, where they accosted Esperanza Medina with a bat and a bottle of acid. One of the youths ended up throwing acid at Medina, according to authorities.

Medina suffered third-degree burns on 25 percent of her body as a result of the attack.