May 15, 2012
CHICAGO (AFP) - A newlywed bride was found stabbed to death in her wedding dress in the bathtub of her suburban Chicago apartment, police said Monday.
Police said they believe she was a victim of domestic violence.
Estrella Carrera, 25, got married on Friday to the father of her youngest child, her family said.
Two cousins said Carrera didn't tell many people about the wedding, and simply called that day to invite them to the party.
"This just happened out of nowhere," Jaime Lopez said of the wedding. "It was so fast I couldn't even make to the celebration."
Carrera sounded happy on the phone, but for some reason "she didn't want to tell me she had gotten married," said Sandy Lopez, another cousin.
Sandy Lopez said she didn't approve of the man her cousin had an on-again, off-again relationship with for about three years, but said she wasn't speaking for the whole family.
"He's just a person who had problems," Lopez said without elaborating. "She was a beautiful mother, person, sister."
Carrera was last seen about 2 am Saturday as the festivities wound down. She was supposed to pick up her children -- aged 8 and 2 -- from her father on Saturday afternoon but never came, or called.
When her family checked on the Burbank apartment, there was no answer to their knocks and her car was gone.
Police discovered her body on Sunday afternoon.
