BY Lynndi Lockenour
The St. Charles Police Department is currently working a homicide involving the death of an 87-year-old female. The victim was identified as Theresa Lovasich, a new resident at Parkside Meadows Independent Living Community who moved there in July. The elderly woman was found deceased, lying fully clothed in the bathtub of her apartment. Her nephew, Archie Scott discovered the body.
Scott said his aunt lived in Forest Park, Illinois and earlier this year expressed a desire to move closer to him. “I began looking for a retirement community and decided on Parkside Meadows because of its stellar reputation,” he said. Lovasich moved to Parkside in early July and Scott said he knows of no reason why someone would do this to her. “She was still getting adjusted to living there,” he said.
A preliminary investigation was conducted at the scene and the body was released to medical examiner Dr. Mary Case who then conducted an autopsy and determined the death a homicide. Captain Gerry Pollard of the St. Charles Police Department would not release information concerning the actual cause of death but did say there was no sign of forced entry into the victim’s apartment.
Scott and a friend went to Lovasich’s door at 9 a.m. Sunday morning with coffee and doughnuts to pick her up, but Lovasich did not answer the door. Scott said his son and other family members had come in from out of town to attend the Festival of the Little Hills. “She loved going to this festival, so the plan was for all of us to go to the festival together,” he said.
When his aunt didn’t answer the door, Scott and his friend looked around the premises, but not having a key to go in and finding nothing, the two left. Scott returned at 11 a.m., this time with his key, and upon entering the apartment found his aunt in the bathtub and said he called 911.
During investigations at the police station, Scott revealed that his aunt had a massive insurance policy, which encompassed several recipients. However, when questioned about the insurance policy, Scott denied knowing anything about it. “I’m not familiar with any such insurance policy at this point,” he said.
Though the Major Case Squad would usually be called in to conduct an investigation of this sort, Captain Gerry Pollard said they aren’t going to be included in this case. “We don’t think this case involves suspects from outside the St. Charles area,” he said. “Therefore we are leaving it up to the detectives in the area.” Pollard said the detectives in St. Charles were capable of handling the case and they weren’t going in the direction of using the Major Case Squad.
Executive Director for Parkside Meadows, Harold Bliggenstorfer, said nothing like this has ever happened at the center since it’s opening in 1977. “The worse thing we’ve ever had happen is someone falling down. Bliggenstorfer stressed that the section of housing Lovasich lived in was “independent living,” which he says means people are free to come and go as though it was a regular apartment. “We don’t have anyone on lock down here,” he said.
After speaking with residents, Bliggenstorfer said he gets the general impression that residents aren’t overly worried about their safety after this week’s occurrence. “I actually spoke with some ladies today who lived in the same building as Ms. Lovasich and they didn’t express a concern to me about feeling unsafe.”
Bliggenstorfer also stressed that Parkside Meadows is not a large cooperation and he said he hopes business is not affected by this devastating event. “We are like a family here,” he said. “I would really hate for one incident after 28 years to influence that family-like feel.” He said the police have been incredible in their efforts to help. “We couldn’t have asked for them to be nicer,” he said.
As for Scott, he simply hopes whoever did this to his aunt is caught. “I hope they give everyone a lie detector test until they figure out who did it,” he said. “I’d even be willing to take one myself if it might help.” Scott described the death of his aunt as a “sad situation” saying he just can’t believe it actually happened.
