Police: Mount Prospect couple's deaths a murder-suicide

The fatal stabbings of a Mount Prospect couple found dead in their home's bathtub Tuesday morning was a murder-suicide, authorities say.

The bodies of July Diaz-Hernandez, 31, and Victorino Lopez-Rosales, 46, were discovered by family members at 8:34 a.m. Tuesday in their apartment on the 500 block of West Dempster Street, said officer Greg Sill, public information officer for the Mount Prospect Police Department.

The unmarried couple had two small children who lived in the apartment with them. The children, who were unharmed and did not witness the killings, are now being cared for by family members who live nearby, Sill said. Police were not releasing the children's ages.

The classification of the deaths as murder-suicide was based on autopsy results from the Cook County medical examiner's office, which ruled Diaz-Hernandez's death a homicide and Lopez-Rosales' death a suicide.

Diaz-Hernandez was discovered with knife wounds on her body, while a knife was found protruding from the chest of Lopez-Rosales, Sill said. Both were pronounced dead at the scene.

Sill said there were no records of domestic abuse reports in the household, and Cook County court records do not show any criminal charges against either Diaz-Hernandez or Lopez-Rosales.

“We've never been called there,” said Sill, adding that it is unknown how long the couple lived in the apartment.

The investigation was not able to establish a clear time frame or motive for the killings but is now considered to be closed, he added.

The apartment is in one of the individually owned, six-unit buildings of the Windsor Courts complex, just west and across the street from the Mount Prospect Park District's RecPlex facility.