Margarita Acevedo, 37, was found stabbed to death in the 4800 block of West Polk Street, on Chicago's West Side, on the morning of Sunday, August 22, 2021. The Chicago Police Department investigated her death, and Area Four detectives were assigned to the case. The Sun-Times homicide tracker places the address in the Austin community area, although early news reports described the location as Lawndale.
According to Chicago police and the Cook County medical examiner's office, Acevedo was discovered unresponsive about 7:40 a.m. She appeared to have been stabbed in the neck and was pronounced dead at the scene. An autopsy released the next day found that she died of injuries caused by a sharp object. Police did not say whether she was found indoors or outside, who found her, or when she had last been seen alive.
No arrest was reported, and police did not release a description of a suspect, a vehicle or a possible motive.
No reward tied to her case could be found, and no later news story about the investigation appeared in the material reviewed for this account.
A memorial fundraiser posted two days after her death, titled "Memorial: Margarita Acevedo Montes," gives her full name and dates as September 20, 1983, to August 22, 2021, which match her age and the date she was found. The organizer, Sonianne Lozada, wrote: "She was kind, loving and a graceful dancer, that's why I called her my dancing butterfly." Beyond that tribute, little about her life, work or family has been made public. Many other women share the name Margarita Acevedo, which makes her harder to trace in public records.
The 4800 block of West Polk Street is in South Austin, near the western edge of the city, a few blocks east of the border with suburban Oak Park and close to the Eisenhower Expressway. The area is mostly residential, with two flats, small apartment buildings and single family homes. Someone found her early on a Sunday morning, and people who live on the block, or who were up late the night before, may have seen or heard something.
Her sex also stands out. Most homicide victims in Chicago are men, and a woman of 37 killed with a knife to the neck would likely have had close family, friends or a partner who knew where she had been and who she was with in her last hours.
Chicago recorded about 800 homicides in 2021, the deadliest year in the city in a quarter century, after about 780 in 2020. Chicago police reported clearing roughly half of the city's homicides in the years from 2019 through 2023, though those figures count cases closed without charges, so the share of killings that led to a criminal case was lower.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Margarita Acevedo could be found in news archives or public records. More than 5 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who saw Margarita Acevedo Montes on the night of August 21 or the early morning of August 22, 2021, or who knows who she was with, may be able to help. Even a small detail, such as a name overheard, a car seen leaving the area or a conversation remembered, can help detectives move a case forward. Anyone with information can call the Chicago Police Department's anonymous tip line at (833) 408-0069 or submit a tip online at CPDTIP.com, or contact Cook County Crime Stoppers at (800) 535-STOP (7867).
