Authorities: Pregnant teen killed by boyfriend, his brother

Charges have been filed after the slaying of a pregnant 17-year-old girl who was fatally shot on Christmas evening in south suburban Dolton, authorities said tonight.

Doctors were able to save her baby.

A juvenile has been charged with murder and an adult suspect remains in custody but has not been charged yet, Cook County state's attorney's office spokeswoman Sally Daly said. Daly had no further information.

At 10 p.m., authorities will be announcing the charges, said Dolton Police Chief John Franklin. Franklin declined to elaborate.

Police found the pregnant teen bleeding from a single gunshot in the back of her head, slumped over in the snow Christmas evening in Dolton.

Her grandmother stood by her hospital bed hours later, urging 17-year-old Eva Casara to fight for the life of her unborn daughter.

'You fight hard to save this little tiny baby,' Fannie Casara, 63, remembers telling her granddaughter, who lived in the Chicago Lawn neighborhood on the South Side.'I'll do everything in my power to help raise your baby.'

Eva Casara died just before 11 a.m. Thursday at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, but doctors were able to save her baby, authorities said.

The newborn weighed about a pound and half and was named 'Baby Doe' for the time being, Fannie Casara said. Her name will be Lailani Paris Casara, the name her mother recently chose when she learned she was carrying a girl, relatives said.

'We're taking it hour by hour, day by day,' Fannie Casara said.

Dolton police found Eva Casara around 8 p.m. Wednesday, her body lying between two homes in the 1100 block of East 152nd Street in Dolton. She was taken to St. Margaret Health in Hammond and later to Christ Medical Center.

Police believe she had been shot in the 15200 block of Dorchester Avenue in Dolton, and her body was later moved to the site where she was found.

'She was alive but in very grave condition,' said Chief Franklin.

Franklin said he doesn't have any suspects or a motive. Casara's grandmother didn't say where the victim was going or offer any theories about the crime.

'I don't want to speculate,' Fannie Casara said.

She said Eva Casara was working on getting her GED certificate and planned to go to a community college to make a better life for her daughter.

Police said the victim was 22 to 25 weeks pregnant.

'She was a smart, beautiful young lady,' said Angela Casara, the victim's cousin. 'She was excited when she learned she was having a girl.'

Fannie Casara said she raised Eva Casara since infancy and hopes to care for the newborn as well.

'She looks just like her mother,' Fannie Casara said. 'She's beautiful, and she's so tiny, all those tiny fingers and toes.'