'How Will I Tell My Brother Our Mother Is No Longer With Us?'

OAK LAWN, IL — In her last hours of life, 66-year-old Maria Anita Chacon laughed and danced all night long with her son, Tomas, 30, at a cousin’s family cotillion, a rite of passage in the Mexican culture marking a girl’s passage into young womanhood on her 15th birthday.

“They had a close bond. My brother lives with my mother,” Chacon’s daughter, Rosio, told Patch. “He wasn’t looking for a girlfriend or a spouse because he wanted to take care of my mother until she got old. They were always together.”

When the party ended, mother and son stopped at Huck Finn Donuts in Oak Lawn for a late night snack before heading home to Calumet Park.

“We had a wonderful night,” said Rosio Chacon, who lives in Munster, IN. “I called them an hour before the accident and said I would see them the next morning.”

Moments later, sitting in the left lane at 110th Street and Cicero just blocks away from the restaurant where Anita and Tomas shared their last meal, a Dodge Charger slammed into the rear of Tomas Chacon’s Lincoln at 1:50 a.m. Aug. 21. The impact forced the Lincoln into the path of an oncoming Dodge Ram Pickup truck that slammed into the Chacon’s vehicle head on.

Another car, a Honda Accord, that witnesses said appeared to be drag racing with the driver of the Charger, left the roadway and hit a bench, rolling over several times until it came to a stop on its side in the Mariano’s parking lot.

Anita, as she was known to family and friends, and Tomas were both removed unconscious from the wreckage, and rushed to Advocate Aurora Medical Center. There, doctors pronounced Anita dead at 2:31 a.m.

“I get ready, I go to sleep,” Rosio said. “Then my cousin called to say my brother had an accident and told me to rush to Christ Hospital.”

Tomas remains medically sedated in critical condition, with life-threatening injuries, including brain trauma, bruised lungs and fractured ribs. The ligaments from his neck overstretched from the force of the Charger hitting the Lincoln, which Oak Lawn police said was driving 110mph.

Anita Chacon was a good woman. She was a single mom who raised her son and daughter on her own. She emphasized the importance of education, made sure her children did their homework and showed respect to their teachers.

“She made me the woman I am today,” Rosio Chacon said. “She made me strong.”

As a home caregiver, Anita constantly fussed over her elderly clients, calling them after their doctor appointments and checking up on them.

“My mother went beyond her job description,” her daughter said. “She helped her family in Mexico, too.”

One of the most heartbreaking things Rosio Chacon had to do was tell her three daughters, ages 14, 11 and 5, the next morning that their beloved grandmother was gone.

“My mother helped me a lot with babysitting,” she said. “The love she gave my daughters is what I’ll remember most. She was especially attached to my 11-year-old. They were her girls.”

As hard as it was to tell her daughters their grandmother was dead, the biggest heartbreak has yet to come: telling her brother their mother has died when he wakes up. Rosio wants to know if Tomas saw their mother, if she screamed.

“He’s going to have a tough time, but even tougher when I tell him the news that our mother is no longer with us,” she said. “I don’t know where I’m going to find the words.”

Anita Chacon’s 98-year-old mother, in Mexico, still has not been informed of her daughter’s death.

Rosio’s cousin has set up a GoFundMe campaign to help the family with funeral expenses for Anita, and medical expenses for Tomas. While Rosio is financially stable, it’s an expense she doesn’t have the money for. She believes her brother will be in the hospital for a long time.

“People should think about their actions, the server, the person that’s drinking, not to drive or race,” she said. “They’re not the only ones in this situation. My family was impacted first. [The drivers’ children] will also be affected because of their choices.”

The family has hired the law firm, Taxman, Pollock, Murray and Bekkerman, which has launched an investigation.

“From a legal standpoint, we’re walking the route where it happened, gathering video from businesses, police cameras, video from the bar,” attorney Marc Taxman said. “We’re leaving no stone unturned.”

Since the shock of learning of her mother's death and her brother’s devastating injuries, Rosio says she’s feeling a little calmer. This coming Sunday, her family will come together to celebrate her mother’s life and pray for her brother’s recovery, with a Mass planned on Labor Day.

“With the faith of God and everybody that’s giving me support, I’m a lot calmer,” Rosio said.

The drivers of the Dodge Charger and Honda Accord, Steven Bradford, 39, and Joann McNary, 32, respectively, admitted to spending the evening drinking at the Gaslight Bar in Oak Lawn, which had recently been acquired by new owners. The Gaslight, also known as On the Rocks, was already set for a hearing on Aug. 30 before the Oak Lawn Liquor Commission, for alleged liquor license violations. The bar’s liquor license was immediately suspended following the fatal accident.

Village officials have struck a tentative agreement with the owners to close the Gaslight and not seek to reopen in Oak Lawn. In exchange, the village will not impose fines.

The hearing will take place 10 a.m. Tuesday, Aug. 30, at Oak Lawn Village Hall.