Kelli Joy O’Laughlin, a 14-year-old from Indian Head Park who was murdered in a home invasion Oct. 27, 2011, was honored Saturday with a memorial at the Plainfield Road bridge over Interstate 294.
O’Laughlin was a freshman at Lyons Township High School, and in the years since her classmates have supported her memory by holding fundraisers for the Kelli Joy O’Laughlin Memorial Foundation, a fund that provides scholarships to area students.
Her classmates were in part behind the memorial Saturday as well as a separate fundraiser for the KJO Memorial Fund.
Emmett Corrigan, a member of Not Your Father’s Foundation, said he and others in his group lobbied Illinois House Republican Leader Jim Durkin of Western Springs and state Sen. John Curran to pass a law formally dedicating the bridge to O’Laughlin.
“We felt pretty moved by everything the KJO Foundation does,” Corrigan said.
The bridge has been the site of several messages to remember O’Laughlin through the years, spelled out in plastic cups poked through the cyclone fencing.
A neighbor of O’Laughlin’s, Sharon Allison, recalled the teenager as being generous and kind.
“Just a few days before she died I was out … by myself raking leaves,” Allison said. “It was the end of October and she said, ‘Hi can I help you?’ So I handed her a rake and we raked leaves in my yard and we had a gay old chat. She was an old soul.”
John Wilson of Chicago was convicted of first-degree murder for the stabbing death and home invasion, and sentenced in 2014 to 160 years in prison.
Both Durkin and Curran also praised O’Laughlin. Durkin said her memory would remain permanently in the area because of the bridge memorial. Curran pointed out that the dozens of people in attendance show she is still beloved.
“It really is a testament, the way this has continued to permeate throughout the community, her spirit and her love of life, and I’m thrilled were going to have this permanent marker in her memory,” Curran said.
Durkin handed O’Laughlin’s parents, Brenda and John, a mounted framed copy of the bill. Brenda O’Laughlin said the memorial touched her family.
“The joy we are feeling today with the naming of the Kelli Joy O’Laughlin Bridge is a joy we will feel forever,” she said. “We can’t thank Not Your Father’s Foundation enough. Not Your father’s Foundation, thank you for taking up the challenge.”
A representative from the foundation handed the family a check for $8,500, proceeds from a June charity event. The money will toward their memorial foundation.
The Kelli Joy O’Laughlin Memorial Foundation’s annual charity race is Oct. 6 this year. Early registration is now open and people can sign up at www.firstgiving.com.
![An extra-alarm fire destroyed a home and damaged two others on the near West side Wednesday night, though fire officials said no one was injured in the blaze. The fire broke out around 8:30 p.m. on the 1300 block of West 16th Street in the Pilsen neighborhood, according to a social media update from the Chicago Fire Department. Officials quickly upgraded the blaze to a 2-11 fire. Neighbors who clustered around the scene Wednesday night said the home had been under construction and appeared to be vacant. Although the fire was declared struck out at 9:30 p.m. in a social […]](https://www.chicagotribune.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/ctc-l-structure-fire-041724-06.jpg?w=525 "An extra-alarm fire destroyed a home and damaged two others on the near West side Wednesday night, though fire officials said no one was injured in the blaze. The fire broke out around 8:30 p.m. on the 1300 block of West 16th Street in the Pilsen neighborhood, according to a social media update from the Chicago Fire Department. Officials quickly upgraded the blaze to a 2-11 fire. Neighbors who clustered around the scene Wednesday night said the home had been under construction and appeared to be vacant. Although the fire was declared struck out at 9:30 p.m. in a social […]")
