Forest View Nursing Student Died Of Strangulation, Smothering: ME

CHICAGO — A 20-year-old nursing student from Forest View who went missing last weekend and was found unresponsive in a car on Friday, died of strangulation and smothering, the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office determined on Sunday.

Charisma Ehresman was reported missing on Jan. 23 after she left her Forest View Home, police said. On Friday, the woman was found in a car in the 5900 block of West Iowa Street in Chicago’s Austin neighborhood at 5:30 p.m. She was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.

Ehresman was reported missing at 10:20 p.m. and police said that she missed work and had no contact with her family after she left home last weekend. The car in which Ehresman was found had been parked in the location on West Iowa Street since Jan. 24, police said.

The county medical examiner’s office ruled her death a homicide on Sunday. Police said Sunday that they have no suspects in custody and that the investigation into her death continues.

A GoFundMe effort started on Friday has raised more than $16,000 as of Monday morning. Organizers of the fundraising effort said that the money will be used for Ehresman’s funeral expenses and lost wages as the family deals with the death of the young woman.

The GoFundMe said that heaven gained a beautiful angel and that the family is “truly blessed to have such an amazing outpouring of love and support,” Ehresman’s grandmother, Kathy Ehresman, wrote on the page.

Eheresman’s father, Jeffrey, told NBC 5 Chicago that his daughter had “a smile that could change your life.”

“She was known for her smile,” Jeffrey Ehresman told the station. “Her amazing hugs. And her laughs. If she hugged you, you felt pure love even if you were a stranger. Her worst flaw was that she couldn’t see the bad in people.”

Ehresman's grandmother said on the GoFundMe page that plans for a memorial service are still being finalized.

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