They started getting worried the next day when the 26-year-old Carrera failed to pick up the child, a 2-year-old boy, and her 9-year-old daughter. On Sunday, a sister called police.
Officers arriving at Carrera's apartment in Burbank found her dead of stab wounds in a dry bath tub. She was still wearing her wedding dress. Authorities said they believe the slaying was domestic, but would not elaborate. No one is currently in custody, police said.
"We never thought this would happen, she was a strong woman. . .She loved her kids," Carrera's cousin Jaime Lopez said. "Reality still hasn't hit me."
Carrera had gotten married to the father of her son Friday but told few people, according to another cousin, Sandy Lopez.
Carrera called Sandy Lopez on Friday, sounding happy and inviting her to a party. But she said nothing about a wedding. "She didn't want to tell me she had gotten married," said Sandy Lopez, who did not attend the party. "She didn't tell anybody."
Carrera and the man had had an on-and-off relationship for about three years, according to Sandy Lopez. The Tribune is not naming him because he has not been charged with a crime.
Sandy Lopez said she did not approve of the relationship or the marriage, but she could not speak for others in the family.
"He's just a person who had problems," Sandy Lopez said without elaborating. "She was a beautiful mother, person, sister."
Jaime Lopez said Carrera called other relatives to invite them to the party on Friday. She had planned a party on a bus and the group went to several bars.
"This just happened out of nowhere," Jaime Lopez said of the wedding. "It was so fast I couldn't even make it to the celebration."
Carrera had left her children with her father, but she failed to check in or pick them up. Relatives went to her home and knocked on the door but got no answer on Saturday, Jaime Lopez said. Two cars that belonged to her were not parked outside.
The cousins said Carrera was a strong, independent woman who worked as a Spanish language translator for a social welfare agency.
She and the 30-year-old man from the Southwest Side of Chicago applied for a marriage license on May 2, a source said.
Carrera did not yet have a marriage certificate on file, according to the Cook County clerk's office. The marriage is officially recorded after the person who presides over the wedding signs the marriage license and submits it to the office.
Jason Tokarczyk, 24, a neighbor, said Carrera lived in the Burbank apartment for three or four months and he would see her with a young son. He said the woman was very quiet and kept to herself, except for the occasional goodbye or hello.
He said he had never seen her in the company of a man and was surprised to hear that she had been recently married.
"I figured she was a single mom," said Tokarczyk. "She was quiet as a mouse."
About a month ago,, she used his phone to call a locksmith after she was locked out of her home. He last saw her Thursday or Friday and did not see her in a wedding dress.
"I was shocked out of my mind to hear something had happened to her," Tokarczyk said.
The death is being investigated by the South Suburban Major Crimes Task Force, police said.
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