June 9, 1994.
Her parents, Luis and Marisol Ortega, were driving from El Paso to Chicago. Luis had gotten a job at a meatpacking plant in Joliet. They had everything they owned in the back of a 1986 Chevy pickup. Marisol was eight and a half months pregnant.
Ezoic
“Two weeks from her due date,” Gabby said. “She told my dad she shouldn’t travel. He said they had to. The job started Monday. If he wasn’t there, they’d give it to somebody else.”
They stopped at the Prairie Rest Motel because Marisol couldn’t sit in the truck anymore. Her back hurt too much.
Elmer gave them Room 18. At the end of the east hallway.
“It was the best room,” Gabby said. “That’s what Elmer told them. It was the biggest one. It had a bathtub. He thought my mom might want a bath for her back.”
At ten o’clock that night, Marisol’s water broke.
