A flurry of white balloons floated up from West Garfield Park Friday evening as dozens gathered to remember Marisol Berrios, a pastor killed a week ago by a man who did odd jobs in her neighborhood, according to prosecutors.
Berrios was among those in the 4200 block of West Adams Street who would set aside deliveries from a food pantry for the man.
Prosecutors say Marvin Wells, 59, admitted killing Berrios, 53, early Sept. 2 after learning she had just collected the rent from tenants of her three-flat to give to her landlord.
Police officers spotted Wells sleeping behind the wheel of a car belonging to Berrios’ sister. They said he sped away but crashed and that they found a knife, covered in blood, in the car.
Berrios was born in Puerto Rico and moved to Chicago four years ago. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she started an online church, delivering sermons via a podcast. Before that, she had worked with nonprofits and a halfway house.
Carmen Berrios (left), half-sister of pastor Marisol Berrios, hugs her mother Mariella Berrios, Marisol Berrios’ stepmother, during a vigil Friday.
Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere / Sun-Times
“She had so much love for everybody,” said Carmen Berrios, Marisol Berrios’s sister. “She didn’t even have to know you. … She loved you regardless. She just cared so much. She was special.”
Marisol’ Berrios’s father Raphael Berrios, 70, said he was unaware of the reach his eldest daughter had until after he started getting calls from around the world, including from people in Chile and Spain.
“I never had a concept of how widely she was affecting people from all walks of life,” her father said. “Every time I read a message where they praise her and what she did for them, I have to shed a tear.”
Patricia Berrios said the death of her sister is even harder because their mother died two months prior. She said she’s thinking about how the family would gather at Christmas at their mother’s house.
Berrios’s nieces said she always ensured the holidays were special when they were kids and did the same for their kids.
“She helped so many people,” Patricia Berrios said. “She’s helped the community so much. Everything she had was for everybody else.”
A service for Marisol is planned from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday at Alvarez Funeral Directors, 2500 N. Cicero Ave.
“I want everyone to remember her for the hero she is,” Patricia Berrios said.
Mariella Berrios, Marisol Berrios’ stepmother, writes a message on a memorial during a vigil in Garfield Park in honor of Marisol Berrios, who was killed Sept. 2.
Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere / Sun-Times
