What happened at the store
In December a 32 year old physician named Helen Massiell Garay Sanchez was found dead inside a walk in freezer at a Dollar Tree in Little Havana Miami. Authorities say she entered the store the night before, did not make any purchases and was located in an area meant for employees. Early reports said there was no sign of foul play. The scene raised hard questions that neighbors and her family still want answered.
Medical examiner report
The Miami Dade County Medical Examiner concluded the cause of death was environmental hypothermia. The report listed ethanol use as a contributory cause and showed a blood alcohol reading of 0.112 percent. Medical experts noted that hypothermia can cause confusion and paradoxical undressing where victims remove clothing as they become disoriented. Officials classified the death as accidental based on the findings released this week.
Who she was and what her family says
Originally from Nicaragua Dr Garay was an anesthesiologist who worked with congenital heart patients. Her family and a GoFundMe page describe her as a compassionate physician and a loving mother of two children who remain in Nicaragua. They say her life was devoted to healing children and that they hope to bring her home for a proper funeral and burial surrounded by loved ones.
Remaining questions and community reaction
The ruling answers some questions but leaves others. How did she end up in the employee area and why was she alone in the freezer area? Community members and the family understandably want clarity and a simple compassion for a professional who died far from home. These are the kinds of cases that make people ask for clearer safety measures and quicker answers from authorities.
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JIMMY
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I agree something is not right. Normally freezers have an inside button to release the latch if someone gets caught inside.
When they did the autopsy she had some alcohol in her system. But that could have gone done over time.
If she was in employee area someone should have seen her. My bet this isn’t the first time she visited the store.
Where was she before she entered the store? Many questions. Time normally gives us the truth.
All commercial freezers in the US must not have any way for the door to be locked and must have an interior release of the door latch. Authorities should have ruled out any problem with the freezer door getting stuck shut and not being able to be opened from the inside — and SHOULD HAVE included the result of that part of the investigation in their initial report. Since they didn’t, this smacks of a likely murder case. If someone rigged a way for the freezer door to be stuck shut and then lured her into the freezer and shut her in – that is murder – and that should have been ruled out immediately in the investigation – or found it was possible for the door to be rigged to be stuck shut and thus announce the investigation as a possible murder. — There are many ways people can be lured into any particular area, so her being back there would be easy to accomplish for anyone wanting to do her harm. So far, this investigation has the odor of a stocked freezer that’s been shut off and not opened for a long time – or – it’s being reported very badly – or both.