FL-Miami, Woman's body found inside freezer at Dollar Tree Store, Dec. 14, 2025

[Gemmie]

I went searching for an update hoping for some answers, but the additional information has only raised further questions

According to Miami Police, the woman, later identified as 32-year-old Helen Massiell Garay Sanchez, was found inside the Dollar Tree's freezer.

"Complainant found a naked female in the cooler of the store," dispatchers are heard saying over the police scanners.

According to a GoFundMe page said to be set up by her family, Garay was a physician originally from Nicaragua. The fundraiser page described Garay as a devoted doctor and a beloved mother of two children.

The page said Garay was an anesthesiologist who specialized in congenital heart disease, noting that her work brought "hope and healing to countless children and families." According to the fundraising page, Garay died following what the family described as a "tragic accident while abroad."

Questions linger after woman from Nicaragua is found dead inside Dollar Tree freezer in Miami

Miami police are investigating after a 32-year-old woman was found dead inside a Dollar Tree freezer in Little Havana.

www.cbsnews.com

Naked? This isn't sounding good.

 

[nhmemorymaker]

Naked? This isn't sounding good.

When the story first struck... we theorized she may have overheated with the shock of the freezing temps...
Still makes no sense.
Given the language of the relatives (tragic accident) my guess is now that this was a suicide....
but how and why in this manner. ???

I was soooo hoping this new post was going to give us some answers.

 

[Bigditch]

I think SA. Jmo

 

[AnyNameIWish]

When the story first struck... we theorized she may have overheated with the shock of the freezing temps...
Still makes no sense.
Given the language of the relatives (tragic accident) my guess is now that this was a suicide....
but how and why in this manner. ???

I was soooo hoping this new post was going to give us some answers.

There's a thing called "paroxysmal undressing" in people who are exposed to life threatening cold temperatures.

Boring pubmed article: but this refers to people who were intoxicated.

"Paradoxical undressing" in fatal hypothermia - PubMed

The phenomenon called paradoxical undressing has been described from 33 cases of hypothermia collected from Swedish police reports. The cases were almost evenly distributed with regard to sex, age, and geographical distribution. The cases occurred more frequently in open land although cases from...

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

"It is concluded that paradoxical undressing might be explained by changes in peripheral vasoconstriction in the deeply hypothermic person. It represents the last effort of the victim and is followed almost immediately by unconsciousness and death."

Also....

Hypothermia, paradoxical undressing and the Dyatlov Pass

Feeling strangely hot, some hypothermia victims remove layers of clothes before dying from the cold

www.theguardian.com

 

[PatLaurel]

Miami PD: Video taken minutes before doctor entered Dollar Tree freezer is key evidence in victim’s death investigation

Mental illness ruled out as factor in death of Dr. Massiell Garay Sanchez, officer says​

According to the officer who spoke with Local 10 Tuesday, the door to the freezer was not blocked when Garay Sanchez was inside of it and there was even an “emergency release” so the freezer could be opened from the inside.

 

[STLBlues]

Miami PD: Video taken minutes before doctor entered Dollar Tree freezer is key evidence in victim’s death investigation

Mental illness ruled out as factor in death of Dr. Massiell Garay Sanchez, officer says​

According to the officer who spoke with Local 10 Tuesday, the door to the freezer was not blocked when Garay Sanchez was inside of it and there was even an “emergency release” so the freezer could be opened from the inside.

From the article:

The family of a woman who was found dead inside of a Miami Dollar Tree freezer last month has shared video with detectives that shows the victim minutes before she entered the freezer, a Miami police officer told Local 10 Tuesday.

The officer did not disclose any further details about the video...

BBM - The family shared video of her moments before she entered the freezer? Where did this video come from? The Doctor's phone?

Or, did the family get video from the Dollar Tree? If that's the case, why didn't the detectives get the video from Dollar Tree?

This seems a bit strange.

 

[PatLaurel]

BBM - The family shared video of her moments before she entered the freezer? Where did this video come from? The Doctor's phone?

Perhaps the family recovered Garay’s cellphone and obtained videos recorded by her.
Law enforcement ruled out mental health issues, but it still could have been a suicide. If that was the case, I wonder how she knew that no one would follow her to the back of the store?

ETA: MOO JMO

 

[STLBlues]

Perhaps the family recovered Garay’s cellphone and obtained videos recorded by her.
Law enforcement ruled out mental health issues, but it still could have been a suicide. If that was the case, I wonder how she knew that no one would follow her to the back of the store?

ETA: MOO JMO

Yeah, that's what I'm wondering, if the family found video on her cell.

 

[nhmemorymaker]

This one is just so frustrating.............
I feel as if we still know NOTHING..

The video exists...but we know nothing about it either.

 

[JamieLogical]

From the article:

The family of a woman who was found dead inside of a Miami Dollar Tree freezer last month has shared video with detectives that shows the victim minutes before she entered the freezer, a Miami police officer told Local 10 Tuesday.

The officer did not disclose any further details about the video...

BBM - The family shared video of her moments before she entered the freezer? Where did this video come from? The Doctor's phone?

Or, did the family get video from the Dollar Tree? If that's the case, why didn't the detectives get the video from Dollar Tree?

This seems a bit strange.

It could be that a family member video chatted with her prior to entering the store and/or freezer, and that family member has handed over a recording of that chat?

 

[moslym3]

It could be a video note she sent to someone. I send them all the time on whatsapp to my friends. whatsapp being very popular for international folks outside the USA.

 

[bombardier]

This is such a headscratcher, especially because we know there was video footage (either from cellphone from family/victim or CCTV at the dollar tree, i dont believe it was released), theyve somehow ruled out mental illness (im guessing completely normal MH history and acting normally prior to this?), and the emergency release of the freezer was working...and i HAVE to assume if someone was following her or harming her on dollar tree CCTV we would have an arrest or images released of the suspect!
what options are left? all i can think of is drug use (but nothing to indicate that) or sudden medical event (made her feel like she needed to cool down, maybe she was going to find the bathroom to splash some water but passed the cooler and thought it would be better, then fell or fainted once in the cooler).

 

[whowy]

It could be a video note she sent to someone. I send them all the time on whatsapp to my friends. whatsapp being very popular for international folks outside the USA.

Maybe a friend or family member worked at that Dollar Tree & had access to the video before LE became involved?

 

[STLBlues]

This is such a headscratcher, especially because we know there was video footage (either from cellphone from family/victim or CCTV at the dollar tree, i dont believe it was released), theyve somehow ruled out mental illness (im guessing completely normal MH history and acting normally prior to this?), and the emergency release of the freezer was working...and i HAVE to assume if someone was following her or harming her on dollar tree CCTV we would have an arrest or images released of the suspect!
what options are left? all i can think of is drug use (but nothing to indicate that) or sudden medical event (made her feel like she needed to cool down, maybe she was going to find the bathroom to splash some water but passed the cooler and thought it would be better, then fell or fainted once in the cooler).

I have no idea but, medical event or self harm are the only things I can come up with.