The family of a mother found frozen to d£•th in a supermarket walk-in freezer is suing the store manager.
On December 14, 2025, an employee at a Dollar Tree in Miami, Florida discovered Helen Massiell Garay Sanchez’s body the morning after her visit.
Miami police said there was no evidence the 32-year-old anaesthesiologist was forced into the freezer, but it’s unclear how she got trapped inside.
A $50 million lawsuit blames store manager Yanelkis Gonzalez for failing to locate Dr Sanchez despite being informed she was missing in the store.
It claims that Gonzalez was informed that a customer had not left the store, but “failed to review or use available surveillance footage to determine whether Sanchez remained inside the Dollar Tree Store.”
The manager “failed to timely discover Sanchez’s presence inside the walk-in freezer and to render reasonable aid or summon emergency assistance,” the lawsuit claims.
Gonzalez is accused of “failing to implement, train employees on, and enforce reasonable closing-time policies and procedures to ensure that all patrons and invitees, including Sanchez, had exited the Dollar Tree Store prior to closing,” per the complaint.
Sanchez’s family said the freezer in question was faulty and store workers failed to prevent shoppers from entering it.
It was the following morning that an employee found her body in the cooler from the stockroom and called 911.
It is possible that after becoming trapped inside the freezer, she suffered from hypothermia, which can cause paradoxical undressing before de@th.
Hypothermia can cause victims to think they are overheating, causing them to strip off the clothes they have on.
A GoFundMe set up to raise funds for Helen’s body to be taken back to her home country of Nicaragua described her as “a devoted physician and beloved mother”, in a statement.
“Dr. Garay dedicated her life to medicine, earning recognition as a Anesthesiologist specialising in congenital heart disease whose work brought hope and healing to countless children and families,” it read.
“Her compassion, skill, and commitment to saving young lives defined both her career and her character.
“Her family’s greatest wish is to bring her home to Nicaragua so she may receive a proper funeral and final resting place surrounded by loved ones.”