Marelbi Ruiz Lara: Woman, 47, found dead in posh Miami hotel room where door was jammed by mattress
MIAMI, FLORIDA: Police have launched a homicide investigation after a 47-year-old woman was found dead in a Miami beach hotel room that caters to flight crews on Tuesday night, December 6.
On Wednesday, December 7, Ernesto Rodriguez, a police spokesperson informed NY Post in an email that Miami Beach Police were called to the Sherry Frontenac Hotel, located at 6565 Collins Avenue, just before 7.pm after a woman called as she wanted a check on the welfare of her co-worker whom she last saw four days ago on Saturday, December 3. The officers found the woman's body inside the room. The victim was identified as Marelbi Ruiz Lara by her family members.
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Lara’s son Nelson Tabares from Columbia told NBC Miami that his mother worked in that area and had been living in the hotel room with her partner. He said that he was growing worried after not being able to hear from his mother for several days and eventually called the hotel staff to check in on her in her 10th-floor room. However, when the security tried to open the door they found a mattress propped against it making it difficult to open it.
"They used blunt force to go in," Tabares said. "The workers of the hotel, after using force ... they didn't find belongings of the two people living there. They got scared. They were nervous." Lara was reportedly staying in the hotel room with her partner who was assigned to a remodeling job in the building.
Authorities are yet to reveal a suspect but Tabares believes Lara's partner killed her and then took his own life on the side of the road in Sarasota, said the NBC outlet. Officials are yet to confirm this information but the events coincide with a report of a suicide Tuesday on I-75 in the same city.
The Miami-Dade Medical Examiner’s Office removed the woman’s body at about 10.30 am Wednesday. The cause of death is currently under investigation. As per NY Post, Lara was not an airline employee and the hotel only serves airline pilots and flight attendants. Miami Beach Police are investigating the death as a homicide and are actively following several leads, officials said. The authorities have confirmed that there is no threat to the general public.
"I think it’s a terrible thing, right here in the middle of the beach to have this kind of occurrence," said resident Alicia Darias. Desiree Arnold of Jacksonville told WPLG that she noticed a heavy police presence on Tuesday night. "We are here on vacation. We are like four hotels away, so now I am like, 'Are we safe?'" she said.