MIAMI.– The four people found dead on Tuesday night in a home in the Doral Isles gated community, in the city of Doral, were identified as Melanie Lauren Hyer, 46 years old; Ryan Charles Whiten, 42; and their two daughters, Savannah Whiten, 11, and Sienna Whiten, 8, the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office (MDSO) reported.
The victims had stab wounds and detectives are investigating the case as a homicide-suicide, although they have not specified who they attribute the events to, in an event that this Wednesday kept that community in the west of the county in shock.
Victims
Hyer was a well-known real estate agent in the area, according to what her neighbors told the press. She and Whiten were the parents of the two deceased girls, both students at the Downtown Doral charter school, although the couple did not live together.
Court records indicate that Hyer had been married to another man until March of this year, and that Whiten’s last known address was an apartment also located in Doral Isles.
How the case was discovered
Doral police officers responded shortly after 7:30 p.m. Tuesday to the home in the area of NW 111 Court and NW 72 Terrace, in the Catalina neighborhood of Doral Isles, following a call from a relative who requested a welfare check on the occupants.
Upon entering the residence, the uniformed officers found the four people unconscious and suffering from stab wounds. Personnel from the Miami-Dade Fire Department declared them deceased at the scene.
Investigation
Detectives from the MDSO Homicide Bureau took control of the investigations. The agency indicated that it is handling the hypothesis of a homicide-suicide, but stressed that it has not yet determined which of the people it attributes the events to.
The autopsy by the County Medical Examiner’s Office should specify the exact causes of the deaths. The authorities asked those with information to contact their hotlines or Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers, where it is possible to provide information anonymously.
Shock in the community
The management of the Downtown Doral charter school notified the families of the school community of the death of the minors through a statement. “Our community mourns the loss of two of our beloved students,” said a campus spokesperson, who added that the girls will be deeply missed and extended condolences to their families and faculty.
In turn, the mayor of Doral, Christi Fraga, regretted the event on social networks and revealed that she knew the mother personally. “Our Doral community is heartbroken by the unimaginable tragedy that took the lives of a mother and her two little daughters,” wrote the councilor, who described herself as a mother and assured that the loss hits her closely.
Disbelief predominated among the residents: “It is a very safe community, so we don’t understand what happened,” declared a neighbor identified as Chelo Paredes.
Doral Isles is a residential complex with controlled access and low crime incidence, a circumstance that accentuated the confusion due to the magnitude of the event.
The city of Doral, with nearly 76,000 inhabitants and a strong presence of Latin American communities, is located a few kilometers from the Miami International Airport.
