MIAMI, FL- The family of a Florida anesthesiologist who ended up dying inside a freezer at a Miami Dollar Tree store last year has filed a $50 million lawsuit, accusing the store’s manager of telling a worker on duty “not to review the surveillance footage” and for failing to take “reasonable action to locate or assist” the victim, Law & Crime reports.
Helen Massiel Garahy Sanchez, 32, was found inside the Dollar Tree in the Little Havana section of Miami on Dec. 14, 2025. According to a 911 dispatch recording, the 911 operator was heard saying, “Complainant found a naked female in the cooler of the store,” CBS affiliate WFOR reported.
A Miami PD spokesperson told Law & Crime, “We received a call from an employee, who reported that there was a deceased woman inside the business, inside a freezer. No foul play is suspected, but it’s still an active and ongoing investigation.”
On the date in question, police responded to the Dollar Tree and found the victim’s body in a freezer in an employee-only area of the store. Police said it didn’t appear Sanchez was forced into the freezer; however, it is unknown how she ended up being in there. She was allegedly seen by workers entering the store on the Saturday night before it closed.
Sanchez didn’t appear to purchase anything and was observed entering a freezer in the back storage room.
“While an invitee on the premises, Sanchez became trapped inside a walk-in freezer located within the Dollar Tree Store and thereafter sustained fatal injuries,” the legal complaint says.
“At all times material, Dollar Tree owed Sanchez and other invitees a nondelegable duty to exercise reasonable care in the ownership, operation, inspection, maintenance, and supervision of the Dollar Tree Store, including but not limited to: Maintaining the premises in a reasonably safe condition; protecting invitees from foreseeable risks of harm; securing and safely maintaining dangerous instrumentalities, including walk-in freezers; implementing and enforcing reasonable safety policies and procedures; and taking reasonable action to locate and assist invitees after being placed on notice that a customer was missing or unaccounted for,” the complaint reads.
The complaint alleges that the store manager, Yanelkis Gonzalez, was “placed on actual notice” that the victim was missing and “had not exited” the Dollar Tree, with a customer asking him to “review available surveillance footage” to try and locate Sanchez, according to the complaint. However, he refused to do so.
“Gonzalez affirmatively instructed the Dollar Tree employee not to review the surveillance footage,” the complaint says.
The complaint also alleges that Gonzalez failed “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.” Sanchez’s family also alleges that the freezer in question was faulty, and store workers were negligent by allowing shoppers to “access” it.
“Dollar Tree was negligent and breached its duties of care to Sanchez by...failing to install, maintain, and/or implement adequate safety mechanisms within the walk-in freezer, including but not limited to an internal emergency release, latch, or alarm, to prevent entrapment,” the complaint concluded.
Law & Crime contacted Dollar Tree management for comment; however, no response was received.
A GoFundMe has been launched for Sanchez’s family and describes her as a “devoted” doctor and “beloved” mother who “dedicated her life to medicine, earning recognition as a[n] anesthesiologist specializing in congenital heart disease whose work brought hope and healing to countless children and families,” the description says.
“Her compassion, skill, and commitment to saving young lives defined both her career and her character,” the fundraiser continues. “Beyond her profession, she was a loving mother to two children, who remain in Nicaragua, and were the center of her world. Her strength, warmth, and unwavering love for her family will always be remembered.”
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