A GoFundMe has been started to help Dr. Helen Garay’s family fly her body back to Nicaragua. Garay’s body was found in a walk-in freezer in a Little Havana Dollar Tree store on Sunday morning, Dec. 14, 2025
GoFundMe
The woman whose body was found Sunday morning in a walk-in freezer of a Little Havana Dollar Tree was a mother of two and an anesthesiologist in her native Nicaragua.
Dr. Helen Garay of El Viejo, Nicaragua, was 32.
Finding no foul play after investigating Sunday morning and early afternoon at the Dollar Tree, 968 SW Eighth St., Miami police classified Garay as an “unclassified death” and await the Miami-Dade Medical Examiner’s report.
Why Garay entered the freezer remains under investigation.
Garay’s Facebook page said she was an anesthesiologist specializing in congenital heart disease at Manuel de Jesús Rivera Children’s Hospital in Managua, Nicaragua, and worked as an anesthesiologist at Dr. Mauricio Abdalah Hospital in Chinandega, Nicaragua.
In September, she attended a Mexican Society of Cardiothoracic Anesthesiologists conference.
Garay’s social media showed she’d been in Miami since Dec. 4, at least, visiting relatives. Her son and daughter remained in Nicaragua.
A GoFundMe page set up Sunday has $5,991 of a $20,000 goal.
“The family is currently raising funds to cover the costs of repatriation, transportation, and funeral services in Nicaragua,” the GoFundMe page said. “Any contribution, no matter the amount, will help honor her life and legacy and support her children during this devastating time.”
This story was originally published December 15, 2025 at 4:34 PM.
David J. Neal
Miami Herald
Since 1989, David J. Neal’s domain at the Miami Herald has expanded to include writing about Panthers (NHL and FIU), Dolphins, old school animation, food safety, fraud, naughty lawyers, bad doctors and all manner of breaking news. He drinks coladas whole. He does not work Indianapolis 500 Race Day.
