HIALEAH, Fla. – Hialeah police are investigating a murder-suicide after responding to a home Tuesday night.
According to Hialeah police, the deaths occurred at an apartment building located at 605 West 68th St.
Officers said when they arrived, they discovered two deceased adults, a man and a woman. They were identified Wednesday morning as Clifford Renard Murray III, who turned 28 Tuesday, and Rosemary Gutierrez, 27.
According to authorities, Murray and Gutierrez were boyfriend and girlfriend, and lived together with their 3-year-old son.
Police said the boy was not injured in the shooting.
According to police, Gutierrez’s sister was trying to get in touch with her for several days before her body was found.
She came to the home and while she didn’t hear her sister inside, she heard her nephew, and that’s when she called police, they said.
“We received the phone call of a family member that was concerned about their family,” Lt. Eddie Rodriguez said Tuesday. “They’ve been trying to get a hold of them for several days with no luck. Today, the sister of the victim showed up here, knocked on the door, didn’t get an answer, but was able to hear a child inside. That’s when she called police. When officers arrived, we had to force our way into the apartment. And once inside, we did discover a deceased male and female. Fortunately, this 3-year-old child was not injured.”
Gutierrez’s father and brother said they never suspected anything was wrong in the couple’s relationship.
A neighbor told Local 10 News that Murray seemed to be a good person. He said Murray didn’t bother anyone and that he said hi when he saw him going up and down the staircase.
The shocked neighbor went on to say that Murray would typically be happy, and looked like a normal person.
On Tuesday night, police knocked down the front door of the couple’s home to gain access to their apartment unit.
Right now, there are many unanswered questions about what led up to the murder-suicide.
Police have not confirmed when the shootings occurred, however, a neighbor told Local 10 that she heard gunshots on Friday night.
She said she was working until 11:30 p.m. Friday, and when she went to bed around midnight, she heard four gunshots.
“I got scared and my husband said, ‘Those are gunshots,’” the woman said.
She said she is sad that a little boy was left there, dehydrated and near decomposing bodies before he was discovered.
“The boy was very dehydrated. They took the kid away and they found the two bodies on the kitchen floor,” the woman said in Spanish.
Rodriguez confirmed that the boy has been placed in the custody of the Florida Department of Children and Families. A dependency hearing has been scheduled for Thursday.