Man killed girlfriend in Hialeah murder-suicide, cops say. Their son was alone for days
A gruesome scene unfolded Tuesday night when a man and woman were found dead after a murder-suicide in a Hialeah apartment. A little boy was left alone, trapped inside the unit for days.
Around 9 p.m. Tuesday, Hialeah police announced it was investigating a “domestic-related incident” that ended in the deaths of 28-year-old Clifford Renard Murray III and 27-year-old Rosemary Gutierrez at an apartment building located at 605 W. 68th St.
The couple had been living together and were the parents of a 3-year-old son, who was found unharmed but dehydrated and dirty. Police believe that Murray shot and killed Gutierrez before turning the gun on himself at some point during the weekend.
Hialeah Police Lt. Eddie Rodriguez said Gutierrez’s sister went to the couple’s apartment a few hours earlier, around 6 p.m., after not hearing from her since Saturday morning.
When she arrived, she knocked on the door, but no one answered. She did, however, hear the sound of her 3-year-old nephew crying from inside the unit, said Rodriguez, the police spokesman.
Unable to force the door open herself, she called 911. Police and fire rescue arrived at the same time, and firefighters knocked the door down to find a horrific scene, Rodriguez said.
Firefighters took the boy to Nicklaus Children’s Hospital, where Rodriguez said he had to be fed and hydrated out of precaution.
“I pray that he’ll never have to remember what he saw,” Rodriguez added.
As of Wednesday morning, the toddler was in the custody of the Florida Department of Children and Families, Rodriguez said.
Eduardo Fernandez, who has lived next to the couple for six years, said Wednesday that the sound of gunshots awakened him around 12:30 a.m. Saturday.
“I heard the gunshots but I was not sure what they were. I went up to the window, but I did not see any movement or hear any ruckus,” said Fernandez, who spoke to the Herald in Spanish.
Other neighbors, according to Rodriguez, also told police they may have heard gunshots Friday night but didn’t call authorities. They also said they didn’t hear the child crying.
Fernandez said there was never any issue with the couple.
“It was all normal,” he said. “They were all very polite, the little boy was very polite, too. He [Clifford] did not speak Spanish but I would go over sometimes to help them clean the air conditioner.”
Fernandez said he was most concerned about their 3-year-old son.
“The thing that worries me is the child,” he said. “He was in an apartment with his parents dead for three days.”
Added Rodriguez: “This is obviously a tragic case. What we do now is our due diligence and pray this child never has to remember this day.”
