MIAMI — The family of a 32-year-old doctor who was found dead last year inside the freezer of a Dollar Tree in Miami is now suing the business and a store manager for damages in excess of $50 million, Local 10 learned Friday.
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According to the wrongful death lawsuit filed Wednesday in Miami-Dade County, Dr. Massiell Garay Sanchez, an anesthesiologist originally from Nicaragua, entered the store, located at 968 SW Eighth St., on the night of Dec. 13, 2025, and became trapped in a walk-in freezer.
Her lifeless body was found by a store employee the following morning.
The lawsuit claims the store had a duty to protect its patrons from “foreseeable risks of harm,” such as walk-in freezers, and implement and enforce “reasonable safety policies and procedures.”
It also maintains that the business should have taken the “reasonable action” to assist in locating a customer who “was missing or unaccounted for.”
According to a Miami police officer who spoke with Local 10 News earlier this month, Garay Sanchez entered the store on her own the night before her body was found, but did not make any purchases.
Investigators believe she made her way to a restricted employee-only area, where the freezer is located, and remained there overnight.
According to the officer who spoke with Local 10, the door to the freezer was not blocked when Garay Sanchez was inside of it and there was even an “emergency release” so the freezer could be opened from the inside.
The lawsuit, however, maintains that the store manager, Yanelkis Gonzalez, should have secured “dangerous areas, including the walk-in freezer,” and claimed that Gonzalez told a store employee not to review surveillance footage after being alerted that Garay Sanchez was missing and had not exited the store.
The lawsuit demands a trial by jury.
The circumstances surrounding Garay Sanchez’s death still remain somewhat of a mystery as police told Local 10 it’s unclear why she entered the freezer, but that they’ve confirmed mental illness was not a factor in her death.
Detectives ruled out foul play early on in the investigation, saying she was not forced inside the freezer.
Police confirmed that they have obtained surveillance video that shows the victim minutes before she entered the freezer. That video has not yet been publicly released.
Garay Sanchez is survived by her husband, two children and other relatives.
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