Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - Doctor's Body Found Crammed Inside Dollar Tree Freezer: Cops

Episode Date: December 16, 2025

Miami Police are trying to figure out how Dr. Helen Garay Sanchez ended up dead in the freezer of a Dollar Tree store. Social media posts reveal that Garay Sanchez was a mother of two and a doctor visiting her father in Miami from her native Nicaragua. Employees at a Dollar Tree store in the Little Havana neighborhood found her body in the freezer of the store on the morning of Sunday, December 14 and called police. Law&Crime's Angenette Levy goes over what we know about the case and how loved ones are remembering Garay Sanchez in this episode of Crime Fix — a daily show covering the biggest stories in crime.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW:Take your personal data back with Incogni! Use code CRIMEFIX at the link below and get 60% off an annual plan: https://incogni.com/crimefixHost:Angenette Levy  https://twitter.com/Angenette5Guest: Dr. Mary JumbelicProducer:Jordan ChaconCRIME FIX PRODUCTION:Head of Social Media, YouTube - Bobby SzokeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinVideo Editing - Daniel CamachoGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this Law and Crimes series ad-free right now. Join Wondry Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. There's a mystery in Florida after a mother of two is found dead in a freezer at a popular discount store. I look at everything we know about the death of Helen Garee Sanchez and where the investigation stands. I'm Ann Jeanette Levy, and this is Crime Fix. Let me tell you, there's nothing scarier than logging onto your computer and finding out that someone has stolen your personal information. And guess what? All of that info, like your name, phone number, and address, it's just sitting online for scam artists to steal and data brokers to sell. Well, guess what? I have something that can fix that. Incogni will track down which data brokers have your info and demand they remove it.

They found more than 50 brokers with my info and within days, poof, it started to disappear. Just create an account, authorizing Cogni to act for you, and they do the rest. The new Unlimited Plans custom removals feature allows you to submit custom links where your data shows up and then a team of privacy expert removes it for you. So if you care about your online safety and you really should take your data back with Incogni, use code crime fix for 60% off an annual plan. You know, there are Dollar Tree stores. All over the United States, you can run in there and grab stuff for a buck in a quarter and run out.

But on Sunday, December 14th, an employee walked into the store to open it for the shoppers, and he found a woman dead in the store's freezer. This happened in Miami's Little Havana neighborhood at the store on Southwest 8th Street. CBS News reported that dispatchers were heard over police scanners saying, complainant found a naked female in the cooler of the store. Now, I've heard a lot of calls go out over police scanners over the years. And sometimes they kind of just blend into the background. But that is one that will really, really, really get your attention quickly. When police arrived, they found a woman in the store's freezer. Her name, Dr. Helen Gray-Sanchez, who was apparently visiting Miami, but was from Nicaragua. Police say the 32-year-old woman walked into the store just before closing time on Saturday night and went to an area for employees only. and that is where she apparently got into the freezer. The next morning, on Sunday, an employee found her body in that freezer. Loved ones of Garays gathered outside of the store as police investigated how and why this could have happened. A spokesperson for Dollar Tree released the

following statement. It says, we are aware of this tragic incident and our thoughts are with the individual's family and loved ones. We are cooperating fully with the authorities at this time. Now, we are learning more about Helen Garay Sanchez through a GoFundMe and a Facebook post from one of her friends. The GoFundMe states, Dr. Helen Garay, a devoted physician and beloved mother, passed away tragically on 1214, 2025 at the age of 32. Originally from Nicaragua, Dr. Garay dedicated her life to medicine, earning recognition as an anesthesiologist specializing in congenital heart disease whose work brought hope and heal. to countless children and families. Her compassion, skill, and commitment to saving young lives to find both her career and her character. Beyond her profession, she was a loving mother to two children who remained in Nicaragua and were the center of her world. Her strength, warmth,

and unwavering love for her family will always be remembered. Dr. Helen Garay passed away, following a tragic accident while abroad. Her family's greatest wish is to bring her home to Nicaragua so she may receive a proper funeral and final resting place surrounded by loved ones help bring her home. The family is currently raising funds to cover the costs of repatriation, transportation, and funeral services in Nicaragua.

Any contribution, no matter the amount, will help honor her life and legacy and support her children during this devastating time. We thank you for your prayers, kindness, and support during this difficult moment. So the family and friends are calling, this a tragic accident. Police, meanwhile, have told local media outlets that they do not suspect foul play in Helen Gray's death, but they're still investigating nonetheless. One of Gray's friends

also posted in Spanish about her on Facebook, and we've translated it for you. Andrea Tamero Campos wrote, My friend Helen Gray died in Miami on December 14th of this year. She died inside a Dollar Tree freezer, and her death remains under investigation. My friend, Helen was my roommate when we were students at UNA.N. Leon. I studied law and she studied medicine. Actually, Helen was the only anesthesiologist specialist in congenital cardiopathies in Nicaragua. The only one. No one else in this country has that specialty, and I will always be proud to say that. Last day I saw her was November 29th on a very nice trip. We took to Leone. In that adventure, we did everything. We became roommates again. We went to.

to the supermarket and bought a sangria, some glasses and some towels, because neither of us had brought a towel. We went to eat at LaSalle tacos and passed by the old house of worker. And she told me, we are cultured women who must always visit museums. On the way back, we took a spectacular nap, and then we drank sangria by the pool at the hostel. And she played some horrible music from those northerners and started singing it from start to finish. Afterwards, we went to dinner and to dance at Via, and I remember her there dancing El Santo Cancone because she was crazy. The next day, we had breakfast, and she made me walk 500,000 blocks in Leona's because we wanted to eat some rispadas that shaved ice that are around the Church of Reconciliation. And since it was Sunday, the place was closed and we had to return to the cathedral and buy one of those respadas from the park.

I didn't see her again after that. She was so happy because she was going to Miami to see her daddy. In one of the last audios she sent me on December 9th, she told me her dad reminded her of me because her dad also used coconut oil like me and she said she smelled the same scent on him. The funny thing is that between the two of us, we called each other dear diary because between the two of us, there was a lot of trust and it was like telling something to your own diary. We had that nickname since college, and we always spoke like that. We didn't call ourselves Helen or Andrea. We called ourselves Dear Diary.

That was the name for us. I am crying so, so much. Everything hurts, and at the same time, I don't know where it hurts. But deep down, I'm happy because I had this magnificent bliss of having a wonderful, precious, unique friend. I love you so much, dear Diary, how I will miss our nights of wine, dancing, theater, dinners. You spending the night here at home, and I will not forgive that we did not play ping pong that day at the hostel. And you told me that you had never played ping pong.

What the F word. We still had a thousand things to do because you told me that you were returning today, December 15th, to Nicaragua. I hope your transcendence continues, and I'll see you there in the other astral plane. I will always love and remember you, my cute dear diary. So to discuss this really sad case, and really it is a mystery, I want to bring in Dr. Mary Jambelik. She is a retired forensic pathologist. She's also the author of a book entitled, Speak Her Name Stories from a Life in True Crime. It's a great book, so I recommend it to you. So Dr. Jambelik, thank you so much for coming back on. I appreciate it. This is really weird. This is not something you hear about quite often. So, When you look at this case as a forensic pathologist and a death, somebody who investigates deaths, where do you start? Well, whenever a death is unwitness, such as this was, and especially a person in a unique situation, whether it's a forest or the freezer at the dollar tree store, it requires a good investigation. So everything leading up to the body being found, and then in addition, the body at the body,

itself being identified and doing autopsy and the toxicology. All of those things are going to be important because you're concerned about the worst possible scenario, which would be a murder, a suspicious death. And so you want to make sure all the steps are followed to rule that out before you consider anything else. You know, the call came out over the police scanner, according to CBS News as the complainant has found a woman naked in a freezer. Obviously, you know, Dr. Gray did not walk into this store unclothed. So what do we think could have happened there? Exactly.

So the first question that comes to mind is, where are the clothes? Are they nearby in the freezer? Are they outside the freezer door? are they not found? Did anyone look for them? That would be an important point. When people do become hypothermic in natural circumstances out in a cold environment, they tend to paradoxically undress. That sounds very strange, but the colder you get, it tricks your brain and you actually start taking your clothes off, and that leads to the hypothermia taking place even faster. one thing that's very curious to me you know you said this is an unwitness death and of course it is

but from the reporting you know all of the news articles about this from what the police are saying it sounds like employees did witness her coming into the store the night before they saw her come in she didn't buy anything so so somebody actually did see her come into the store at some point the store closed you know usually employees make sure nobody's in the store before they close if she's in the freezer then you know maybe they didn't check the freezer and they don't know she's in there but right she's somehow in in the store beyond closing time it kind of makes me question did she get into this freezer on purpose did she get in there and get stuck in there I mean, most freezers, you know, have a mechanism where you can get out, you know,

in a commercial freezer like that. Right. I mean, it boggles my mind. Have you ever seen a case where somebody would enter a freezer and then not be able to get out? Well, I mean, there are so many questions as you point out that to the scene, for example, not just witness statements, but is there, are. their cameras? Did they actually record her coming in? What time exactly was that? Do they have other cameras that account for her whereabouts elsewhere in the store prior to her discovery

in the morning the next day? So all of those things the police are going to look for, I hope, which is the camera information, the witness statements. Because, you know, whoever last saw her alive and then whoever found her body are the most important people to provide salient information and maybe help out whether this is suspicious in nature or not. Secondly, had she ever been to that store before? Was she familiar with the store? Would she know there was a freezer in the back? Had she been to other Dollar Tree stores where she maybe knew the layout of how it worked? We don't know that, I wouldn't necessarily understand that, you know, there would be a walk-in freezer in the back of the employee section, restricted area. But apparently, she might have known that. And if she

didn't know that, then again, it brings up questions of a suspicious nature. And the clothing is really critical here, because did she undress herself or not? Miami police apparently are saying they don't suspect foul play here. We don't know potentially if she was under the influence of substances. We just don't know. There are so many questions here. You know, she's a physician and anesthesiologist. You know, a smart woman, we would assume. That doesn't mean that she didn't have possibly substance abuse issues or potentially mental health issues. there are really a lot of things that could have been going on here. So, you know, that's a key question. What was going on with her? Absolutely, a sort of psychological autopsy, if you

will, of the decedent. So understanding their mindset, talking to family members about what had happened in the days or weeks prior to this event is critical. Does she have any history of substance abuse or medication prescriptions that she had or access that she had to certain, you know, sedative medications. But really important is to rule out the homicide aspect first. You do also have to delve into her mental health, what she was thinking or doing prior to this event. We don't know if there's anything that really pressure. her or was emotionally traumatizing to her that might have occurred in the day or two prior to. And also, was this trip a normal trip coming to the United States? Was this just a

holiday visit to family? Or was it something else? And we don't know, we don't know that background information. Yeah, there are still a lot of questions out there. A lot of things we don't know at this point in time. We do know she was the mother to two children, which is incredibly sad that there are two children now left without their mother. From an autopsy standpoint, though, and I hate to be gruesome, but it's a fact in a death investigation. Her body would have been in a freezer. So any evidence, any you know the body would be preserved so to speak right well you know she um you know it would be difficult uh you know because she is in a slightly frozen state but then she would thaw and

you would still see marks or bruises or scratches uh or anything that might have been done to her any wounding that might have occurred can still be seen on her body. And so presumably the full autopsy, looking carefully from head to toe, front and back on her body, will be done with x-rays to show any projectiles, you know, bullets. So any stab wounds, strangulation, beating should be seen by the medical examiner. But subtle things might not be readily seen, and it would take, you know, more extensive looking at, more careful evaluation by the medical examiner, which I'm sure they will do in Miami. How long do you think an actual autopsy would take?

I mean, would, not to be gruesome again, but would the body have to thaw before a physical autopsy could be conducted? Yes, I mean, I don't know the temperature of this freezer if it's, you know, normal household's freezer status or is it deeper freeze but it would take hours for the body to come to a normal room temperature to be able to work on the skin and you know work on the body and that would add to the autopsy you know length and time and then you have the toxicology aspect of it correct does the freezing impact at all the toxicology results I mean, I think it will assist in the slower metabolism of things of degrading.

So it's probably helpful in that sense. But toxicology takes time anyway because there's so many thousands of drugs now that are screened for. Just the process itself takes more time than it ever did before. So could the answer to this mystery, you know, could this mystery be solved rather quickly? only because they could have the physical autopsy result, a preliminary autopsy result fairly quickly. And then maybe pieced together also what was going on in her life. I mean, this could be, you know, a tragic accident as the family,

the family has labeled this a tragic accident in their GoFundMe page. But, you know, that's what they could be calling it. We just don't know enough from place. police what they found. Well, I mean, you know, there's the homicide possibility. There's the accident possibility. There's the suicide possibility. There's, you know, really not a natural death in this circumstance.

But in order to know which category that this death falls into, you need the complete scene investigation and a review of her mental health status. And then an understanding of how you get into that freezer in the first place. And what's in that freezer that she would have been going after? I don't know. Maybe there's something valuable in there that's worth, you know, stealing. I have no idea what they store in there. So that's also part of the investigation.

So she's in there naked. Now, if her clothes are right next to her, you could say, maybe she went in there to get something, the door closed behind her. I don't know the safety features on that door. I know when she was in there and now she's stuck in there and she's getting colder and colder. But again, part of the investigation needs to be done as to who even has access to that freezer. What employees went past or when do they open the freezer? What typical time of day do they do inventory or do they take things out? We don't know any of that. And so that's really important.

But having her, being naked by itself in a hypothermic death is not suspicious because that's what people do. They get cold and cold and they take their clothes off. The question is, why couldn't she voluntarily get out of the freezer? And that's the big question here. Did it lock behind her? Did somebody put a lock on it? I mean, we don't know what their protocols are at night when they're locking up. We know that this was in an employee only area.

What was she doing back there? Typically, when you go into a store, you're in there to get what you need and you get out. But that sounds like that didn't happen here. Right. And perhaps this was a place she thought, well, I can hide in here for a minute and then go back into the store after it's closed. I really don't know the mindset of the person. That's why it's very important to make sure it was not a homicide, and then it's secondarily important to make sure it wasn't an accident, like you said, someone locking the freezer, or the safety feature didn't work to get out, or anything along those lines. In a situation like that, OSHA might be involved to know if the proper protocols were being followed with the freezer.

And for the safety of the workers, you know, had this ever happened before? Has anyone ever gotten stuck in the freezer before? Is there a call button in there to alert someone that someone's inside? Yeah, it's just absolutely horrible. Well, we will keep an eye on it to see what comes of the investigation. Mary Jambelik, thank you so much. Appreciate your time. Thank you very much. And again, Miami police say they do not suspect foul play in this case will keep you updated when they release the conclusions of the investigation. And that's it for this episode of Crime Fix. Jeanette Levy. Thanks so much for being with me. I'll see you back here next time.