Money sought to bury murder victim in Cuba
Friends of the 22-year-old collecting donations to bury her in hometown.
WEST PALM BEACH — Friends and family of a 22-year-old woman, who died early Saturday when an estranged boyfriend apparently beat her to death, are trying to raise money online to return her remains to her native Cuba.
Lianet Ruiz Denis died at a mobile home off Belvedere Road in suburban West Palm Beach. Yulexis Sosa Rodriguez, 40, of Miami, is facing a first-degree murder charge in her death and is being held without bond at the Palm Beach County Jail.
The Palm Beach County Sher-
iff ’s Office says Sosa Rodriguez drove north from Miami, set three cars nearby on fire, then choked Ruiz Denis and struck her with “an unknown object” on her face, head and neck, leaving her with defensive wounds on both her arms and her body “covered in blood.”
Sosa Rodriguez told investigators that Ruiz Denis had “disrespectfully” told him she cheated on him while they were a couple and that he was upset.
Little is still known about Ruiz Denis and her relationship with Sosa Rodriguez beyond that she has a daughter. Ruiz Denis and Sosa Rodriguez’s social media accounts list that they are both from Sagua la Grande, Cuba, a city on the island’s north coast about 175 miles east of Havana, and that they were Facebook friends.
The GoFundMe page, created by Lyha Baron, of suburban Greenacres, says Ruiz Denis had no family in the United States. Baron said this week that she did not know Ruiz Denis but set up the page on behalf of people who did.
As of noon Thursday, the page had raised more than $6,100 toward its $10,000 goal.