HIALEAH, Fla. – The family of woman who was killed at Hialeah motel was awarded $12 million after a jury found that the staff was negligent and could have prevented her death.
The jury reached the verdict on Friday, according to the Haggard Law Firm, which represented the victim's parents.
Yaimi Guevara Machado, 30, was accidentally locked out of her room on April 10, 2016, at the Chesapeake Motel in the 900 block of Okeechobee Road. Machado, only in a bra and jeans, asked the staff for help, but they refused.
Machado was forced to wait outside her room for help. Meanwhile, police said, Ronald Lopez Andrade, who was visibly drunk, was allowed by motel staff onto the property.
The Honduran man, who was living in the United States illegally, told the staff he was looking for prostitutes, police said.
"That's where you see their failures," attorney Jason Brenner told Local 10 News. "That's where you see this is the way the operation was."
According to the arrest report, Andrade struck up a conversation with Machado, but he became outraged when she refused his sexual advances. Andrade then beat her to death, police said. Her body was found later in a grassy area by the motel.
Police arrested Andrade a day later and he was charged with second-degree murder. Andrade, 28, is currently being held in the Metro West Detention Center, awaiting trial in his criminal case.
The victim's mother, Julia Machado, said she hopes no family ever has to deal with this kind of loss.
While no amount of money will bring her daughter back, Julia Machado said she hopes Yami will be remembered for how happy she was and for how much she loved her family.