HOMESTEAD, Fla. – After the Miami-Dade medical examiner determined that a man found dead in a hotel suite was killed from an overdose of fetanyl, a 32-year-old woman is behind bars and charged with first-degree murder.
The man was discovered unresponsive at the Uptown Suites on Tuesday, May 16 at 8:40 a.m. after Homestead police were called.
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Giselle Lee Ortiz was arrested on Wednesday, June 28 after toxicology reports revealed that the victim died from a fetanyl overdose and the medical examiner classified the death as a homicide.
Ortiz and the victim were the only people in the suite prior to the man’s death, detectives determined. Then after the victim died, investigators allege that Ortiz cleared evidence from the scene, took the man’s car keys and left the hotel. Surveillance cameras captured Ortiz fleeing the scene in the car. The vehicle was reported stolen by Homestead police and was later located at SW 139th Avenue and 266th Street.
Ortiz was detained at a homeless encampment not far from the abandoned car.
According to investigators: “The defendant’s m.o. (modus operandi) is to consume illicit drugs with the victims, and then wait until they either fell asleep or become unconscious,” investigators wrote. “After falling asleep or falling unconscious, the defendant then steals the victim’s personal belongings. After leaving the victims, the victim is then later found deceased or overdosing.”
The death, according to the Miami-Dade Medical Examiner was “acute combined drug toxicity including fentanyl and fluor fentanyl.”
Several cases that could be related to Ortiz are under investigation.
Ortiz appeared in Miami-Dade bond court on Thursday, June 29, where a judge found probable cause to keep her jailed without bond.