Family of 5 found dead in Orlando home — ‘a sickening sadness.’ Police release identities

A family of five, including two elementary school-age girls, were found dead in an apparent murder-suicide inside an Orlando home, police told reporters.

In statements provided to the Miami Herald, Orlando police spokesperson Andrea Otero said officers went to the home on Lake District Lane for a well-being check. When officers went into the house they found the family — three adults and two children — dead.

On Wednesday afternoon, Orlando police released the names of the family members that were slain in what officers are calling a domestic violence related incident.

Family identified

Police have also identified the father, Donovan Michael Ramirez, 45, as the suspect. They believe Ramirez killed his wife, Stephanie, and their children before turning the gun on himself. A firearm was found inside the house but the medical examiner’s office will determine the cause of death, police said.

In addition to Ramirez, the victims were identified as:

▪ Stephanie Renee Ramirez, age 39.

▪ Alyssa Berumen, 22.

▪ Sunny Ramirez, 11, and Shelby Rose Ramirez, 7.

Earlier media reports said the eldest child, the 22-year-old, was a son, but investigators said the adult child was female.

What neighbors saw

Neighbors told WESH2 the family had just moved into the home in the East Park neighborhood of Lake Nona in southeast Orange County from out of state in June. They said the couple were middle-aged and had an adult daughter and two young daughters and that they were renting the house.

The home “had been unusually quiet for days,” WESH reported. Then came the well-being check and discovery.

“A sickening sadness. It’s a nightmare. I don’t understand how anyone received an end like that,” neighbor Heather Collins, who lives across the street from the home with her fiancé, Justin Rossilini, told WESH. “My heart goes out to the family. I can’t even begin to wrap my mind around any of this, especially if there were family involved. I didn’t hear anything, I wish I did. I definitely would have liked to have been that concerned neighbor that did something in this situation.”

Rossilini told reporters he was outside getting his mail when he saw the father about five or six days earlier and said “hello” to the man. He had seen the man’s wife, too, and that the girls were “like 6-7 years old, little girls, like elementary school kids,” Fox 35 reported.

Then Rossilini saw crime scene investigators descend on the quiet block. At first, around 11:30 a.m., he saw an officer looking into one of the two cars that was parked in the home’s driveway. A couple hours later there were about 35 crime scene vehicles on the block, the Orlando Sentinel reported. He could tell by the investigators’ faces something grave had happened inside the house.

“The gentleman that came out threw up and sat in the back of the truck and had a cigarette and I said, ‘You do a job that most people never do, and I applaud what you do.’”

Orange County Commissioner Maribel Gomez Cordero told reporters at the scene: “It’s important that leaders come out and begin to understand there’s something going on with the mental health of the community. … We don’t want this to be repeated,” the Orlando Sentinel reported.

Domestic violence resources

In its media release, Orlando police said they wished to remind the public of free resources in their area that could provide help to anyone that may be involved in a domestic violence situation.

▪ Harbor House of Central Florida 24-hour confidential crisis hotline: 407-886-2856.

▪ Victim Service Center of Central Florida 24/7 helpline: 407-500-HEAL.

▪ National Domestic Violence Hotline 24/7 and in English and Spanish: 800-799-7233. This resource center can provide resources nationwide and not just in Orlando.

▪ United Way of Central Florida 211 services: Call or text 211 for confidential domestic abuse support, and other services.

Help in other counties is also available.

In Miami-Dade, there are also resources for those in a domestic violence situation, including the National Domestic Violence Hotline. Also,

▪ Florida Domestic Violence 24-Hour Crisis Hotline at 800-500-1119.

▪ Miami-Dade County Coordinated Victims Assistance Center at 305-285-5900. (You can call or text message this number at all hours.

▪ Advocates for Victims/Safespace Hotline - Central. Call 305-693-0232.

▪ Advocates for Victims/Safespace Hotline - North. Call 305-758-2546.

▪ Advocates for Victims/Safespace Hotline - South. Call 305-245-5011.

▪ In Broward County, in addition to the national hotline, you can also reach out to Women In Distress of Broward County for 24-hour crisis intervention through its 24-Hour Crisis Hotline and emergency shelter. Call 954-761-1133.

This story has been updated to note the identities of the victims. Earlier reports misidentified the gender of the adult child.