A longtime South Florida real estate agent, her two daughters and their father were found stabbed to death inside a Doral home in what investigators believe was a murder-suicide.
Police said they found Melanie Hyer, 46, Savannah Whiten, 11, Sienna Whiten, 8, and Ryan Charles Whiten, 42, during a welfare check Tuesday night near Northwest 111th Court and Northwest 72nd Terrace in the gated Doral Isles neighborhood, WTVJ reported. All four were pronounced dead at the scene.
Sources told the news station Hyer and Whiten were divorced and co-parenting their children. They both remarried and were divorced from those spouses. Whiten’s last known address was an apartment in the Doral Isles neighborhood.
Originally from New York, Hyer was a probate real estate professional specializing in luxury waterfront properties, estate sales and guardianship cases. She was active in the South Florida real estate scene for over two decades, beginning her career at Keller Williams Realty before joining Pro Estate Realty in 2022.
Hyer sold over 1,000 properties throughout the Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties, including single-family homes, condominiums, retail shopping centers and other commercial properties, according to her professional profiles. Her largest recorded residential sale was a $3.1 million property at 7945 Sunset Drive in Miami, which closed in March.
Doral Mayor Christi Frag, who knew Hyer personally, called the deaths an “unimaginable tragedy.”
Neighbors said the children were outside riding bikes with their dad on Sunday. The girls attended Downtown Doral Academy and played field hockey.
“Both students were deeply loved by their school, their teachers, and their peers,” Head of Schools Jeannette Acevedo-Isenberg said in an email to parents cited by the news station.
Authorities haven’t confirmed how long the bodies were inside the home or disclosed possible motives. The Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office is leading the investigation.
— Grace McClung