LocalNews

Body of Maria Florinda Rios Perez de Velasquez transported to family in Guatemala

(95.3 MNC)
An Indiana homeowner shot and killed Maria Florinda Rios Perez de Velasquez a 32-year-old Guatemalan mother of four, after she went to clean the wrong house.
On Sunday, her family received her body at the airport in Guatemala and prepared to take her to her hometown of Cabrican, about 125 miles west of the capital.
On November 5, Ríos stepped onto the front porch of a Whitestown home outside Indianapolis. Homeowner Curt Andersen fired through the door without warning and struck her in the head. Prosecutors charged Andersen with voluntary manslaughter. His trial will begin March 30. A judge set his bail at $25,000 and ordered him to surrender his passport.
Court records show Ríos and her husband worked as part of a house-cleaning crew and mistakenly went to Andersen’s home. As they tried to unlock the door with a company key, Andersen shot her. Her husband escaped unharmed. Andersen told investigators he believed someone was breaking into his house.
Back in Cabrican, women cooked food over the weekend for friends and relatives attending the wake and burial. At her parents’ home, family members decorated an altar with flowers and photos of Ríos. Most residents of the valley town belong to the Mam, an Indigenous Mayan people.
Ríos’ 19-year-old sister, Yeimy Paola Ríos Pérez, explained that María left Guatemala two years ago with two of her daughters, hiring a smuggler to reach the U.S. They believed adults with children would be allowed entry. María traveled to Indiana to reunite with five of her siblings and their father.

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