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Insets (left to right): Melanie Hyer, Savannah Whiten, Sienna Whiten, and Ryan Whiten (Facebook). Background: News footage of the home in Doral, Fla., where Hyer, her daughters, and her ex-husband were found dead on June 2 (WTVJ).
A prominent Florida realtor, Melanie Hyer, was tragically discovered dead alongside her two young daughters and their father, sending shockwaves through the local community.
The Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office revealed on Wednesday that the deaths of 46-year-old Melanie Hyer, 42-year-old Ryan Whiten, and their daughters, 11-year-old Savannah Whiten and 8-year-old Sienna Whiten, are being treated as a murder-suicide. According to local NBC affiliate WTVJ, authorities reported that all four family members had been found with fatal stab wounds in Hyer’s home, located within a gated community in Doral, Florida, late Tuesday night.
Police were summoned to the residence following a welfare check request made by a concerned friend.
Reports from WTVJ indicate that Hyer and Whiten were co-parenting their daughters. Despite having moved on to marry and divorce other partners after their relationship ended, they were not residing together. However, Whiten’s last known address was in the same gated community where Hyer lived, which is also where their bodies were found.
Both Hyer and Whiten were involved in the real estate sector, as reflected in their Facebook profiles, with Hyer frequently appearing on WTVJ broadcasts. Willard Shepard, the station’s investigative journalist who had known Hyer well, recounted a recent conversation with her just a month before her death, noting there were no signs or indicators of the impending tragedy.
Police did not provide details about who committed the murders before taking their own life. Doral Mayor Christy Fraga, who reportedly knew Hyer personally, posted on Instagram about the “unimaginable tragedy” that took “the lives of a mother and her two young daughters.”
Local Fox and ABC affiliate WSVN spoke to Whiten’s ex-wife, who did not want to be identified. She and Whiten divorced in 2024, and she told WSVN that the former partners’ current relationship was tumultuous and strained by custody fights over their daughters. Whiten’s ex-wife told WSVN that he was reportedly worried that Hyer would try to take his daughters away from him.
The Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office Homicide Bureau is continuing to investigate the deaths and said it was waiting for results from the medical examiner.