Why RJ Mitte’s Fiancée Was Absent From the American Actor’s Memorial

Hundreds of mourners gathered at a Brownsville, Texas, arts center Friday to celebrate the life of Breaking Bad actor RJ Mitte, sharing tears, laughter and warm memories.

Yet one significant person was missing from the crowd.

Kennedy Suarez, Mitte’s fiancée, was not invited to the public celebration of life, sources told the Daily Mail.

Every one of the 216 white chairs was occupied, while roughly 100 additional attendees stood at the rear of the venue. Organizers created an overflow section and livestreamed the ceremony for those unable to get inside.

Over the two-hour service, family members and friends spoke about Mitte’s experience with cerebral palsy, his advocacy for people with disabilities and the role that made him internationally famous on Breaking Bad.

Suarez, a human resources manager who had been engaged to Mitte since last October, was not referenced in the tributes. She also did not appear in the photo slideshow shown before the ceremony.

“It’s like they were never together,” said mourner Donna LaBrie, who identified herself as an “old friend” of the actor.

Two people close to the family said the relationship between Suarez and the Mittes had become deeply strained, leaving uncertainty over whether the couple were still together when Mitte died.

“Kennedy wasn’t invited,” one family source said. “We didn’t know whether she might simply show up. If she had, we wouldn’t have caused a scene.

“But she wouldn’t have sat with the family. She would have been seated with everyone else.”

Mitte, 34, died by suicide Monday at the home he once shared with Suarez. His death stunned his relatives and fans worldwide, many of whom knew him as Walter White’s son in the hit AMC drama.

Mitte and Suarez had been friends for years before becoming romantically involved. He proposed on her 30th birthday last October during a United Cerebral Palsy fundraiser in Carlsbad, California.

A friend of Mitte’s who attended the memorial and also knew Suarez described the couple’s relationship as troubled in its final period.

“Near the end, it was on again, off again. I don’t know whether it was on or off when he died.”

The friend added: “Of course he loved her, but there had been discussions for a long time about ending the relationship. I don’t know exactly what happened, and no one in the family knows.”

According to the friend, difficulties between the couple eventually caused friction between their families as well.

“If he went to see anyone in his family, there was always a reason she didn’t come,” they said.

The Daily Mail reached out to Suarez for comment and received a response from an email account that did not use her name but included a reference to ‘justice for RJ’.

They pushed back against the claims made by Mitte family members and suggested there was more to the story. 

The Daily Mail was then redirected to a Facebook post shared by Suarez’s mother, Heather Suarez, late on Friday, in which she spoke about her family’s ‘unsurpassable grief’ and ‘heartbreak’ after Mitte’s death.

‘He was family. Our daughter and our entire family loved him as our own and we will forever wish we could have protected him from the cruelty of this world,’ the post reads.

She revealed the family held a private candlelit celebration to honor Mitte’s life. ‘RJ, we will forever love you, cherish the memories we shared, and strive to be better because you were part of our lives. Your impact will never be forgotten, and your legacy will live on in the hearts of all who knew and loved you,’ she wrote.

TMZ reported earlier this week, citing unnamed sources, that Suarez asked Mitte to choose between her and his family. His mother, Dyna Mitte, acknowledged there were issues to NBC News.

‘I will tell you there was some of that going on. That was part of the struggle. I’m not going to lie about that,’ she said. ‘We’re a very tight, close-knit family, and that was weighing on him heavy.’

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She said she had always told her son he was free to marry and live his life. ‘And so there was no decision to be made at that, but he, I guess, might have felt torn.’

Inside the center – part of the cultural district his philanthropic family’s foundation built in the heart of Brownsville – the focus remained firmly on Mitte’s life.

Speakers portrayed him as a man who was deeply religious, loved his family and wanted to make a difference in the world.

His grandmother, Anita Dianne Carriere, recalled the day the family drove to Jackson, Mississippi, to bring him home after Dyna adopted him as a baby.

‘I rode in the back seat, that was before we had to have car seats and I rode and held him in the back seat of the car til we got back to Austin, Texas,’ she said.

‘From the very beginning, I had the opportunity to be part of his life… we felt like RJ was one of our children.’

His younger sister, Lacianne Carriere, delivered the most heartbreaking tribute, sobbing as she remembered the brother who had helped raise her.

‘RJ Mitte was my older brother but I not only just lost a brother, I lost my father,’ she said.

‘My mom was a single mother and when I was two weeks old, she was in an accident that paralyzed her from the waist down for the first few years of my life. And my brother immediately took on the father role.

‘Every part of me is RJ. Every type of music I listen to, everything I watch, every game I play, our mannerisms. I just really miss my brother.’

Then, through tears, she prompted laughter from the room.

‘And I want to say to RJ: I’m not going to sell that nasty truck. It’s mine now!’

After his mother was partially paralyzed and lost her job, Mitte, then just a boy, mowed lawns and did odd jobs to support them.

‘I have devoted my life to my mom and my sister,’ he once said.

Mitte was well known in the Texas border town for both his acting career and his family’s longstanding ties to the community.

The foundation set up by his grandfather Roy Mitte, a successful insurance and real estate businessman, supports the Mitte Center, the Gladys Porter Zoo and the Children’s Museum of Brownsville.

After Breaking Bad ended in 2013, Mitte moved to the city permanently and became president of its board.

Diagnosed with cerebral palsy at three, he played Walter White Jr, son of Bryan Cranston’s chemistry teacher turned meth drug lord, for five seasons. The role made him one of Hollywood’s most recognizable actors with a disability and a vocal advocate for inclusion.

Cranston did not attend Friday’s service. A source close to him said this week he was ‘heartbroken’ and still processing the loss.

Dyna told NBC News that Mitte had spent the weekend before his death with her and his sister and was in regular contact with his grandmother and friends.

She initially wasn’t concerned when he didn’t answer her calls on Monday morning – she said he often stayed up late and slept until noon.

It was that afternoon when she went to take him lunch that she found his body – but no suicide note.

For three months, she said, she had urged him to try therapy.

After Friday’s service, mourners lingered over finger sandwiches and punch, speaking quietly and consoling one another. In the receiving line, Dyna was overwhelmed but gracious.

‘I’m doing OK,’ she told the Daily Mail. ‘Just one day at a time, I guess. Thank you for coming.’

If you or someone you know is struggling, call or text the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline in the US, or call Samaritans on 116 123 in the UK.