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Woman killed in apparent murder-suicide at N.H. restaurant remembered as ‘beacon of light’
The mayor of Berlin, New Hampshire, said that he was friends with Marisol Fuentes Huaracha, who was killed at the restaurant where she worked.
The mayor of a New Hampshire city where a woman was killed in an apparent murder-suicide Sunday said that they were friends and paid tribute to her “positive spirit and dedication” in a heartfelt remembrance after the incident.
Marisol Fuentes Huaracha, 25, was shot and killed Sunday morning at La Casita, a Mexican restaurant in Berlin, New Hampshire, where she worked. Officials found the body of Michael Gleason Jr., 50, in a bathroom at the restaurant. They say that the two were in a “prior domestic relationship” with one another.
An autopsy conducted Monday confirmed that Fuentes Huaracha died from multiple shotgun wounds and that her death was a homicide. Medical examiners also confirmed that Gleason’s cause of death was a shotgun wound to the head and that his manner of death was a suicide, according to New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella’s office.
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“Although the investigation into the circumstances surrounding this incident remains active and ongoing, it has been determined based on evidence gathered to date that Michael Gleason, Jr., shot and killed Sandra Marisol Fuentes Huaracha, and then shot and killed himself,” his office said.
Tributes to Fuentes Huaracha are pouring in, including from Berlin Mayor Robert Cone.
“I was lucky enough to call her a friend,” Cone wrote in a Facebook post alongside pictures of Fuentes Huaracha. “From the time that I met Marisol, what struck me most was how she always made it a priority to bring the community together. Countless times she has opened her heart and the restaurant up, to allow for various fundraising efforts.”
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Cone described how Fuentes Huaracha went out of her way to help plan a special Dia de Los Muertos celebration last fall and how she worked with a local soup kitchen.
La Casita posted an image online of candles, flowers, and photos that community members had placed at the restaurant to honor Fuentes Huaracha.
“The La Casita family is grieving, but we are also deeply moved by the unity, compassion, and respect you have shown to her and to all of us.
We will never forget this beautiful act of solidarity,” the restaurant wrote in a Facebook post. The restaurant’s ownership group also started a GoFundMe to help Fuentes Huaracha’s family with funeral expenses.
Cone said that his community was “shaken” by the attack and called for Berlin’s leaders and residents to advocate for increased awareness of domestic violence.
“[Fuentes Huaracha] was a beacon of light, an inspiration, and an example of God’s grace here on earth,” the mayor wrote. “Her positive spirit and dedication to her family, friends, our community, and her profession will be sorely missed.”
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