A Hialeah hotel must pay the family of a woman who was killed on premises $12 million.
On Friday, a jury found that the staff of the Chesapeake Motel, located in the 900 block of Okeechobee Road, was negligent and could have prevented her death.
Yaimi Guevara Machado, 30, was accidentally locked out of her room on April 10, 2016. Machado, only in a bra and jeans, asked the staff for help, but they refused.
Machado was forced to wait outside her room for help. Meanwhile, police said, a visibly intoxicated 28-year-old Ronald Lopez Andrade was allowed onto motel property by staff.
The Honduran man, who was living in the United States illegally, told the staff he was looking for prostitutes, police said.
According to the arrest report, Andrade struck a conversation with Machado, but he became outraged when she refused his sexual advances. Andrade then beat her to death, police said. Her body was found later in a grassy area by the motel.
Police arrested Andrade a day later and he was charged with second-degree murder. Andrade, 28, is currently being held in the Metro West Detention Center, awaiting trial in his criminal case.