Brother of NH restaurant manager killed in murder-suicide will miss ‘everything about her'

Boston Globe

12-07-2025

As a manager and server at La Casita, Marisol treated everyone with kindness ‐ sharing food with unhoused neighbors who couldn't pay, and bringing smiles to the faces of young children dining with their parents.
Advertisement
Before her death, she had started gathering kitchen supplies to one day open her own restaurant, Eduardo, 32, said.
Get N.H. Morning Report
A weekday newsletter delivering the N.H. news you need to know right to your inbox.
Enter Email
Sign Up
'I'm going to miss everything about her, all the time,' said 16-year-old Jesus, who worked at La Casita with Marisol.
Dear community,
On behalf of everyone at La Casita Mexicana, we want to express our deepest gratitude for all the love,...
Posted by
An
The New Hampshire Office of the Attorney General said Marisol was shot and killed by 50-year-old Michael Gleason, Jr., with whom she was in a 'prior domestic relationship,'
'A lot of us in the city are kind of confused and we keep asking the question of, 'Why?',' Berlin Mayor Robert Cone told the Globe in a phone call on Friday.
Advertisement
Police found Marisol's body behind the bar at La Casita at around 9:45 a.m. on Sunday, after responding to reports of gunshots. Gleason was found dead in the restaurant bathroom, and a medical examiner ruled his cause of death to be suicide,
'Right now I wish I could have been here to help her, I wish I was right there when this happened,' Eduardo said on Thursday.
In April, Gleason was arrested on charges of physically abusing Marisol, but was able to post the $5,000 bail set by a magistrate, Cone told the Globe.
Many in Berlin are furious Gleason was able to walk free after the April arrest, according to Cone.
'They should have left him in there without the opportunity for bail,' Cone, 44, told the Globe.
As the attorney general's office investigates the deaths, Berlin residents are eager to learn more details, Cone said.
'They're doing their due diligence and being very thorough,' he said.
A memorial service for Marisol is scheduled for Saturday at 10 a.m. at Berlin's St. Anne Church of Good Shepherd Parish, according to the obituary. Afterwards, Marisol's body will be buried in Degollado, Jalisco, where her parents live, Eduardo said.
Berlin residents organized a memorial outside La Casita Mexican restaurant for 25-year-old Marisol Fuentes-Huaracha, who was shot dead there on Sunday, July 6 in a murder-suicide.
Eduardo Fuentes-Huaracha
At their home in Berlin, Jesús remembered, Marisol would wake him
up for school in the mornings, and help him with his homework in the afternoon.
Once, when his class organized a potluck, Marisol cooked churros and French fries for all the students, making a special delivery to the school.
'She was too good,' Jesús said.
Advertisement
Though there are not a lot of Latinos in Berlin, Eduardo said, Marisol turned La Casita into a major hub for the community. When some of the men who worked in the restaurant's kitchen needed to visit Walmart or the doctor's office, Marisol would take them, Eduardo said.
Her favorite dish to cook was chicken tacos with jalapeños, said Jesús, and food was central to the many small acts of kindness she did for others.
Homeless men in Berlin once offered to do work at La Casita in return for food, and from then on, Marisol employed their assistance mowing the lawn and sweeping the parking lot, Eduardo said. She also gave food to local churches, who served it to low-income people in need, he said.
'She always put everyone else first,' Eduardo said. 'Sometimes at the restaurant, little girls came in sad, and she started talking to them and they wouldn't be upset.'
Facebook pages belongings to Berlin residents became an outpouring of love, grief and shock beginning on Sunday, with restaurant patrons, coworkers and friends sharing memories of Marisol's generosity.
The Facebook page for La Casita Mexican restaurant on Thursday thanked Berlin residents for the support they'd given in recent days.
'Every flower, candle, message, and visit has brought us comfort during this incredibly difficult time. Thank you for standing by us with such kindness,' the post said.
A
'Marisol was my best friend and coworker,' the GoFundMe says. 'She loved without limits, gave without hesitation, and carried herself with a quiet strength that inspired everyone around her.'
Advertisement
A separate
'Marisol was a beloved member of our team across all our sister restaurants, and she poured her heart into every community she served, just as those communities adored her,' the GoFundMe says.
Cone said on Friday that the town of Berlin will always remember how Marisol used La Casita to help local students, advertising raffle tickets for a football team and a dance group, and selling mums each spring and fall for a local Catholic academy.
'We're struggling, we lost an amazing person,' he said. 'She was such a bright light and just wanted to bring people together and help.'
Claire Thornton can be reached at