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

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Boston Globe
5 hours ago
- Boston Globe
Most cases dismissed because of the work stoppage by lawyers were misdemeanors. Should prosecutors reopen them?
Advertisement While the mounting number of dismissals prompted prosecutors to warn of risks to public safety, a Globe analysis of the dropped cases shows a more mundane reality: the high proportion of low-level crimes clogging the court system, particularly the district courts where the work stoppage is concentrated. About three-quarters of the 100 dismissed cases involved misdemeanors rather than felonies, closely mirroring the most recent statewide data of all charges filed in district courts. A little more than one-quarter of the cases involved assaults, including 12 that allegedly included a dangerous weapon and nine involving allegations of domestic violence. Now, as the Suffolk district attorney's office begins an effort to reopen those cases, defense attorneys say there needs to be a balance struck between public safety and due process. Advertisement The cases were dismissed without prejudice, meaning prosecutors can recharge them. The Suffolk district attorney's office has vowed to re-prosecute the accused and the office said Friday it's already begun to file motions to reopen some cases. 'The past week saw escalating threats to public safety through additional dismissals and releases, continued disruption of our ability to secure justice for victims, and ongoing inaccessibility of Constitutionally mandated representation for indigent defendants,' Suffolk District Attorney Kevin Hayden said in a statement Friday. 'This is an unprecedented — and deeply disturbing — moment for our prosecutors and victim witness advocates, who come to work each day intent on helping victims and protecting the public from dangerous offenders.' The Committee for Public Counsel Services, the state public defender agency, said prosecutors and the courts should take a cue from the pandemic years, when the various sides worked together to reduce the number of prosecutions and people sent to jail. 'We are once again facing a crisis, and to get through this, we can't pretend that the same old processes are either effective or reasonable,' said Chief Counsel Anthony Benedetti in a statement. 'Clogging the system with cases that do not need to be there only exacerbates a crisis that we are working to remedy. When public safety is discussed, what gets lost is the fact that our clients are members of the public, and they are presumed innocent and merely accused of crimes.' He continued, 'Public safety requires due process, and it's harder to provide that when the system is full of cases that don't belong there.' The analysis of the dismissed cases illustrates a longstanding truth, lawyers said: Many people churning through the criminal justice system are facing charges involving petty offenses that carry little punishment. Advertisement 'For the most part, these folks would ultimately not serve any time,' Boston College Law professor Robert Bloom said. Before being told of the results of the Globe's analysis, Bloom predicted that simple drug possession, disorderly conduct, shoplifting, and motor vehicle charges such as driving on a suspended license would be heavily represented. Indeed, they are: The most common one was drug possession, alone accounting for 16 dismissed cases. Eight more are shoplifting alone, and eight are for allegations of motor vehicle infractions. 'The truth of the matter is, the ultimate disposition of most of these crimes will be probation, suspended sentence, continued without a finding,' he said. All of those typically don't involve jail time unless someone reoffends. The justice system is entering a third month of In total, 49 people have been released through the protocol over multiple hearings over the past month. The tensions caused by the work stoppage play out in court documents and hearings for dismissals and releases. On one hand, there's the reality that hundreds of people charged with crimes of addiction and poverty do not have access to a lawyer, and, at times, have sat in jail while the courts sought to find them one. Advertisement 'Very, very depressing,' said Edith Otero, 52, who had just been released at Lowell District Court after 12 days in custody. She was arrested for a probation violation related to a 2019 drug conviction. In jail, said Otero, who uses a wheelchair, 'I did nothing. I just waited. I just waited.' In other instances, prosecutors have stressed that a broad approach to culling cases creates a public safety risk. The public defenders office is prioritizing lawyers for the most troubling charges, which allows those cases to proceed as normal. Many serious felony cases involving sexual assault or major violence are moved to Superior Court, where court-appointed attorneys are paid a higher rate and are generally still taking cases. No cases involving allegations of sexual assault were dismissed, though one included a charge of open and gross lewdness. But allegations of violence and abuse were included among some of the dismissed cases. And once dismissed, officials cannot impose conditions intended to protect public safety, such as GPS monitoring or orders to stay away from alleged victims or witnesses. The dismissed cases include 28 alleged assaults, half of which are felonies; four involve allegations of assault and battery on a police officer. Nine cases included allegations of assault and battery by a family member, one of a Dorchester man accused of telling his pregnant girlfriend he'll 'personally do an abortion' and then punching her in the stomach. The woman could not be reached for comment about the dismissal. Advertisement In another case, a woman was accused of using cologne and a lighter to create a makeshift flamethrower to burn her nephew. She was reported to police by her mother, who did not respond to a message seeking comment about the dismissal. Sometimes the realities are complex: Prosecutors had sought to instead find a lawyer for a domestic assault and battery case in Dorchester that was up for dismissal, stressing it was a 'a very upsetting and frustrating situation.' But they couldn't, and the case was dismissed. Reached by phone Friday, the woman who was allegedly struck in the incident said: 'I'm happy that the case is dismissed. We're a happy couple. We had an argument. I didn't want it to become a big thing.' In Boston Municipal Court central division downtown, a woman anxiously awaited a hearing in her son's case. He'd been in custody for more than seven days on a probation violation, she said, and did not have a lawyer. 'Honestly, people in the public seem kind of glad about it,' she said of people remaining in jail. 'But they've gotta have due process.' Sean Cotter can be reached at


Newsweek
8 hours ago
- Newsweek
Man Married to US Citizen Held in Alligator Alcatraz After Traffic Stop
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Oscar Alejandro, a Mexican national married to a U.S. citizen, and his brother, Carlos Martin Gonzalez, who was traveling on a tourist visa, were arrested during a traffic stop in Orlando, Florida, and taken into custody at the "Alligator Alcatraz" detention center, according to multiple local media reports. Newsweek has reached out to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the Florida Highway Patrol, and the Consulate of Mexico in both Orlando and Miami for comment via email on Friday. Newsweek has filled out a contact form for comment with Reyes Legal, who are representing the brothers. Why It Matters In recent weeks, human rights advocates have raised concerns about a new Florida detention center, dubbed "Alligator Alcatraz," which was quickly created on Everglades land and holds an estimated 1,000 beds currently. The center is part of the Trump administration's effort to crackdown on illegal immigration. President Donald Trump has vowed to carry out the largest mass deportation in U.S. history, an initiative that has seen an intensification of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids and arrests across the country, including people with valid visas and documentation. The administration has deported thousands of people to their countries of origin, as well as a smaller percentage to third countries with U.S. agreements. It has also encouraged individuals without proper documentation to self-deport. What To Know On July 7, Carlos, 26, was stopped by Florida Highway Patrol in Orlando over tinted windows and a Mexican license plate, the local news outlet WSVN reported. The trooper found no proper registration for the vehicle. Carlos said his brother had the registration materials, which Oscar, 30, reportedly brought. However, the registration was not in the brothers' names, and Carlos was arrested for operating an unregistered vehicle. The brothers were first held in Orange County Jail before being transferred to the detention facility known as Alligator Alcatraz. Newsweek could not confirm either brother's location in the ICE detainee database. Their father, Don Martin Gonzalez, told local news outlet WSVN his sons are "both in Alligator Alcatraz, but they are not together." He said his sons were on vacation in the Florida city following the death of their mother. Carlos was originally in the states on a tourist visa and Oscar is married to a U.S. citizen and has an expired residency permit, according to El Pais. Oscar has been living in the U.S. for eight months. President Donald Trump, Gov. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, and others, tour "Alligator Alcatraz," a new migrant detention facility at Dade-Collier Training and Transition facility, Tuesday, July 1, 2025, in Ochopee,... President Donald Trump, Gov. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, and others, tour "Alligator Alcatraz," a new migrant detention facility at Dade-Collier Training and Transition facility, Tuesday, July 1, 2025, in Ochopee, Fla. More AP Photo/Evan Vucci What People Are Saying Juan Sabines Guerrero, Consul of Mexico in Orlando, Florida, said in Spanish in an X post on July 21: "Today I received Mr. Martín González, father of two young Mexicans detained in Orlando and transferred to the prison known as #AlligatorAlcatraz. His son Carlos was on vacation with a valid tourist visa following the passing of his mother; Alejandro is married to a U.S. a call, the attorney warned us about possible violations of the civil rights of both nationals, as the prison where they are held is not under federal government (ICE) jurisdiction but rather under the state of Florida, so they still lack an 'alien' number or case number, preventing them from accessing adequate defense and a fair trial." Don Martin Gonzalez, the brother's father, told WSVN: "They are in something like cages. They're like chicken coops. That's what they're telling me, so one is in one, and the other is in another. With, I think, like 36 people, or something like that, or more, per cage. This is a very harsh prison. Very harsh It's not a prison; it's a detention center. It's very difficult to be there. You're not allowed to bathe, only every four days. The water given to drink is dirty. You drink as little as possible so they don't get sick, while there are a lot of mosquitoes. They have them chained to the floor, hands and feet." Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Garrett J. Ripa said Friday about Alligator Alcatraz: "We've had two or three removal flights, and we'll continue to have those removal flights. Up to 100 individuals who were illegally present in the state of Florida have already been removed from the United States." What Happens Next Deportation flights from Alligator Alcatraz have commenced. Sabines Guerrero said that "following instructions from President @Claudiashein," the consul has assigned the brothers legal representation in an effort to release them from the facility. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum on Tuesday confirmed 14 Mexican nationals are being held at the facility and said "all arrangements are being made to ensure they are repatriated immediately."


UPI
10 hours ago
- UPI
U.S. Central Command says it killed senior ISIS leader, two adult sons
Gen. Michael E. Kurilla announced Friday that Central Command forces killed a senior ISIS leader an his two adult ISIS-affiliated sons. File photo by Leigh Vogel/UPI | License Photo July 25 (UPI) -- The U.S. Central Command announced Friday that it had conducted an operation in Aleppo, Syria, killing a senior Islamic State leader and his two adult sons. Those killed in the raid by U.S. forces were: Dhiya' Zawba Muslih al-Hardani, and his sons, Abdallah Dhiya al-Hardani and Abd al-Rahman Dhiya Zawba al-Hardani. The sons were also affiliated with ISIS, a press release said. Three women and three children also were there and were unharmed, officials said. "We will continue to relentlessly pursue ISIS terrorists wherever they operate," said Gen. Michael Erik Kurilla, U.S. Central Command commander. "ISIS terrorists are not safe where they sleep, where they operate, and where they hide. "Alongside our partners and allies, U.S. Central Command is committed to the enduring defeat of ISIS terrorists that threaten the region, our allies, and our homeland." The press release said the ISIS officials threaten the United States and coalition forces, as well as the new Syrian government. The attack comes weeks after the White House ordered a drawdown of U.S. military presence in Syria, which had about 2,000 personnel on eight bases in the area. Hundreds have returned home recently. Syria's Foreign Ministry released a statement earlier on Friday that said its representatives had met with American and French officials to "reinforce our cooperation on the shared fight against terrorism in all forms, and strengthen the capacities of the Syrian government to deal with security challenges through institutions of the state."