What to Know
- Sasha Gonzalez, 29, is facing 1st-degree murder and attempted tampering with evidence charges in the killing of 70-year-old Hilda Gonzalez
The sister of a South Florida woman accused of murdering their mother whose remains were found after her body was set on fire is speaking out as the daughter charged in the horrific crime made her first appearance before a judge Thursday.
Sasha Gonzalez, 29, is facing first-degree murder and attempted tampering with physical evidence charges in the killing of 70-year-old Hilda Gonzalez. Her boyfriend, 30-year-old Yancel Castillo, is charged with attempted tampering with physical evidence, abuse of a dead body, and accessory after the fact.
During her first appearance before a judge Thursday morning, Gonzalez was ordered held without bond. Castillo was ordered held on $100,000 bond. Attorney information wasn't available.
According to arrest reports, Gonzalez used a trash bag to suffocate her mother on Sunday at the home they share in the 22300 block of Southwest 127th Place in Goulds. The body was covered with tree branches and set on fire in a side yard the next day, the reports said.
Officers were dispatched to the home for a welfare check on Hilda Gonzalez and discovered burned clothing in the front yard, bones in a trash bin in the front of the home and a large charred area on the ground in a side yard, the reports said. Officers also noticed the scent of bleach cleaning product in the home and found open cleaning containers in the victim's bedroom, the reports said.
The sister of Sasha Gonzalez spoke about her heartbreak and disgust in a series of social media posts.
"I can’t even imagine this happening, or hearing things I don’t want to hear," she wrote in one. "My family knows I had a little bit of love for my sister but that is over after hearing this story."
"Rot in your cell," she wrote in the same post, which was later deleted.
Family members have set up a GoFundMe account to help pay for funeral expenses.
