Caprican, Guatemala — The body of a Guatemalan woman was He was killed earlier this month When she went to clean the wrong house in Indiana, US, she returned to her home country on Sunday.
Maria Florinda Rios Perez, 32, a mother of four, was killed on the front porch of a home in Whitestown, outside Indianapolis, on November 5.
Late Sunday, her mother, Vilma Perez, and other relatives received her body at the capital’s international airport and planned to transport it to her hometown of Caprican, about 125 miles (200 kilometers) west of Guatemala City.
Prosecutors charged Kurt Andersen of Whitestown last week with first-degree murder in connection with her death. Andersen’s trial was scheduled to begin March 30, according to online court records. On Friday, A The judge set bail In the amount of $25,000, they ordered him to hand over his passport.
According to court documents, Rios and her husband were part of a housecleaning crew and went to Andersen’s home by mistake. As they attempted to open Andersen’s door with the key provided to them by their company, Andersen fired a shot through the door without warning. The bullet hit Rios in the head. Her husband was not injured.
Andersen told investigators he heard someone trying to open his front door and thought someone was trying to break into his home.
Over the weekend, women in Caprican cooked food in preparation for friends and relatives who would attend the funeral and burial. At her parents’ home, flowers and photos of Rios decorated the altar. Cabrican is located in a valley where most of the inhabitants are indigenous Mayans.
Rios’ sister, Yemi Paula Rios Perez, 19, said Maria left Guatemala two years ago with two of her daughters and hired a smuggler to take them to the United States because they were told that adults with children were allowed in, her sister said.
“It was a lot of work with the girls,” she said. They went to Indiana because five of her brothers and her father were there.
Yemi recalled her last conversation with her sister days before her death.
“She was really happy because there was only one week until her son would turn one and she was preparing everything to celebrate the boy’s birthday,” Yemi said.