A Lakeland storage unit packed with photographs, baby blankets, and other keepsakes belonging to a Milwaukee murder victim and her unborn son was sold off at auction, and the woman's widower is now pleading for a stranger to give the items back. Christian Mercado Soto says the belongings were his only remaining memories of his wife, Maritza Ramirez Cruz, and the baby boy they never got to raise.
Ramirez Cruz was killed in October 2011 in Milwaukee by a woman who cut out her unborn baby to pass the infant off as her own, according to WESH 2. She left behind three young children. Her family later moved to Central Florida and stored photographs, baby blankets, and other belongings at Space Shop Self Storage on E. Memorial Boulevard in Lakeland before returning to Milwaukee in 2024, per the station's reporting.
The family had planned to eventually transport those belongings back to Milwaukee but could not afford the cost of moving them, the outlet reports. Someone else was supposed to be handling payments on the unit, and the family was unaware that the last payment on the storage unit had been made back in April 2026. By the end of July 2026, the unit's contents were sold at auction.
A Legally Sanctioned Sale, Even After Notice Requirements
Florida law lays out a strict but limited process storage operators must follow before liquidating a defaulted unit. Under Florida Statute § 83.806, facilities must send written notice demanding payment with at least 14 days to respond, then publish a public sale notice once a week for two consecutive weeks before an auction can proceed. Tenants can also be locked out of their own units far sooner than that: under Florida Statute § 83.8055, operators may deny access to stored property without any court process just five days after rent goes past due.
Amendments to Florida's Self-Service Storage Space Act, according to the Florida Self Storage Association, also let facilities run lien sales through public auction websites and cap the declared value of stored items under lease terms. Once a sale closes, the law offers little recourse to former tenants. Per Florida Statute § 83.806(7), a good-faith buyer at a storage lien auction takes full legal ownership of the property, free of any prior claims — which is why the facility cannot force the new owner to hand anything back.
Facility Says It Reached the Buyer, Now Hopes for Direct Contact
Mercado Soto contacted the storage facility after learning of the auction, and the family also made a public plea on social media hoping to reach whoever bought the unit. WESH 2 reports that the facility initially said it could not do much once the items had already been sold, and when the station contacted Space Shop Self Storage directly, the company said it could not contact the buyer.
Cliff Hite, president of Space Shop Self Storage, later said the company did reach the buyer and that the buyer may still have some of the items the family is seeking. Hite said the company shared the family's contact information and request with the buyer and is hopeful the two sides will connect directly.
A Widower Waits, Ready to Pay to Get the Items Back
Mercado Soto says he is hopeful the buyer will reach out, and he has said he is willing to pay money to recover the belongings if that is what it takes. For a man who has spent more than a decade rebuilding a life for his children without their mother, the photographs and baby items represented one of the last physical links to the family they lost.
The underlying crime that shaped this loss drew national attention at the time. Annette Morales-Rodriguez was convicted in September 2012 after a Milwaukee jury deliberated for roughly an hour, rejecting defense claims that the deaths were unintentional, according to CBS News. She was sentenced that December to life in prison without parole for the murders of Ramirez Cruz and her unborn son, whom the family had named Yadier Omar, as reported by Fox News.
Police complaint records described how Morales-Rodriguez lured Ramirez Cruz outside UMOS, a Hispanic social services agency in Milwaukee, offering her a ride under false pretenses before attacking her, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Ramirez Cruz and her husband had moved from Puerto Rico to Milwaukee in late 2010 seeking a better life, and she was in her 40th week of pregnancy when she was killed. At the December 2012 sentencing hearing, Mercado Soto testified about the toll of raising three young children alone, recalling how his young daughter asked why she could not see her mother in heaven during their flight to Puerto Rico for the funeral.
That history is part of what makes the Lakeland storage items so irreplaceable. For a family that has already endured a legal system, a funeral overseas, and years of rebuilding, the loss of the last physical mementos now hinges on the goodwill of a stranger who legally owns them outright.
