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…