Florida
Florida woman seeks help to rebuild life after losing husband, brother-in-law, home in fire
Florida woman loses husband, home in tragic fire
A Holly Hill woman not only lost her husband of 50 years and brother-in-law in a fire but also her livelihood. Just before Christmas Eve, a fire broke out in Deborah Blessing-Ortiz’s Holly Hill home. Her husband, Cesar, was sleeping in the back room and died in the blaze.
HOLLY HILL, Fla. – A Holly Hill woman not only lost her husband of 50 years and brother-in-law in a fire but also her livelihood.
Just before Christmas Eve, a fire broke out in Deborah Blessing-Ortiz’s Holly Hill home. Her husband, Cesar, was sleeping in the back room and died in the blaze.
“He was in the bedroom, and that’s where they found his body in the bed,” said Deborah. “They said he was burnt — 80% of his body was burned,” she continued with a heavy heart.
Two brave neighbors were able to pull Deborah and her brother-in-law out of the home as it went up in flames. However, she says, her brother-in-law succumbed to his injuries days later. Neighbors tried to save Cesar too, but couldn’t.
“Just to think of him yelling for help, and no one can help him. That hurts me,” said Deborah.
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The home is a total loss as the flames destroyed everything inside, which left this elderly woman with not only a broken heart, but nowhere to go.
“I thank God for his mercy. He’s given me a second chance. Now I got to find out what to do with it,” said Deborah.
The 69-year-old woman is staying in a motel room now, as she has nowhere else to go. She’s been living on social security and now has to start from scratch, even needing a new ID and birth certificate.
The family has now set up a GoFunMe donation page here if you’d like to help Deborah get back on her feet.
She’s hoping the love of her life can help guide her through this pain.
“I know he is looking down on me,” said Deborah. “He wants me to continue on, but he’s just going to have to tell me how.”
Officials say the Fire Marshal is still investigating the cause of the fire.
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The Source: This story was written based on information shared by Deborah Blessing-Ortiz.
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Florida man allegedly dumped mother-of-four’s cremated remains alongside 500 pounds of trash on roadside
A Florida man allegedly dumped a mother-of-four’s cremated remains and 500 pounds of trash on the side of a road late last month, according to reports.
Daniel Rolando, 26, was arrested and charged with one felony count for littering over 500 pounds of commercial or hazardous waste after Charlotte County Sheriff deputies discovered a massive pile of trash in Punta Gorda on Oct. 30, ABC7 reported.
Among the heap of waste was a labeled bag with human ashes, according to the outlet.
The cremated remains belong to 39-year-old Nina Monica Brown, who died of sickle cell disease in 2024, Gulf Coast News Now reported.
“It was a straight box and plastic bag from the funeral home, like you would pick her up. It wasn’t even an urn, nothing,” resident Heather Lemcool told the outlet.
“Her name, day to day, date of birth, and date of death, and the funeral home was all on this, ID card attached to the ashes,” she said.
After sifting through the 120 cubic foot pile of trash, police found mail belonging to a woman in Sarasota and contacted her, the outlet said.
She positively identified 80% of the discarded items as hers and told deputies that she had recently had two of her units at a local storage facility auctioned off after defaulting on her contract, the outlet reported.
But the woman was dumbfounded as to how her mail and trash ended up on the side of the road and had no clue how the cremated remains wound up in the pile, according to the publication.
Employees at the storage unit then confirmed to police that Rolando had purchased the two units at the auction.
He was arrested after returning to the trash pile to clean up with a friend, the outlet reported.
Rolando later confessed to purchasing the goods and dumping the ones he didn’t want, according to the report.
Precious Tunstall, a friend of Brown, described the woman whose ashes were carelessly dumped as a “walking miracle” who battled sickle cell disease far longer than doctors predicted.
“As growing up, they didn’t expect her to live past the age of 21. She wasn’t supposed to,” Tunstall told Wink News.
“They told her that she would never bear children. She had four beautiful children, two girls, two boys, and she did everything that she had to do to provide for those babies,” she said.
She is currently working with the police to retrieve Brown’s remains and return them to her children.
“It was very inconsiderate of him to just dump her on the side of the road,” Tunstall said.
“I would like to have her ashes back, her remains back, so her children can have her remains.”
Rolando was released from jail on Thursday on $2,500 bond, the Venice Gondolier reported.
The Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.
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But all of that finally changed on Saturday night when the Wildcats buried Florida, 38-7, snapping the 11-game home losing streak against conference opponents and Louisville. For the first time in more than two years, Lexington belonged to Kentucky again in a meaningful game.
A fun fact, it had been 2,247 days since Florida last won in Lexington, and Kentucky didn’t just protect that streak on Saturday night, it extended it to three straight wins over the Gators at home. And the third in a row was complete domination in the 2025 SEC home finale. Cutter Boley again played like the quarterback of Kentucky’s future, completing 18 of 23 passes for 168 yards and two touchdowns, while the defense suffocated Florida’s offense from the opening drive, with four takeaways. It could’ve been a shutout if not for the muffed punt early in the game, which set up Florida’s only red zone appearance.
This wasn’t the same Kentucky team that kept falling short in its own stadium game after game for the last two-plus seasons. The Wildcats played with confidence and had their way with Florida, running for 233 yards and outgaining the Gators 401-247 in total. It was the kind of night that hits the reset button on a struggling program, as Mark Stoops has strung together consecutive league wins with his back against the wall.
Unlike the last time Kentucky was at home, fans stayed and celebrated as the clock wound down for this one, then the fun continued into the parking lot and on into the night. It was great to see BBN happy again at home, especially against a logo team like Florida that had UK’s number for so many years.
4 out of 5 over the Gators
Stoops’ dominance over Florida isn’t just at home. He, of course, first snapped the decades-long streak in Gainesville in 2018, then won in the Swamp again in 2022. Overall, Kentucky has now won four of the last five meetings in a series that once felt impossible to flip. There’s a new streak in town.
Enjoy this one, BBN.
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