Miami-Dade mom lost her daughter then lost a case that she had won
Sheila Nuñez believed she was finally nearing some justice for her daughter, who was killed by a stray bullet six years ago, Nuñez said, but once again, she has been left with more questions than answers.
“It’s not easy for me,” Nuñez, 52, told the Miami Herald on April 23 while standing in the street near the scene of the shooting.
Her oldest child, Melissa Gonzalez, was killed on Jan. 3, 2020, while driving south on I-95 near Northwest 79th Street in Miami-Dade County.
In March, a Miami-Dade jury reached a $1 million verdict in Nuñez’s favor, finding there was negligence on the part of Ted Vernon Specialty Autos and an unknown shooter, the verdict shows. However, Circuit Court Judge Daryl E. Trawick ruled days later to reverse the jury’s verdict and dismiss Nuñez’s case.
Melanie Machado, 15, told the Herald her family thought the verdict could help uncover leads in her sister’s homicide case. She stood alongside her mother, Nuñez, near Vernon’s former storefront, helping to translate from Spanish to English.
Her family was shocked they didn’t “have any luck or bad luck and everything gets taken away” again, Machado said, calling the judge’s decision “crushing.”
Gonzalez was driving her silver Chevrolet sedan on the evening of Jan. 3, 2020, to visit her grandfather at Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami Beach. The 22-year-old Florida International University graduate had her boyfriend, Julian, by her side. A single stray bullet flew through a car window, killing Gonzalez. She had been scheduled to take the LSAT in 10 days to work toward her dream of becoming a lawyer.
The case remains unsolved.
Nuñez said she feels there are people who have knowledge of what happened that night and haven’t come forward. In January 2024, she brought a wrongful-death lawsuit against Ted Vernon Specialty Autos (which now sits empty) in the hopes of putting another level of legal pressure on those involved, she said.
Gonzalez was shot as she passed by the former antique-car dealership located at 8301 NW 7th Ave., the lawsuit said. She was killed by an unknown assailant from an errant bullet allegedly originating from a shootout on those premises.
There had been repeated “assaults, muggings, batteries, burglaries, robberies, drug dealing [and] gun smuggling” on or around Ted Vernon’s property, but he failed to provide adequate security or maintain adequate surveillance cameras to protect Gonzalez and others, the lawsuit said.
Jurors started hearing the case on March 16. During the trial, the only evidence presented was the testimony of Nuñez, “who had no personal knowledge of the incident,” and a single exhibit of the Miami-Dade County Property Appraiser’s webpage listing Vernon’s property, Judge Trawick said in an order.
After around two to three hours of deliberation, the jurors returned a verdict in Nuñez’s favor. Ted Vernon Specialty Autos was found to be 20% at fault, meaning Vernon would be on the hook for $200,000, the verdict shows. The unknown shooter was deemed to be 80% at fault and could be held responsible for the remainder of the $1 million in damages.
Before the verdict, Vernon’s attorney asked for a dismissal of the case, citing a lack of proof that Vernon did anything wrong or had any legal obligation to do something that he failed to do, court records show.
Trawick, who granted the motion after the verdict, was unable to be interviewed because judicial ethics rules prohibit judges from commenting on pending cases, an Eleventh Judicial Circuit spokesperson said.
There were no views of the evidence that could support a verdict in Nuñez’s favor, and no reasonable juror could find that Nuñez proved the essential elements of either negligence or negligent infliction of emotional distress as required under Florida law, Trawick ruled.
Since then, Nuñez’s attorney has asked for Trawick to reinstate the jury’s verdict or grant a new trial, according to an April 7 motion. The family’s attorney, Juan Guillermo Sanchez, declined to comment because the case is pending.
It was unclear as of Thursday what the final outcome will be, but the family’s “hope has decreased a lot,” Nuñez said.
While the case might not be dead in the water, “it’s certainly on life support in the water,” Vernon’s attorney, Richard Wolfe, said. Wolfe said he thinks “the jury ignored the law and felt for this grieving family, as do we.”
“Just because of a tragedy, that doesn’t necessarily mean that someone is legally responsible, which Ted Vernon Specialty Automobiles is not,” Wolfe said.
The family doesn’t agree with this decision, Nuñez said, adding she is adamant that Vernon shielded information related to her daughter’s death. She pursued this legal action to get closer to finding Gonzalez’s killer and to increase the current $7,000 reward for tipsters, Nuñez said.
Machado said her family is unable to find any sense of closure, peace or clarity while her sister’s killer “is living amongst us.” A Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office detective said during a July 2025 press conference that little information had emerged since investigators first examined Gonzalez’s case. A MDSO spokesperson didn’t respond by deadline with updates on the status of the investigation.
“This is something we are going to have to hold on to for the rest of our lives,” Machado said. “Whether or not we find the killer, the pain will still be there, and it’s always going to be with us.”
In April, Nuñez and Machado traveled to the White House in Washington, D.C., for a “30 Under 30” project, which commemorated 30 victims of gun violence under the age of 30 from California to Maine. The stories of Gonzalez and several other South Floridians, including victims of the 2018 Parkland school massacre, were shared.
Gonzalez was in love and making plans, and she was looking forward to the life that she was building, according to a “30 Under 30” magazine. She was dedicated, smart and would take care of anyone.
She once said: “Setting goals for yourself will make you happy, because it’ll make you try to see that you have meaning in life. And you’ll try to increase your happiness by trying every day to get to that goal,” the special edition said.
“Melissa didn’t just speak about happiness and purpose; she practiced it,” the piece said. “But that future was stolen on I-95.”
Anyone with information about the death of Gonzalez can contact Miami-Dade County Crime Stoppers at 305-471-TIPS, text CrimeStoppers305 to 738477 or visit CrimeStoppers305.com.
