‘Tremendous loss.’ Prominent South Florida real estate agent had giving nature

Melanie Hyer was as an all-star within the real estate community. She had been selling properties in South Florida for over 20 years and was known not just for her success, but for her kindness and generosity. This week, friends and colleagues were left reeling after she and her two young daughters were murdered inside their Doral home.

On Tuesday, Hyer, and her daughters, Savannah Whiten, 11, and Sienna Whiten, 8, were found stabbed to death inside their home in the Doral Isles gated community by officers who were called to do a welfare check.

Detectives with the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office say the girls’ father, Ryan Whiten, murdered them and Hyer before killing himself. They all had knife wounds, authorities said.

“The investigation revealed that Mr. Whiten committed these heinous acts and then took his own life,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement Thursday afternoon. MDSO took over the investigation from Doral police, a usual occurrence when smaller agencies encounter murders.

Complex relationships

Hyer and Whiten shared two children and they both lived in the five-bedroom, three-bath Doral home at 11149 NW 72nd Terrace where their bodies were found, records show. The two were never married, but recently divorced other people.

The Miami Herald reached out to Hyer’s ex-husband, whom she divorced in March, but he declined to comment. The Herald also reached out to Whiten’s ex-wife, Hilda Zerpa, but she did not respond. They divorced in June 2024, according to Miami-Dade court records.

However, Zerpa took to her Instagram account to share her reaction to the murder-suicide.

In a series of Instagram stories and posts, Zerpa wrote that she and Ryan had both suffered in previous relationships and that they bonded over their similar pasts.

“The difference is that I had set boundaries in my past relationship, and that didn’t affect ours. Ryan hadn’t yet managed to achieve that for himself,” Zerpa, originally from Venezuela, wrote in Spanish.

She also shared photos and videos of themselves during happy times.

But Zerpa also wrote about how his “lack of boundaries regarding past relationships, the complexities, conflicts” ultimately led to the end of their relationship. According to Zerpa, she was the only woman Whiten had ever married.

Whiten eventually started becoming impulsive and had mood swings, she said.

Zerpa said that while they were together Whiten always showed a deep love and care for his daughters, and she is in shock about what happened. However, Zerpa included a message she sent to an unidentified person saying about Whiten: “Once he was crying and told me that maybe the solution was to have other kids and ignore Melanie and the girls.”

“Under no circumstances do I justify, nor will I ever justify, such an atrocious act — and certainly not one involving the girls. Everyone knows that my relationship with the girls was very close,” she wrote on Instagram.

Seasoned real estate agent

Whiten, originally from Oklahoma, also worked in real estate, according to his LinkedIn profile. His last listed job was at Pro Estate Realty as a project manager. Hyer also worked there, her professional biography read.

Originally from New York, Hyer was a probate real estate professional working with families and property that they received from recently deceased loved ones. She began her career at Keller Williams Realty in 2003 before joining Pro Estate Realty in 2022, her LinkedIn said.

She was a business-school graduate from Tulane University and studied in Madrid at ICADE University and in Buenos Aires at Universidad del Belgrano, her bio read.

Hyer sold over 1,000 properties throughout Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties, including single-family homes, condominiums, retail shopping centers and other commercial properties, according to her bio.

“She was brilliant,” Hyer’s friend and real estate colleague Kim Rodstein told the Miami Herald on Friday. “She had a really great business mind.”

The two met 15 years ago when Rodstein took a job at Keller Williams Realty in Miami Beach.

“She wanted people to be successful, she wanted other agents to do well. She was a team player. Just a really caring, loving human,” Rodstein said

‘Unwavering dedication to serving others’

Hyer enjoyed being part of the community, including by being a member of the 100+ Women Who Care Miami Beach, an “alliance of local philanthropic women supporting nonprofits in Miami-Dade.” It was co-founded by Rodstein.

“It’s just a tremendous loss for the community, not just the real estate community, but just everyone who she touched,” Rodstein said.

Hyer was also involved in Dade Legal Aid, which provides free legal services to low-income residents.

“Melanie’s unwavering dedication to serving others made a lasting impact on our community. She lived a life of purpose, compassion, and service, always going above and beyond to help those in need,” the organization wrote in a Facebook post.

Described as one of “Dade Legal Aid’s strongest supporters,” Hyer regularly attended events and organized the annual Probate Holiday Party with the Miami-Dade Bar Probate & Guardianship Committee, which raised funds and collected toys for families.

Savannah and Sienna attended Downtown Doral Charter School, whose principal, Jeannette Acevedo-Isenberg, sent an email to the Herald saying: “Our community is mourning the loss of two of our beloved students. Our heartfelt sympathies are with their families, friends, faculty and staff at our schools. These students will be deeply missed.”

The girls and their mother were active members of the Doral Field Hockey Club community, according to a Facebook post by the official USA Field Hockey account.

“They were an important part of our community and will be remembered for their kindness, friendship, and the positive impact they had on everyone around them,” fellow club member Gabriela Cappanera wrote on Facebook.

Miami Herald Staff Writers Devoun Cetoute and David Goodhue contributed to this report.