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Woman Dies While In Custody, Investigation Underway

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MIAMI LAKES (CBSMiami) -- An investigation is underway after a woman died while locked up in a Miami-Dade jail on Wednesday.

Officers arrested Nairobis Alvarez Cruz, 23, in connection to a robbery at a motel in March.

She was supposed to be in court on Thursday to face felony charges but never made it. Authorities later revealed she had died. She leaves behind an 8-year old child.

"When I went to court today, that's when I was informed by the judge and the prosecutor that she passed away yesterday," said Cruz's attorney Sabino Jauregui.  "Nobody knows what the heck's going on. I called corrections myself. They wouldn't give me any information. They wouldn't give me the cause of death, what time when it happened, how it happened, who was there. We know nothing."

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Her lawyers said another inmate apparently called Cruz's parents to let them know about her death.

"The inmate informed the parents the inmate was dead. They called them. They said, listen, your daughter passed away she had been screaming for help. She said she could not breathe. They ignored her and she passed away," said Jauregui.

Her lawyer is now working to determine what led up to his client's death and whether she was, in fact, screaming for help before she died.

Miami-Dade's Corrections and Rehabilitation Department released a statement Thursday saying, "There is a death investigation in progress.  We will not be able to comment until the investigation is complete."  

Cruz's arrest had stemmed from a robbery on March 12th.

According to her arrest report, Cruz had arranged to meet a man and be paid $150 for sex at the Crossway Motel located at 1775 W Okeechobee Road.

During that encounter, two men went into the motel room where Cruz was and robbed the man at knife-point.

On March 17th, officers were able to track down Cruz who, according to the report, admitted to her involvement in the robbery. Cruz was arrested and charged with home invasion, armed robbery with a deadly weapon and armed false imprisonment.

As the search for answers continues, Cruz's family is devastated.

"She was no angel but she was not given a death penalty in this case. She's a young girl. Everybody makes mistakes when they're young and to have a daughter that you entrust to the Deptartment of Corrections and for her to end up dead. It's very unnerving," said Jauregui.

 

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