Victim in Port St. Lucie murder-suicide identified as Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office employee
PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. —
The victim in a weekend murder-suicide in Port St. Lucie has been identified as a communications officer with the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office.
Fifty-year-old Elizabeth Ortega had been employed at PBSO for the last ten years.
The shooting happened Saturday night both inside and outside a home in the 2000 block of Southeast Oxmoor Terrace.
In a video statement released Monday, police said a man began shooting at the woman inside their home, chased her outside, and continued firing, hitting her multiple times.
“One of the neighbors actually located that victim after they observed her lying in the front yard unresponsive,” Officer Brittany McNally of the Port St. Lucie Police Department said.
On Monday afternoon, PBSO posted about Ortega on social media, saying, in part, “She was a respected and cherished part of our PBSO family, known for her kindness, compassion, and a warm smile that could brighten any room.”
Police said the shooter was Ortega’s longtime boyfriend, 50-year-old Ralph Varela Jr.
After killing Ortega, Varela went back inside the home and killed himself.
McNally said Ortega and Varela had been together for about 30 years, but Ortega had recently ended the relationship.
“Although the relationship had ended, it appears the two had agreed to live together until Ralph could find other living arrangements,” McNally said.
Investigators are working to determine what led to the violence.
The couple’s son had left the home just minutes before the shooting and told police everything seemed fine.
“There’s no evidence to suggest that there was a disagreement, a disturbance or an argument that occurred directly prior to the shooting,” McNally said.
The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office has provided therapy dogs to help Ortega’s co-workers cope with the loss.
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