The family of Maria Santos Flores, 36, has launched a GoFundMe to help cover funeral expenses after she was found dead in the lobby of her Bay Ridge apartment building over the weekend.
GoFundMe/Google Maps
The family of a Brooklyn woman who was found dead by her son on Saturday have started a GoFundMe to help raise money for her funeral.
Maria Santos Flores, 36, was discovered dead with her throat slashed in the lobby of her Bay Ridge apartment building by her teenage son on Saturday morning around 9 a.m. Police responded to a 911 call shortly after.
Santos Flores was returning home to a building on 85th Street between Fourth and Fifth avenues when she was attacked by an unknown assailant, according to the GoFundMe page. The campaign says she leaves behind two children — an 18-year-old son and a 14-year-old daughter — who depended entirely on her.
The GoFundMe says the costs her slaying have exceeded what the family is able to afford, including funeral expenses. By Tuesday afternoon, the fundraiser had raised approximately $4,300 toward a $12,000 goal. The funeral service is scheduled for Wednesday, according to the page.
There have been no arrests and the investigation remains ongoing, according to the NYPD. Police did not provide information about a motive.
Santos Flores was a bartender in Sunset Park, according to her husband of three years, Santos Hernandez. Neighbors and family members described the tragedy as shocking and devastating, particularly in a neighborhood long regarded as one of Brooklyn’s safest.
While Bay Ridge has seen isolated acts of deadly violence in recent years — the most recent being the fatal stabbing of a man outside a Third Avenue bar in April 2024 — homicides remain rare in the area.
Santos Flores’ death marks the first homicide reported this year in the 68th Precinct, which covers Bay Ridge and Dyker Heights. According to NYPD crime data, the precinct recorded no murders in 2025.