Questions are circling in one Orlando community over a Black woman’s death that family members say police are reducing to suicide when they believe something more is at work.
Yolna Lubrin, also known as Yo-Yo, was found hanging from a tree in a stranger’s backyard on Sept. 28. When police were called, they cut her down from the tree and tried to administer lifesaving aid but pronounced her dead at the scene.
Her death investigation is ongoing, but police have stated that so far, all signs point to suicide and not foul play. The final cause of death will be determined by a medical examiner.
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However, the family isn’t buying the story. They say she was found partially nude and say there are many factors that aren’t adding up, including the fact that Lubrin had no connection to the neighborhood where her body was discovered.
They also claimed that Lubrin’s car was found “severely vandalized with all the doors open” and allege there’s a strong possibility she was assaulted or sexually assaulted, according to co-founder of Black Lives Matter Restoration Inc. Pastor Carl Soto.
“Today, we are calling out Chief Eric Smith, and we are urging him to have his department immediately rescind this allegation of suicide and thoroughly investigate all aspects of Mrs. Lubrin’s death,” Soto said.
Lubrin’s family believes more investigative measures need to be taken before concluding that suicide was the cause of death.
“Overall, they have not done their due diligence in providing more insight,” Yo-Yo’s sister Naomi Lubrin said of police efforts to USA TODAY. “I feel like they messed up horribly.”
However, police point to a documented history of mental illness, witness statements, and phone communications that reveal Lubrin showed suicidal inclinations, according to WESH 2 News.
In a statement, the Orlando Police Department said: “While all death investigations are predicated upon the existence of trauma to the body in order to determine a criminal act, our investigation has thus far not revealed any physical injuries other than the ligature marks on the neck caused by the hanging.”
Yolna Lubrin would have turned 32 on Oct. 13. Her sister said she was a “brilliant, amazing” woman with a wonderful sense of humor.
“My sister was loving, she was cared for and she was my mother’s caretaker,” Naomi Lubrin said. “I want everyone to know that she was a comedian, and she would brighten up the scene, she would brighten up the room that she walks in, and that her life should not be so dark as it is today.”
People on social media are posting “Justice for Yolna” to support the family as they urge investigators to look deeper for answers.
People who live in the Orlando community where Lubrin’s body was found are pointing out similarities between her death and the death of Nevan Baker, an Orlando Black man who was found hanging from a tree near Camping World Stadium. Authorities also ruled his death a suicide.
“This is not the first time or the first time in a while this has happened in Orlando, just in 2020 we were asking the same questions about Nevan Baker who was found hanging in a tree in a very suspicious way for it to be a suicide,” activist Miles Mulrain Jr. wrote on Facebook.
Although many reports surfaced saying Baker’s body was brutalized and his hands were bound when he was hanged, investigators dispelled those rumors in the course of the death investigation.
