MIAMI — A few hours before Friday’s 8 p.m. spring break curfew went into effect in South Beach, residents gathered for a vigil to mourn the death of a 24-year-old Pennsylvania tourist who police say was drugged and raped by two North Carolina spring breakers before she was found dead in her hotel room.
The memorial took place across the street from the Albion Hotel on James Avenue, where Christine Englehardt was staying during her trip to Miami Beach. Attendees placed multicolored flowers near the sidewalk, observed a moment of silence and listened to a live rendition of “Amazing Grace” by singer Maryel Epps.
No Miami Beach commissioners attended. Miami Beach Black Affairs Advisory Committee Chair Glendon Hall and former City Commissioner Kristen Rosen Gonzalez paid their respects.
“This is like someone dying in our home,” said Nick D’Annunzio, 48, a Normandy Isles resident who organized the event with the support of Englehardt’s mother, Doreen.
In a Facebook message, Doreen Englehardt thanked D’Annunzio and said she planned to watch the vigil on TV if she could find local media coverage of it.
“My daughter did not deserve this. She was a loving & caring person. She was our world,” Englehardt wrote.
Englehardt’s death, amid a chaotic spring break in Miami Beach, further saddened and infuriated residents who for weeks have been speaking out against the brawls, crowd stampedes and police confrontations that have marred spring break this year. More than 1,000 arrests have been made since February and police have seized more than 100 guns.
“Our city has gotten out of control in so many ways that I didn’t want her death to be in vain,” D’Annunzio told the Miami Herald. “I wanted it to be an opportunity for people to talk.”
D’Annunzio, who owns a public relations firm, invited Miami Beach commissioners and several social justice organizations to attend the vigil.
Apart from showing Englehardt’s family that the Miami Beach community mourns with them, D’Annunzio said he wanted to project a message of unity at a time when residents are upset at the city for its handling of spring break crowds and some Black leaders have expressed concern about how the city treats tourists of color.
D’Annunzio said he has seen the “racial divide happening,” so he wanted to incorporate voices from across the community to collectively demand public safety reforms during spring break.
“This has to be stamped in our memory and our brain for the rest of our days that we can’t allow this,” he said. “I hope she brings legislation; I hope she brings change.”
Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber, who said the city was “saddened and upset” for the Englehardt family, told the Herald that the City Commission should act to overhaul South Beach’s hard-partying reputation before more tragedies occur.
“Anyone who loves our city is saddened and upset for their family, first and foremost,” he said. “The question for us is what do we do to stop these kind of tragedies from happening?”
Gelber, who has long proposed to restrict 5 a.m. alcohol sales, said South Beach shouldn’t be home to 170 late-night bars, which he said projects the message that the city is a “hard-partying destination.”
“We’re going to stop that,” he said. “I believe our residents are like-minded and I believe our commission will be too.”
