PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — Ralph Varela Sr. made one wrong move on Saturday night in Port St. Lucie and it cost him everything. He shot his longtime partner, Elizabeth “Liz” Ortega, 50, inside the house they shared on SE Oxmoor Terrace, then turned the rifle on himself and ended it. The sheriff’s office and police are still sorting through how a man he once loved could do this.
Ortega worked the night shift for PBSO’s communications division. She was off duty when Varela, 50, grabbed an AR-style .223 rifle around 7:40 p.m. in the 2000 block of SE Oxmoor Terrace. They had been together for years and raised their son together, but they were in the middle of splitting up. Their adult son left to get dinner, and when he came back the next morning the nightmare was already over.
Varela first shot Ortega inside. She ran for the front yard trying to escape, but he kept shooting until she collapsed. He went back in and shot himself. Police used a drone to check the house before they went in. They found him dead from a self-inflicted gunshot. Ortega was airlifted to HCA Florida Lawnwood Hospital, but she didn’t make it.
The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office said she had been a dispatcher since 2001 with Greenacres PD and joined PBSO after the merger. They described her as kind, compassionate, and the kind of person whose smile could brighten any room. Her son Ralph Varela Jr. works as a firefighter with Palm Beach County Fire Rescue. The agency asked the public to keep the family, both departments, and her son in their thoughts while funeral arrangements are pending.
The shooting left the neighborhood quiet. Neighbors who saw the lights and sirens said it was the kind of thing you hope never happens to anyone. But it did, right here in Port St. Lucie.
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