MUSKEGON, Mich. — Laura Sanchez was murdered in downtown Muskegon more than three years ago.
Yet, relatives say you wouldn’t have known it looking at her bank account, which, unbeknownst to them, had remained open, covering expenses as if she’d never left.
Laura’s family contacted the 13 Help Team in an effort to turn the page on the most painful chapter of their lives.
“I'm the eldest of six,” Laura’s sister, Mirelda Sanchez Tokarczyk related.
Mirelda’s four younger brothers would come later.
“There's nine years difference,” she explained.
Growing up, Mirelda describes waiting and wishing for something—or someone-- she felt had been missing.
“Every year I wanted a sister,” she beamed. “Obviously, I love my brothers. Don't get me wrong, but I just wanted that little sister. So I would beg and ask my mom and dad because I was little. Every Christmas, every birthday.”
All of Mirelda’s birthday wishes would eventually bear fruit in the form of a hospital delivery room and a surprise, brand-new baby girl.
“I remember feeling like, oh my god, I just had a sister. You know,” she questioned, laughing. “I'm gonna be like a big sister. And I loved that kid. She was just the most beautiful little baby.”
From the outset, little Laura, Mirelda recalls, had been a curious kid with an independent streak.
“She was just so adventurous,” she related. “So, go do it, you know, nothing's gonna stop her. Like, brave for being so young… I worried about her. And she used to say, I'll be okay… I know that there's bad things in the world. I didn't really think anything this bad would happen.”
In July of 2020, in an instant, all of their lives would change remarkably.
“She observed a person… slashing tires,” Mirelda paused. “She was the type of person, if you're going to do something wrong, she's gonna address it. He murdered her, he fatally stabbed her.”
Trying to do the right thing, just like that, Laura was gone and her sister, left to bury the subject of her childhood wishes.
“Grief will put you in a fog,” she said. “Your body does something to you. So you're just surviving.”
Though Laura’s killer was found and convicted, the family still faced the added heartache of looking after the life their loved one had left behind.
Managing her estate, Mirelda was named her late sister’s personal representative and began contacting various banks via mail, identifying herself and requesting information.
“A lot of the financial institutions were really good about contacting me and saying, hey, come on in,” she recalled. “I come in, I show my license, I showed on my paperwork… and then they'd say, sorry, Laura doesn't have an account here.”
“We went like that for a while.”
PNC Bank was on Mirelda’s list. When a month went by without an answer to her letter, Mirelda said she then tried calling instead.
“And I received no response again,” she said.
Confused and frustrated because of the responsiveness she’d enjoyed with other bank, Mirelda called her sister’s former employer for guidance.
“They contacted me and they said, yeah, Laura’s payroll was deposited to PNC account number-- I'm thinking, there we go,” she related.
So, rinse and repeat. Mirelda tried a third time to get someone on the phone. After forcing her to submit new documentation, Mirelda said a PNC employee then told her she would need to establish an estate account in order to access Laura’s banking information.
“So, we did what they told me,” she sighed.
Shocked to find her sister’s account had remained open and active, even after Mirelda had sent in the death certificate. From the time of her death, Laura’s statements showed DoorDash and Hulu alone had racked up more than a thousand dollars in subscription fees in the intervening years.
Mirelda attempted to secure a refund.
“And they said, well, you can't do that, you closed your sister’s account,” she fumed. “I said you told me to close Laura's account. If you would have told me this, I wouldn't have closed the account.”
And because she claimed to have sent the documentation back in March of 2022, Mirelda feels the missing money—at least a portion of it-- should be the bank’s responsibility.
“I felt like they just wanted it to pass,” she said. “Maybe they didn't think that I would follow up all this time. But she's my sister. She's my little sister. I’m not just going to let it go.”
A little sister with a big impact that went well beyond Laura’s limited years…
Giving what she had, whenever she could to the folks in her orbit, even, as Mirelda discovered, on the final day of her life.
“She had donated to Gift of Life,” she related. “That was just her… she wants to give, give, give, that was part of what made her special, you know?”
13 OYS contacted PNC Bank in early October and was initially told it would review Laura’s account.
The financial institution failed to respond by deadline, but issued a brief statement in response to the inquiry just prior to publication:
“We work closely with our customers to address their individual financial needs but, as a general policy, we cannot comment on specific customer accounts of financial matters.”
Hulu did not respond to a request for comment.
In response to outreach by the 13 Help Team, DoorDash agreed to fully reimburse Laura’s family. The refund was in progress at the time of publication. Mirelda said she was thankful to see tangible progress in the dispute.
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