Death of Haitian woman released from ICE custody in Pittsburgh ruled a homicide

The death of a Haitian woman released from Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody in Pittsburgh in February has been ruled a homicide, according to the medical examiner.

The Allegheny County Medical Examiner's Office ruled the death of 31-year-old Daphy Michel a homicide on Friday. She died three days after she was released from federal custody. 

ICE released Michel in Pittsburgh on Feb. 27, the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement to KDKA-TV on Friday. She was found on March 1 on the ground at a bus shelter near Station Square. She died after being taken to a hospital. 

"The opinion of the forensic pathologist in this case is that Ms. Michel was a vulnerable adult, suffering from untreated severe mental health issues and a significant language barrier when she was released from federal custody on February 27," a statement released by the medical examiner through the Allegheny County Police Department said on Friday.

The medical examiner's office ruled Michel's cause of death as hypothermia, with homicide as the manner of death.

"The ruling by the medical examiner, that is a homicide, means that the death was caused by the action or omission of someone," Pittsburgh-based immigration attorney Joseph Patrick Murphy told KDKA-TV on Friday. "That means there's some sort of culpability."

Murphy, who represents Michel's family, blames ICE.

"She had mental challenges," Murphy said. "She was arrested for at one point screaming at imaginary people, and they knew this. They just dumped her in a bus shelter — language barrier, educational barrier, and psychiatric barrier — and left her to fend for herself. The bus shelter, she never figured out how to leave. She sat there for days, and ultimately froze to death."

Michel was born in Haiti and came into the United States legally, Murphy said. She "effectively' overstayed her authorized period in the United States as she waited for her asylum case to be decided, Murphy added.

She was arrested in Charleroi, Washington County, Murphy said. She was booked in the Washington County Jail on Sept. 3, 2025, and remained in jail for six months before her case was dismissed. That's when DHS said ICE took her into custody because it said she was in the country illegally.

She was taken to ICE's facility on Pittsburgh's South Side so she could be given an ankle monitor before her release. In a statement to KDKA-TV, DHS Acting Secretary Lauren Bis said, in part, that ICE had "nothing" to do with the woman's death, adding that she was released from ICE custody after being issued an ankle monitor.

"She was released with all of her belongings, including a fully charged phone, in sunny weather in the middle of Pittsburgh, where public transport is readily available," Bis' statement said. "All illegal aliens who are processed have access to phones to call family, friends, and attorneys."

On the day Michel was released, records show Pittsburgh's official high was 55 degrees, with a low of 25 degrees. On the day she died, records show the high was 36 degrees, with a low of 19 degrees.

"They could have put her in an ICE car and driven right back down to Washington County and dropped her off, and they don't need to do that with every detainee," Murphy said. "But it was known to them that she was screaming at imaginary people and then sent for six months doing multiple psychiatric examinations."

He called what happened to her "reckless." From his office high up in a Pittsburgh office tower, he can see the street corner next to where Michel was found. 

"It makes it more painful for me, because it's a reminder right there of what happened to my friend," he said, explaining it's how he refers to people within the community he serves. 

Murphy said Michel's brother plans to hire him to file a lawsuit.

Both Allegheny County Executive Sara Innamorato and Rep. Summer Lee put out statements Friday saying Michel's death was avoidable. They called for accountability, with Lee saying ICE must answer for the woman's death.